University of Washington

Studying Mathematics Education

Mathematics education is itself an active subject of investigation in the department. Although the Mathematics Department does not offer a degree in math education, it maintains close ties with the College of Education, which does. Between the Ed School and the large group of Math Department faculty who are interested in educational issues, there are ample opportunities for students who wish to learn more about such issues.

The following faculty members are particularly active in studying issues involving the teaching and learning of mathematics:

Judith M. Arms (PhD Berkeley, 1977)
Ramesh Gangolli (PhD MIT, 1961)
James R. King (PhD Berkeley, 1969)
Neal I. Koblitz (PhD Princeton, 1974)
G. Steven Monk (PhD Minnesota, 1966)
S. Paul Smith (PhD Leeds, 1981)

Virginia Warfield (PhD Brown, 1971) Here are just a couple of the projects that these and other faculty members are involved in:

Teaching and Learning Brown Bags:These informal biweekly lunch-time meetings, organized by Virginia Warfield, give department faculty and TAs an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues in mathematics education. Many of the discussions of these brown bag lunches are summarized in the teaching and learning newsletter that Dr. Warfield sends out regularly to members of the department.

Modeling Students' Understanding of Mathematics: Professor Steve Monk studies the ways in which math teachers model student understanding of mathematics, and how these models influence the way teachers present material, respond to students' questions, write exams, and assign grades. During 1999-2000, he presented these ideas in a graduate seminar titled Topics in Teaching and Learning Mathematics.