Mathematics Education Colloquium Series

This lecture series in Mathematics Education is supported by Teachers for a New Era (TNE), and is organized by Profs. Juliana Belding, CK Cheung and Solomon Friedberg (Mathematics) and Prof. Lillie Albert (Teaching, Curriculum, and Society). It is intended for math educators at all levels, school administrators and support staff, mathematicians interested in K-12 math education, and future math educators. In-service mathematics teachers are especially encouraged to attend, as are all Noyce Master Teaching Fellows who are participating in 精东影业's NSF funded program "."

For are virtual colloquium please e-mail Prof. Albert at lillie.albert@bc.edu for Zoom links.


2023-2024 Colloquium Schedule


October 12, 2023

Speaker:听Prof. Ilana Horn, Department of Teaching and Learning, Vanderbilt University

Time: 4:00 p.m.

Location:听Campion Hall, Room 139

Title:听Against 鈥淏est Practices鈥 in Secondary Mathematics Teaching: Lessons from Collaborative Research

Abstract:听Talk of 鈥渂est practices鈥 is everywhere in teacher education. Professional developers, school administrators, and teachers themselves talk about them all the time when they seek to improve instruction. In this talk, I will share results from a 7-year research practice partnership with exemplary secondary mathematics teachers who work in a large urban district. In our work, we collaborated with teachers to support their instructional growth. Our data reveal that, contrary to common practice, 鈥渂est practices鈥 talk shut down the exploration of complex teaching situation, thereby inhibiting teachers鈥 learning. I illustrate this through some examples, concluding that, as a field, we should move away from 鈥渂est practices鈥 language toward more expansive notions of good teaching.

February 8, 2024

Speaker:听Dr. James Tanton, Global Math Project, Co-Founder and Mathematician at Large, the Mathematical Association of America

Time:听4:00 p.m.

Location:听Campion Hall, Room 139

Title:听Quadratics and their algebra

Abstract:听Let鈥檚 explore a very standard, and somewhat dry, 听curriculum tropic 鈥 solving quadratic equations --and see how to transform it into a student experience that is meaningful, powerful, and relevant to living in the 21st century. (After all, if you want to solve a quadratic equation, just ask Siri!) Let's use this concrete example to then explore the scary question: Given that we live in a world where answers to questions are readily available, what are we math teachers actually teaching the next generation of citizens of the world? I'll share my answer to this question ... and, heads up, it is profoundly optimistic . The K-12 curriculum might still be in the 19th-century, but we can each nonetheless do right by our students of today.

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