The Impact of Rough Draft Math
With a $1.7 million federal grant, a collaborative University of Delaware team studies a transformative mathematics teaching approach
In a middle school math classroom, students often feel pressured to understand new concepts immediately and get the “answers” right on the first try. They may also be hesitant to share their thinking in front of classmates, especially when math is framed only with “right” and “wrong” solutions.
With these challenges in mind, University of Delaware Distinguished Professor in Teacher Education Amanda Jansen helps educators create a more flexible math classroom where students learn through drafting, revising and collaborating around their in-progress ideas. Supported by a $1.7 million National Science Foundation grant, Jansen, Associate Professor Christina Areizaga Barbieri, Associate Research Professor Leigh McLean and the research team are studying how this transformative teaching approach—known as “Rough Draft Math”—impacts student learning, engagement and confidence.
“Students’ motivation to learn math in school tends to decline as students move from elementary school through middle school,” said Jansen, who studies mathematics education and student engagement in UD’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). “Rough Draft Mathematics is an engaging and motivating set of teaching practices that can reduce students’ fears so that they participate and experience positive emotions while learning math. This approach gives students the opportunity to revise their thinking so they can receive support for making new connections between math ideas and concepts.”
The study, now two years underway, explores how teachers use rough draft math approaches and the influence on students’ engagement with math. The research team—which includes several graduate and undergraduate students in the School of Education and Applied Economics and Statistics—hopes to capture how variations in teachers’ enactments of rough drafting and revising have different impacts on students’ engagement and motivation.
Twenty-four to 32 middle school classrooms across school districts in Delaware, Washington, Oregon and West Virginia, among others, are participating in the study.
“Our research is only possible because middle school teachers and their students have generously opened up their classrooms to our research team,” said Jansen, who recently received the 2026 G. Cuthbert Webber Award from UD’s Department of Mathematical Sciences.
To date, Jansen and her team collaborated with middle school math teachers to gather and analyze data from the first cohort of classrooms during the 2025-2026 academic year. The team has analyzed two videos from each classroom, survey data from middle school students and focus groups with students.
In addition to informing how specific math teaching practices might support students’ engagement with and motivation in math, the project will have a broad impact on STEM education and math motivation by providing training opportunities for undergraduates and doctoral students.
The team is currently working with a second cohort of middle school mathematics teachers for the 2026-2027 academic year. The project will continue through July 2028.
To learn more about CEHD research in STEM education, visit its research webpages.
Header image caption: With a $1.7 million federal grant, University of Delaware Professor Amanda Jansen and her research team studies a transformative mathematics teaching approach.
Article by Jessica Henderson. Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson.