LR+D Fellows Project

Center for Mathematics Education (CFME)

LR+D Fellows Project

LessonSketch Research + Development Fellows Project (LR+D Fellows Project)

Recent technological developments have made it feasible to represent classroom work in new ways.  In addition to watching recorded videos of classroom interactions or reading written cases, teacher educators and teachers can now watch animations and image sequences, realized with cartoon characters, and made to depict activities that happened, or could have happened, in a mathematics classroom. Furthermore, teacher educators and teachers can react to such animations or image sequences by making their own depictions of alternative moves by students or teachers in classroom interaction.  And all of that can take place in an on-line, cloud-based environment that also supports discussion fora, questionnaires, and the kinds of capabilities associated with learning management systems.  Such technologies offer important affordances to teacher educators seeking to provide candidates with course-based experiences that emphasize the development of practice-based skills. 
 

The LessonSketch Research + Development Fellows Project: Developing Rich Media-based Materials for Practice-based Teacher Education (NSF Grant DRL–1316241), a joint project of the University of Maryland Center for Mathematics Education and the University of Michigan, explores how web-based resources and tools can be used to support the work of teacher educators.   A main thrust of the project involves materials development.  The project enrolled 12 fellows who have recruited inquiry groups and created and piloted mathematics teacher education materials for use in a variety of courses in pre-service mathematics teacher education programs.  Each set of materials has a unique focus which incorporates research interests of the fellow and teacher education program needs, and contributes to learning about the use of artifacts of practice in teacher education.  The project energized a national network of approximately 58 mathematics teacher educators (MTE)across the United States committed to practice-based teacher education. These MTEs utilize the LessonSketch.org platform to explore the affordances of rich media materials to support practice based teacher education. 

The project’s research examines how technological mediation affects the work of teacher educators in planning and enacting lessons for preservice teachers. Research focuses on understanding how online, rich-media resources can instrument the work of teacher educators and their students, as well as evaluating how LessonSketch functionalities respond to the needs of teacher educators and their students.

Wendy Aaron

Wendy Rose Aaron

Coordinator of the Mathematics & Statistics Learning Center
Oregon State University

Wendy’s research interests involve secondary mathematics instruction and practice-based teacher education.   Related to secondary mathematics instruction, she is interested in studenting, or the work that students do in instruction.  Further, she is interested in how the teacher, students, and mathematical content shape studenting.  By understanding the forces that influence studenting, she is concerned with expanding the opportunities that students have to engage with mathematical ideas and practices.

Related to practice-based teacher education, she is interested in how prospective teachers can be supported in learning how to do ambitious teaching. Toward this end, she has worked with the Geometry Reasoning and Instructional Practices research group at the University of Michigan in the development of LessonSketch (www.lessonsketch.org).   To see Wendy's latest work, visit www.mathpracticecycle.org
Wendy.Aaron@oregonstate.edu

Emina Alibegović
Emina Alibegović

Emina Alibegović 

Mathematics Teacher
Rowland Hall - St. Marks
Salt Lake City, Utah

Emina Alibegović received her PhD. in mathematics in 2003 and served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan (2003-2007).  She joined the University of Utah Mathematics  Department where she was an Associate Professor (Lecturer) focusing on mathematics education.  Emina has developed and taught undergraduate and graduate courses for mathematics teachers, as well as professional development opportunities through the university and in collaboration with Utah State  Office of Education.  Emina is working on geometry curriculum for pre-service teachers which attempts to bridge the divide between mathematics content and its applications to teaching. In 2016, Emina left the University of Utah to start teaching at Rowland Hall - St. Mark's, an independent school in Salt Lake City.
eminaalibegovic@rowlandhall.org

Geometry for Teachers   

Joel Amidon
Joel Amidon

Joel Amidon 

Associate Professor of
Secondary Education 

University of Mississippi

Joel’s interests lie in designing, enacting, and examining mathematics instruction that moves students to work with mathematics to analyze, question, and improve their world.  Simply put, he is interested in thinking about what it means to teach mathematics as an act of unconditional love.  He also enjoys writing autobiographical statements in the third person.

Follow Dr. Amidon 
http://mathpluslove.com
Twitter - @amidonplanet
jcamidon@olemiss.edu

Azul's Room: A Virtual  Field Placement for Learning to Teach Math    

Kristen BIeda
Dr. Kristen Bieda

Kristen Bieda

Associate Professor
Michigan State University

Kristen Bieda is an Associate Professor of Teacher Education with a focus on secondary mathematics education at Michigan State University.  She is also the Associate Director of Mathematics for the CREATE for STEM Institute.

