Mathematics Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Benefitting the Readers of this Volume

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Opening Lines: An Introduction to the Volume

      • Jacqueline Dewar, Pao-sheng Hsu, Harriet Pollatsek

      Pages 3-10

   3. Communication, Culture, and Work in Mathematics Education in Departments of Mathematical Sciences

      • Shandy Hauk, Allison F. Toney

      Pages 11-26

   4. Valuing and Supporting Work in Mathematics Education: An Administrative Perspective

      • Minerva Cordero, Maura B. Mast

      Pages 27-39

3. Benefitting Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers and Graduate Student Instructors

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-41

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   2. Effects of a Capstone Course on Future Teachers (and the Instructor): How a SoTL Project Changed a Career

      • Curtis D. Bennett

      Pages 43-53

   3. By Definition: An Examination of the Process of Defining in Mathematics

      • Elizabeth A. Burroughs, Maurice J. Burke

      Pages 55-71

   4. Characterizing Mathematics Graduate Student Teaching Assistants’ Opportunities to Learn from Teaching

      • Yvonne Lai, Wendy M. Smith, Nathan P. Wakefield, Erica R. Miller, Julia St. Goar, Corbin M. Groothuis et al.

      Pages 73-88

   5. Lessons Learned from a Math Teachers’ Circle

      • Gulden Karakok, Katherine Morrison, Cathleen Craviotto

      Pages 89-103

   6. Transforming Practices in Mathematics Teaching and Learning through Effective Partnerships

      • Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Kristin Kappmeyer

      Pages 105-120

   7. Developing Collaborations Among Mathematicians, Teachers, and Mathematics Educators

      • Kristin Umland, Ashli Black

      Pages 121-131

4. Benefitting STEM Majors

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-133

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   2. Finding Synergy Among Research, Teaching, and Service: An Example from Mathematics Education Research

      • Megan Wawro

      Pages 135-145

   3. Communicating Mathematics Through Writing and Speaking Assignments

      • Suzanne Sumner

      Pages 147-163

   4. Real Clients, Real Problems, Real Data: Client-Driven Statistics Education

      • Talithia D. Williams, Susan E. Martonosi

      Pages 165-179

   5. A Montessori-Inspired Career in Mathematics Curriculum Development: GeoGebra, Writing-to-Learn, Flipped Learning

      • Kathy A. Tomlinson

      Pages 181-198

   6. “The Wild Side of Math”: Experimenting with Group Theory

      • Ellen J. Maycock

      Pages 199-211

   7. A Departmental Change: Professional Development Through Curricular Innovation

      • Steve Cohen, Bárbara González-Arévalo, Melanie Pivarski

      Pages 213-226

   8. SMP: Building a Community of Women in Mathematics

      • Pamela A. Richardson

      Pages 227-241

Many in the mathematics community in the U.S. are involved in mathematics education in various capacities.  This book highlights the breadth of the work in K-16 mathematics education done by members of US departments of mathematical sciences. It contains contributions by mathematicians and mathematics educators who do work in areas such as teacher education, quantitative literacy, informal education, writing and communication, social justice, outreach and mentoring, tactile learning, art and mathematics, ethnomathematics, scholarship of teaching and learning, and mathematics education research.  Contributors describe their work, its impact, and how it is perceived and valued.  In addition, there is a chapter, co-authored by two mathematicians who have become administrators, on the challenges of supporting, evaluating, and rewarding work in mathematics education in departments of mathematical sciences.

This book is intended to inform the readership of the breadth of the work and to encourage discussion of its value in the mathematical community. The writing is expository, not technical, and should be accessible and informative to a diverse audience. The primary readership includes all those in departments of mathematical sciences in two or four year colleges and universities, and their administrators, as well as graduate students. Researchers in education may also find topics of interest.  Other potential readers include those doing work in mathematics education in schools of education, and teachers of secondary or middle school mathematics as well as those involved in their professional development.

• mathematics education
• mentoring
• social justice
• multicultural mathematics
• quantitative literacy
• quantitative reasoning
• writing and communications in mathematics
• scholarship of teaching and learning
• mathematics education research
• teaching, learning and assesment
• tactile learning
• art and mathematics
• ethno-mathematics
• in-service teachers
• pre-service teachers
• technology in mathematics education
• collaboration in mathematics education

“This volume consists of 25 thoughtful papers on mathematics education with the aim of reaching a wide audience. … There are five parts, each described as ‘benefitting’ a particular audience: readers of this book, pre-service and in-service teachers, STEM majors, students in general education courses, and the public and the larger mathematical community.” (Herbert E. Kasube, MAA Reviews, October, 2017)

• Department of Mathematics, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA

  Jacqueline Dewar

• Independent, Columbia Falls, USA

  Pao-sheng Hsu

• Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, USA

  Harriet Pollatsek

Jacqueline M. Dewar is Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Loyola Marymount University. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Southern California. She received the Mathematical Association of America's Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics in 2006.

Pao-sheng Hsu is an independent mathematician and consultant. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Polytechnic University (previously the Polytechnic Institute of New York, now the New York University Tandon School of Engineering). She has served as a reviewer for zbMATH since 2002.


Harriet Pollatsek is Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Mount Holyoke College. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan. Her work has appeared in the journal Designs, Codes and Cryptography.

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