STEM co-executive director Kathleen Cramer is part of an interdisciplinary research initiative aimed at improving student math outcomes. In partnership with Generation Next and representatives from Minneapolis Public Schools, the GopherMath project builds on the expertise of faculty within four distinct areas: fraction learning, whole number assessments and interventions, teacher development, and parent involvement.

The GopherMath collaboration builds on a long term research and curriculum development project at the University known as the Rational Number Project (RNP). Because the work done in this area in grades 3-6 mathematics classrooms determines students’ access to algebra, it is critical that students have appropriate learning experiences that support learning in ways that result in deep conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.

This project also looks at factors within and outside the classroom that may influence students’ learning of this important content, potentially identifying how each component addressed supports students’ success in learning about a key topic in elementary grades.