Middle grades students’ changing conceptions of variables in early formal algebra.Research Interests include the following: Her research interests include children’s mathematical thinking and teacher education. She teaches courses in mathematics and mathematics for elementary school teachers. Prior to joining UNR as a Teaching Assistant Professor in 2020, she was on faculty at Appalachian State University for four years and Utah State University for two years. in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning with an emphasis in Mathematics Education from UNR. After teaching middle school mathematics for two years, she earned her Ph.D. I also hope to return to the secondary classroom as a researcher with the goal of working with a secondary teacher to providing challenging instruction that takes into account students’ thinking.ĭiana Moss: Diana Moss is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Nevada, Reno. I’m still interested in building models of students thinking. I began to be able to rigorously explore how students build on prior knowledge to make sense of new ideas. In graduate school, with the mentorship of Pat Thompson I became much better at building models of student thinking. I had a suspicion that if I tried to teach conceptual ideas my students were not yet prepared to understand they would end up memorizing my instruction instead of making sense of it.
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I wanted to know more about how to challenge my students intellectually, while also taking into account the mathematical thinking they brought to my classroom. Although I knew how important it was that my students learn grade level standards, I felt uneasy teaching a standard when I did not feel the students understood the ideas the standard was based on. I taught university and secondary mathematics in Virginia, including 5 years as a full-time teacher in a public high school.Ĭameron Byerley: a secondary high school teacher I spent a lot of time wondering how to support my students in learning meaningful mathematics. Prior to moving to Portland, I earned my PhD from the Mathematics Department at Virginia Tech. Steven Boyce: research interest is modeling students’ mathematics, and I am currently focused on middle grades students’ development of rational number and algebraic reasoning. Mounting empirical evidence across both fields suggests educational disparities these students experience are caused by opportunity gaps that stem from remedial instruction as opposed to instruction that affords students access to their own reasoning from which to build in mathematics proficiency and agency. Hunt’s research supports a re-conceptualization of research and instructional practice across mathematics education and special education such that students with disabilities can build mathematics proficiency. Hunt argues that mathematics instruction for these students should work to (a) uncover students’ strengths, (b) give them access to their mathematical reasoning, and (c) support the advance of that reasoning. From that work, she grew to love teaching students at risk for mathematics difficulties or disabilities. Jessica Hunt: Jessica Hunt began her career in education as a middle school mathematics teacher in a technology demonstration school in Florida. MacDonald’s research foci includes: (1) children’s number development, and (2) teachers’ fraction and STEM pedagogical development. MacDonald teaches undergraduate and graduate K-8 mathematics methods courses as well as doctoral mathematics educational research courses. MacDonald: 17 years in elementary schools, Dr. The leaders of the working group are the following scholars:īeth L. The goal of the page is to share information about research on units coordination across the curriculum. The members each use units coordination constructs to study student thinking in a variety of settings. This webpage was created by the members of the 2018 PMENA units coordination working group.