Dr. Bieda's research focuses on supporting teachers to enact mathematical practices in middle and high school mathematics classrooms, particularly argumentation and proof, as well as the design of experiences in teacher preparation coursework that prepare prospective secondary mathematics teachers to engage all students in meaningful mathematical practices.  Along with Dr. Otten and Mathew Felton and Courtney Koestler, Dr. Bieda co-wrote a book on the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice, authoring a chapter on SMP3.  She is currently co-Editor of Mathematics Teacher Educator and her work has been published in journals such as Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Journal of Teacher Education, and Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School.
kbieda@msu.edu

Understanding and Envisioning Standard for Mathematical Practice 3

 

Orly Buchbinder
Dr. Orly Buchbinder

Orly Buchbinder

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education
University of New Hampshire

I received my Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.  My doctoral research was funded by Israeli Ministry of Education, through a special scholarship for excellent doctoral students.  Prior to pursuing my doctorate, I taught high school mathematics in Israel for eight years.

My research interests are broad, but my main focus is on mathematical reasoning, argumentation and proof.
orly.buchbinder@unh.edu

Argumentation

Lawrence Clark
Dr. Lawrence Clark

Lawrence Clark

Associate Professor
University of Maryland

Lawrence is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Maryland’s Center for Mathematics Education.  At the University of Maryland, Dr. Clark engages in research and evaluation activities focused on the influence of teachers' knowledge, experiences, beliefs, and dispositions on teacher practice and student achievement.  Dr. Clark has authored several publications in high impact U.S. and international journals including Teachers' College Record, the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, and the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education.
 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lawrence_Clark2
lmclark@umd.edu

Supporting Students' Development of Productive Perceptions of their Mathematical Ability

Sandra Crespo
Dr. Sandra Crespo

Sandra Crespo

Professor
Michigan State University

Sandra Crespo is a professor of teacher education and is interested in exploring learning environments and teaching practices that promote mathematical inquiry.  Her research has focused primarily on preservice elementary teachers and their development as learners of mathematics and mathematics teaching.  She also explores teacher groups as contexts for teacher learning and for improving the field experiences of teacher education students.  Her work crosses multiple boundaries as she conducts research in the U.S., Canada, and the Dominican Republic.  In the latter, she has been part of a curriculum reform team studying the effects of the mathematics texts the team developed for the country’s elementary and middle school grades.
crespo@msu.edu

Noticing Students' Mathematical Strengths

Karl Kosko
Dr. Karl Kosko

Karl Kosko

Associate Professor
Kent State University

Karl Kosko earned his undergraduate degree in Elementary Education, with a minor in mathematics, at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.  While teaching in the Rock Hill School District, he also received his M.Ed. in Middle-Level Education with an emphasis in mathematics.  Later, he attended Virginia Tech and earned his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Mathematics Education.  He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan with the GRIP project before taking a position at Kent State University.  His research interest focuses on semiotics in mathematics; how mathematical meaning is conveyed through action and discourse.  This focus includes studies of student engagement in and teacher facilitation of whole class mathematical discussions and mathematical argumentative writing.
kkosko1@kent.edu

Noticing of Teaching Elementary School - Mathematics

Woong Lim
Dr. Woong Lim

Woong Lim

Assistant Professor
University of New Mexico

Professor Lim is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of New Mexico since 2015.  He has a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.A. and Ed.D from the University of Houston.  He has taught mathematics (high school and college) and mathematics education (undergraduate and graduate).  Dr. Lim's scholarly interests include Mathematics Teacher Preparation, Language and Mathematics, Equitable Classroom Practices, and Classroom Discourse Assessment. 
woonglim@unm.edu
unm.academia.edu/WoongLim

Discourse and Teacher Feedback

Janet Walkoe
Dr. Janet Walkoe

Janet Walkoe

Assistant Professor
University of Maryland

Janet is a Learning Scientist and Mathematics Educator.  She earned her Doctorate from Northwestern University in the Learning Sciences in 2012.  She also holds an M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.  Before enrolling in graduate school, Janet taught high school mathematics (from 1996-2006), earning National Board Certification in 2003.  Janet's research interests include teacher noticing/ teacher responsiveness in the mathematics classroom.  In particular, she is interested in how teachers attend to and make sense of student thinking and other student resources including but not limited to student dispositions and students' ways of communicating mathematics.
jwalkoe@umd.edu

