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An innovative new project that leverages machine learning to assess mathematics lesson plan quality in the middle grades has been selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to receive a $1.5 million grant. Through this project, a cross-university research team led by principal investigator Dr. Min Sun of the University of Washington College of Education will identify ways to measure the quality of large quantities of open-source mathematics lesson plans using an integration of cutting-edge machine learning techniques, knowledge of effective mathematics education and human feedback. 

As online instructional materials continue to proliferate, schools and educators are increasingly relying on them for lesson planning, underscoring the need to evaluate the quality of these materials. Planning and selecting instructional materials are among the most complex and important components of mathematics teaching, and this project aims to make it easier for middle school mathematics teachers to design lesson plans that are effective and support positive learning outcomes for students. 

“This project will democratize access to quality, inclusive and tailored learning materials that benefit students and support their teachers’ planning processes,” Dr. Sun shares.  

“Beyond scientific contributions, we are addressing equity issues because junior teachers spend more time on lesson planning, as do teachers serving historically marginalized students and communities,” she elaborates. “It’s critical that teachers’ lesson plans, especially in mathematics instruction, effectively supports students with a wide range of academic performance levels, language and cultural backgrounds.” 

Teachers are increasingly turning to online platforms and social media sites to supplement their district curricula, either for content enrichment or to make lessons more interactive and culturally relevant. Research reveals that a vast majority of teachers use search engines like Google and platforms like TeachersPayTeachers and Pinterest to source lesson materials. With the rise of ChatGPT, a recent survey conducted by the Walton Family Foundation shows that 40% of teachers use ChatGPT on a weekly basis for tasks such as lesson planning and building background knowledge for lessons. This increasing shift towards digital resources is also supported by the burgeoning movement of Open Education Resources (OER) under the Creative Commons License. This movement is backed by state agencies, including in Washington state, prominent non-profit organizations and even district or university initiatives. Consequently, many school districts nationwide have chosen OER materials as their primary curricula. These shifts highlight the importance of developing a quality checker of online content to better support teachers and student learning outcomes.