1. Project Overview Purpose: This five-year project aims to identify, from a cross-cultural perspective, essential algebraic knowledge for teaching (AKT) that fosters students’ algebraic thinking in elementary school. Location: Philadelphia, USA; Nanjing, China Population: Elementary teachers Timeline: August 2014-July 2019 Relation to SDP Action plan: This project supports SDP’s anchor goal #3 (100% of schools will have great teachers) through developing exceptional, committed people (strategy 3), especially in the area of highly effective instructional practices (exhibit 4) and therefore, improving student learning (strategy 1). The participating expert teachers in this project will continue developing their instructional expertise based on an international perspective. They will become potential teacher leaders who will mentor other SDP teachers. Contributors/Stakeholders Funding source: National Science Foundation (NSF) Stakeholders: Temple University School District of Philadelphia Nanjing Normal University, China School District of Nanjing, China Participants: For Research: Y1&2: 8 US and 8 Chinese teachers per year Y3&4: The same 16 US and16 Chinese experts For Education: Y4&5: SDP new teachers/teachers in needy schools; Temple preservice teachers Implementation/Activities Topic in Y1: Inverse Relations Topic in Y2: Properties of Operations Research Activities: Y1 & Y2: Data collection of videotaped lessons in U.S. and China, teacher surveys and interviews, lesson plans, students pre- and post- assessments Y3: Data analysis, material development, and teacher training Y4: Data collection of videotaped lessons to be re-taught in the U.S. and China Educational Activities: Y3: Chinese-US ongoing teacher forum; Y4: Chinese-US teacher video conference Y4: SDP new teacher workshop (ACT48) Y5: SDP teacher conference; Chinese classroom visit Outcomes At the student and teacher level, the short term outcomes include teachers’ improved AKT and students’ improved achievement in the targeted algebraic concepts. The AKT materials will also be available for the field of mathematics education. The long term outcomes include teachers’ transfer of the learned AKT to teach other concepts and students’ increased interests and understanding of algebra and overall mathematics. At the local and country level, the short tem outcomes include (a) training of 16 SDP mentor teachers, (b) an established expert- novice teacher network, and (c) collaborations between the participating teachers and schools in SDP and China. The long term outcomes include (a) an extended expert-novice network within SDP and between SDP and Temple, and (b) the continuation of US-China collaboration between school districts and universities. CAREER: Algebraic Knowledge for Teaching: A Cross-Cultural Perspective Contact Information Meixia Ding (PI), Ryan Hassler (GA) Temple University Meixia.ding@temple.eduMeixia.ding@temple.edu, (215)204-6139 Ryan.hassler@temple.eduRyan.hassler@temple.edu, (717)471-8794