Mathematics Education Faculty Research Interests
All of the faculty in mathematics education are engaged in research and development activities that, collectively, aim to improve mathematics education in grades K-16. The following descriptions provide a brief overview of current or recent research projects.
Tonya Bartell, Assistant Professor, School of Education and Mathematics & Science Education Resource Center
Primary interest is equity in mathematics education, including confronting the racial achievement gap by examining issues of power, race, and access and their intersection with mathematics teaching and learning. Has investigated teachers learning to teach mathematics for social justice. Has examined teachers' conceptions of equity in mathematics education. Other interests include teacher professional development and the effects of such programs on student learning.
Dawn Berk, Assistant Professor, School of Education and Mathematics & Science Education Resource Center
Primary interest is investigating teachers' understanding of mathematics and how to support its development, as well as how teachers' mathematical knowledge influences their analysis of teaching situations. Has investigated prospective elementary teachers' proportional reasoning abilities and their entry-level analysis-of-teaching skills, as well as teachers' interpretations of educational policy. Other interests include teacher professional development and student learning of undergraduate mathematics.
Jinfa Cai, Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences and School of Education
Primary interest is how middle and high school students learn mathematics and solve problems, and how teachers can design learning environments to help students make sense of mathematics. Has explored these questions within and across nations. Recently has focused on U.S. and Chinese students' mathematical thinking and the impact of instructional and cultural factors on students' learning. Currently is investigating longitudinally the curricular effect on students' learning of algebra.
Alfinio Flores, Hollowell Professor of Mathematics Education, Department of Mathematical Sciences and School of Education
Primary interest is helping students and prospective and in service teachers develop their conceptual understanding of mathematics. He uses computers, calculators, and concrete materials to make mathematical abstractions more tangible and help students and teachers develop a network of connected mathematical concepts.
Brad Glass, Assistant Professor, School of Education
Primary interests include the development of teacher education programs and the use of various forms of technology in the learning and teaching of mathematics.
Laura Glass, Associate Director and Assistant Professor, School of Education
Primary interest is the preparation of teachers, including the curriculum and new models for preparing preservice teachers for their practice.
James Hiebert, Robert J. Barkley Professor, School of Education
Primary interest is improving mathematics teaching. Currently is involved in several research and development projects aimed toward improving the mathematics courses offered to pre-service teachers. Is interested in the processes involved in improving teaching and how these processes can be engaged by teachers and researchers.
Mary Ann Huntley, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences and School of Education
Primary interest involves investigating curricular influences on mathematics classroom practice, particularly at the middle- and high-school levels. Current research involves studying issues related to fidelity of implementation, including developing instruments for measuring fidelity. Has conducted cross-curricular studies on high-school students' understandings of algebra.
Amanda Jansen, Assistant Professor, School of Education & Mathematics & Science Education Resource Center
Primary interest is the socio-emotional context of the mathematics classroom, including how students' beliefs and goals moderate their participation in mathematics classroom discourse. In her research, she focuses on giving voice to students' experiences for the purpose of understanding how to reach more mathematics learners. She is also interested in how pre-service and novice teachers learn to teach mathematics.
Jon Manon, Assistant Professor, School of Education and Director of Mathematics & Science Education Resource Center
Primary interest is in the implementation of exemplary mathematics curricular materials in Delaware's public schools. Director of an NSF-funded Local Systemic Change project (DEMCI) and a co-PI on a new video study in collaboration with Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Texas A&M University on the fidelity of implementation of exemplary materials in the middle grades.
William Moody, Professor Emeritus, School of Education and Department of Mathematical Sciences
Primary interest centers on learning and teaching of mathematical concepts through problem solving situations in the middle grades. Has organized and administered the University of Delaware Solve It Mathematics program, which is designed to present mathematical concepts to children using a problem solving approach. Problems are continually developed for the program and students' solution strategies are studied.
Anne Morris, Associate Professor, School of Education
Primary interest is the development of logical and mathematical reasoning. Has conducted a number of studies on children's, adolescents', and college students' understandings of proof, logical argument, and mathematical structure. Other interests include the investigation of pre-service teachers' analysis of teaching skills.
Diana Wearne, Professor Emerita, School of Education
Primary interest is understanding how elementary and middle school students learn mathematics from classroom instruction. Has conducted a number of studies in Grades 1-8 on students' developing concepts and skills with whole numbers and with decimal fractions.
