STEM Learning and Learning Environments  

Developing an AI-supported Tool to Analyze and Assess Mathematical Argumentation in Elementary Classrooms

Effective Years: 2025-2028

The NSF ECR Building Capacity of STEM Education Research (BCSER) program contributes to the NSF mission 42 U.S. Code Chapter 16 by building the US workforce undertaking STEM education research. The BCSER Individual Investigator Development in STEM Education Research (IID) track supports individual investigators who are experienced STEM education researchers to develop expertise in new areas that will contribute to advancing STEM education knowledge. STEM education research generates the knowledge, theories, and understandings on which viable strategies for improving U.S. STEM education and workforce outcomes are based. This study focuses on mathematical argumentation in the elementary classroom. It involves the development of a scalable tool to analyze and assess the quality of argumentation in elementary mathematics classrooms, combining AI, psychometrics, and argumentation theory. With two focused studies, it aims to improve learning for struggling students and enable large-scale analysis of classroom discourse in elementary mathematics contexts. This BCSER IID project will allow the PI to supplement their current expertise with new research skills to design and implement cutting edge STEM education research using modern methods and tools. The project will assist the PI to develop new expertise in three intersecting areas: psychometrics, argument theory, and technologies using Large Language Models (LLM) and AI. Specifically, the principal investigator will gain new expertise in classroom-based argumentation measures and argument mining techniques to develop an AI-supported tool for measuring mathematical argumentation in elementary classrooms. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators' capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research. The project is also supported through a collaborative NSF activity with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Walton Family Foundation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.