Early Career Fellowship
Synthesizing Research on
Inclusive Mathematics Environments Nomination Window: May 2 – May 16, 2019

The Student Experience Research Network is pleased to announce a new Early Career Scholars Fellowship funded through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote understanding of creating inclusive mathematics environments for students in middle childhood through mid-adolescence and with stigmatized identities in mathematics, including, for example, black, Latinx, and Native American students; students from families facing economic disadvantage; students who are designated English language learners; and girls. Fellows will collaborate with a content area mentor to synthesize a relevant topic of research and produce an academic manuscript. The primary goals of the fellowship are to support early career scholars to synthesize interdisciplinary research on inclusive learning environments, develop professional writing and editing skills, and publish peer-reviewed journal articles.

About the Fellowship Activities and Award

Fellows will be provided with a $10,000 stipend to be delivered in three installments directly to the scholar. The fellowship will begin with a virtual Kickoff and Orientation meeting. Over the course of the fellowship, fellows will meet with their content area mentors two or more times for guidance on the content and interpretation of their synthesis project. Fellows will receive separate support from a professor in education with extensive experience training emerging scholars; fellows will attend virtual writing seminars, receive formative individual feedback on their written work at multiple stages, and receive support for the development of collaboration, planning, and analysis skills. In addition, the Gates Foundation will host small group virtual meetings, during which fellows will have the opportunity to present their work, build translation skills, and receive feedback from Foundation staff on engaging productively with funders. The fellowship concludes with the preparation, refinement, and submission of an academic manuscript to a peer-reviewed outlet.

Background

There are several pockets of relevant information on inclusive mathematics environments across multiple disciplines and methodological traditions that are relevant for understanding how to create inclusive learning environments in mathematics, but this information has historically been siloed within individual scientific domains and has never been systematically reviewed. The syntheses that fellows produce will enable both scientific and practice communities to learn rapidly from a cross-cutting scan of decades of social science, mathematics, and instruction and pedagogy research. In addition, syntheses will elucidate gaps and questions that are still left to be answered and motivate important future knowledge-building across long-standing silos in the scientific community.

Relevant bodies of literature to synthesize include, but are not limited to:

  • Social psychological research on belonging, social identity threat, identity affirmation, intergroup relations, expectancy-value-cost, and beliefs about intelligence in mathematics contexts
  • Research on cultural models and mismatch and culturally responsive pedagogy in mathematics and STEM more broadly
  • Research on mathematics pedagogy, instruction, and instructional environments that could influence student outcomes through psychological mechanisms (e.g., relevance, engagement, mastery and process-oriented pedagogy, inclusive practices, learner variation, and universal design for learning)
  • Research on the relationship between school climate/environment and identity development in mathematics and STEM contexts during childhood and adolescence
  • Review of methodological approaches to understanding the impact of mathematics instructional environments
  • Research on mathematics programs and policies (e.g., Common Core) that could influence the psychological mindsets and experiences of students in schools
  • Research on educator use of data to promote supportive and rigorous environments in mathematics education
  • Open to advanced PhD students (must have completed qualifying exams)
  • Open to postdoctoral researchers, research scientists, and other early career scholars (must not currently hold a faculty position; must have earned a doctoral degree no earlier than 2016)
  • Must pursue/have a degree in the social sciences (e.g., education, psychology, sociology, economics), mathematics, or related field
  • Must reside in the US for the duration of the fellowship
  • Must have an academic writing sample (unpublished samples are accepted)

In selecting fellowship recipients, the following criteria will be considered:

  • Evidence of emerging leadership skills
  • Capacity to be successful in complex inquiry tasks
  • Evidence of curiosity and creativity
  • Relevance of research interests for synthesis topic
  • Quality of writing sample
  • Availability

Nominating Early Career Scholars & Indicating Interest in Mentoring

We invite you to nominate up to 3 early career scholars and/or indicate your interest in mentoring via this form, which will request the following:

Information about you:

  • Your (the nominator’s) name, institution, and email
  • An indication of your interest in serving as a mentor either to an early career scholar you nominate or another early career scholar nominated for the fellowship

 

Information about the early career scholar nominee/s (if applicable):

  • Name, institution, and email
  • Relationship to nominator
  • A brief comment (1-3 sentences) about support the nominee would need to be successful
  • CV
  • Academic writing sample (unpublished samples or class assignments will be accepted)
  • Synthesis content area

Close

Key Activities and Dates

Nomination window closed May 16, 2019 at 8pm ET
Mentors and selected nominees notified May 24, 2019
Fellowship Kickoff and Orientation (video call) May 31, 2019 at 2pm ET
Initial meeting with content area mentor June – July 2019
Argumentation outline submitted for feedback July 12, 2019
Brief progress memo August 2019
Writing seminars July – August 2019
Second meeting with content area mentor August 2019
Manuscript 1st draft submitted for feedback September 2, 2019
Small group presentations to the Gates Foundation October – November 2019
Manuscript 2nd draft submitted for feedback November 15, 2019
Manuscript submitted for publication February 10, 2020

For questions about the application, please contact shanette@mindsetscholarsnetwork.org

UPDATES Sign up to receive periodic updates from the Student Experience Research Network.

Open Popup