Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science: Research and Practice

FIRST SYMPOSIUM

Abstracts for all Plenary and Break-out Sessions
Power Point Presentation
James Stith's plenary
Power Point Presentation
Marta Civil's plenary
Friday, March 14, 2008
DePaul University, Lincoln Park Campus

This special topic symposium will focus on issues related to diversity in mathematics and science classrooms.

Plenary Session Speakers:


Marta Civil, Professor, Department of Mathematics, The University of Arizona

Marta Civil is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Arizona. Her research interests are in teacher education, cultural and social aspects in the teaching and learning of mathematics, equity, and parental engagement in mathematics. Her work is located in working class, Latino communities. She has presented her work at national and international conferences and has several publications in her main areas of research.

 Dr. Civil teaches primarily mathematics courses for elementary teachers (K-8) (preservice and practicing teachers) and graduate courses on research in mathematics education. She has directed several initiatives aimed at engaging children ages 8-13 in hands-on mathematics and science explorations in informal and after-school settings, including an NSF-funded gender equity project, Girls in the SYSTEM (Sustaining Youth in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). She was one of the PIs of NSF-funded MAPPS (Math and Parent Partnerships in the Southwest). The project’s goal was to promote parental involvement in mathematics through the development of leadership teams (parents, teachers, and administrators) who learned about mathematics and in turn facilitated workshops for parents within their school district. She is currently the PI for NSF-funded CEMELA (Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinos/as), a Center for Learning and Teaching. CEMELA is an interdisciplinary, multi-university consortium focused on research and practice on the connections between the teaching and learning of mathematics and the cultural, social, and linguistic contexts of Latino/a students.


James H. Stith, Vice President, Physics Resources, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD.

James H. Stith is the Vice President, Physics Resources Center for the American Institute of Physics. He directs a broad portfolio of programs and services that includes AIP’s Magazine Division, the Media and Government Relations Division, the Education Division, the Center for the History of Physics, the Statistical Research Division and the Career Network.   He was formerly a Professor of Physics at The Ohio State University and also spent 21 years on the faculty of the United States Military Academy at West Point.  His Doctorate in physics was earned from The Pennsylvania State University, and his Masters and Bachelors in physics were received from Virginia State University.

In 2004, Dr. Stith was named one of “50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science" by the magazines Science Spectrum and US Black Engineer & Information Technology. Additionally, he serves on a number of national and international Advisory Boards and has been awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by his alma mater, Virginia State University. In October 2005, he was named an Alumni Fellow, the highest honor given by the Pennsylvania State University Alumni Association.

A physics education researcher, his primary interests are in Program Evaluation, and Teacher Preparation and Enhancement. Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for programs that ensure ethnic and gender diversity in the sciences.

SECOND SYMPOSIUM: 

Abstracts for Plenary and Breakout Sessions

Friday, May 2, 2008
Chicago State University

Plenary Session Speakers:

David Hammer
Professor of Physics and Curriculum & Instruction
University of Maryland, College Park

David Hammer studied physics in college (Princeton), took a “break” to teach high school mathematics and physics, and then went on to graduate school  (Berkeley), first in Physics and then for his doctorate in Science and Mathematics Education.  After six years in Education at Tufts University, he moved to the University of Maryland, where for ten years he’s had a joint position in Physics and Curriculum & Instruction.  His research focuses on students’ intuitive “epistemologies” (knowledge about knowing and learning), how instructors interpret and respond to student thinking, and on resource-based models of knowledge and reasoning.  He is currently pursuing these interests with students and colleagues in both departments at levels from elementary school through college physics majors.  Most of his work appears in research journals and book chapters; last year he and Emily van Zee published a book and DVD for elementary teacher education: Seeing the Science in Children’s Thinking:  Case studies of elementary student inquiry in physical science. (Heinemann, 2006).

Sharon Senk
Professor, Division of Science and Mathematics Education and Department of Mathematics
Michigan State University

Sharon Senk holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, an M.A.T. in Mathematics from Wesleyan University, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Chicago, where she studied with Zalman Usiskin. She currently is Professor at Michigan State University (MSU) where she has appointments in the Division of Science and Mathematics Education and the Department of Mathematics. Previously she taught mathematics in secondary schools in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan, and at Syracuse University. For almost 20 years she was Co-Director of the Secondary Component of the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) during which she co-authored textbooks on Algebra, Advanced Algebra, and Functions, Statistics and Trigonometry.

Dr. Senk's major research interests are the learning and teaching of secondary school mathematics, the analysis of school mathematics curricula, and the mathematical preparation of primary and secondary school teachers. She has published in many journals including the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and the Mathematics Teacher. Her most recent book is Standards-Based School Mathematics Curricula: What are they? What do students learn? which she developed with Denisse Thompson.  At present she is Principal Investigator of the Noyce Scholars Program at MSU, and Co-PI of three other grants funded by the National Science Foundation: Knowing Mathematics for Teaching Algebra (KAT), Mathematicians and Mathematics Educators Collaborating on Capstone Courses for Secondary Mathematics Teachers, and the Teacher Education Development Study in Mathematics (IEA TEDS-M 2008). She also serves as Co-Chair of the Mathematics Committee of the Teachers for a New Era Project at MSU, and as a consultant on Evaluation for UCSMP.