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
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 the design, implementation, and impact of professional development experiences for mathematics teachers. Has examined how middle school teachers interpret and interact with instructional policy documents like the NCTM Standards. Has also investigated the transitions students experience as they move between traditional and reform mathematics curricula. Other interests include pre-service teacher education and student learning of undergraduate mathematics.
Jinfa Cai
Professor, 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 U.S. and Chinese teachers' pedagogical representations and their impact on students' mathematical thinking.
Michelle Cirillo
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Primary interest is how teachers introduce and cultivate proof and proving in the high school geometry course. Has an interest in exploring this through discourse analysis and teachers’ use of curriculum materials. Currently is developing professional development materials related to mathematics discourse in secondary classrooms and planning to use these with diverse groups of secondary teachers as well as a focus group of high school geometry teachers.
Alfinio Flores
Hollowell Professor of Mathematics Education, Department of Mathematical Sciences
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 and Mathematics & Science Education Resource Center
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.
Amanda Jansen
Associate Professor, School of Education
Primary interest is the socio-emotional context of the mathematics classroom, including the development of adolescents' identities, dispositions, and motivations with respect to learning mathematics. Has examined seventh grade students' motivations to participate in whole-class discussions in classrooms that use NCTM Standards-based curricula. Has investigated students' transitions between traditional and reform mathematics curricula. Other interests include pre-service teachers' beliefs and dispositions and students' algebraic reasoning.
Jon Manon
Assistant Professor, School of Education and Director, 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.
Anne Morris
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. Currently is investigating the development of children's reasoning in two exemplary elementary school mathematics programs.