Student Thinking Interviews to Support Classroom Practice

Robert Wieman
Dr. Robert Wieman

Rob Wieman

Associate Professor
Rowan University

Dr. Robert Wieman is an Associate Professor in the Teacher Education department and the Subject Matter Education Mathematics Program Coordinator.  He obtained his B.A. from Williams College, his M.A. from CUNY and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.  Dr. Wieman’s research interests include instructional improvement in mathematics, mathematics teacher education, especially methods courses and practica, and the alignment between the two uses of video and other artifacts of practice in teacher education.  Dr. Wieman currently teaches the following courses: Teaching and Learning A: Mathematics (and practicum), Teaching and Learning B: Mathematics (and practicum) and Clinical Practice Seminar.
wieman@rowan.edu

Launching rich tasks: A LessonSketch module for teachers and teacher educators

Bill Zahner
Dr. William Zahner

Bill Zahner
Associate Professor
San Diego State University

"I am a member of the faculty in the mathematics department at San Diego State University.  My research, teaching, and service activities all focus on how we can improve mathematics learning for all students, especially English Learners and students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields.  I enjoy teaching and working with students from across grade levels, from middle school all the way through graduate school.”
bzahner@mail.sdsu.edu

Defining Exponents

Project-related Publications

    Download a copy of LR+D Fellows Project-related Publications.

 

Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Webinar Series

Materials for Practice-based Mathematics Education

The LessonSketch Research + Development Fellows Project: Developing Rich Media-based Materials for Practice-based Teacher Education (NSF Grant DRL–1316241), a joint project of the University of Maryland Center for Mathematics Education and the University of Michigan, explores how web-based resources and tools can be used to support the work of teacher educators.

Materials for Practice-based Teacher Education  

This first session will provide an overview of the LR+D project and the 12 fellows who have recruited inquiry groups and created and piloted mathematics teacher education materials for use in a variety of courses in pre-service mathematics teacher education programs. This first webinar will focus on the social context of mathematics and learning (AMTE standard C.4). Sandra Crespo (Michigan State University) will present a module which focuses PSTs on noticing students mathematical strengths (C.4.3) and Lawrence Clark (University of Maryland) will present a scenario that forces PSTs to think about power, privilege and the history of mathematics education (C.4.4).

Addressing Pedagogical Knowledge and Practices for Teaching (AMTE Standard C.2)

This second session of the four-part webinar series focuses on AMTE Indicator C.2.3 (Implement Effective Instruction). Karl Kosko (Kent State University) will present modules that incorporate video to assess elementary PSTs’ noticing of observed pedagogical moves and student thinking. PSTs will also be asked how they would follow up on specific situations. Janet Walkoe (University of Maryland) will present several modules that involve student interview videos around algebraic thinking. Woong Lim (University of New Mexico) will present an experience that asks teacher candidates to create teacher-student dialogues so they can focus on questioning strategies.  Kristen Bieda (Michigan State University) presents a module that helps PSTs understand and envision the Common Core SMP3 (Generating and Critiquing Arguments).

Addressing Opportunities to Learn in Clinical Settings (AMTE Standard P.4)

This third session of the four-part webinar series focuses on AMTE Indicator P.4.2: Sequence School-Based Experiences. Wendy Aaron (Oregon State University) presents her work which asks teachers to create anticipated depictions of a classroom lesson and then follow-up with a depiction of what actually occurs. Similarly, Joel Amidon (University of Mississippi) asks PSTs to create a prediction depiction of a one-on-one student interview on a mathematical task.  Rob Wieman (Rowan University) has PSTs focus on launching a complex task with depictions in preparation for the enactment of the task in field placements.

Addressing Opportunities to Learn to Teach Mathematics (AMTE Standard P.3)

This fourth and final part of the LR+D webinar series focuses on AMTE Indicator P.3.1 (Address Deep and Meaningful Mathematics Content Knowledge) and Elaboration HS.7 (Mathematical Content Preparation of Teachers of Mathematics at the High School Level). Orly Buchbinder (University of New Hampshire) presents two modules that focus on the roles of examples in proving.  Bill Zahner (San Diego State University) focuses on PSTs’ understanding of exponents and “rules that expire.” Emina Alibegovic (Rowland Hall-St. Marks) shares an undergraduate-level geometry course designed around three modules: axiomatic development, transformational geometry, and similarity and area. 

 

Follow the project on ResearchGate

LR+D Fellows Project publications and updates are ongoing. To keep track of these efforts, please follow our project on ResearchGate.

 

University of Maryland Team

UMD Project Team
Dan Chazan
Dr. Dan Chazan

Dan Chazan is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland.  His research interest includes animations as representations of teaching, mathematics teaching as a societal endeavor, and technology-supported, student-centered mathematics teaching.
dchazan@umd.edu

Eileen Drusjack
E. Drusjack

Eileen Drusjack is a faculty research assistant in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland.  She has been working for ThEMaT III since 2013 as a project coordinator.  drusjack@umd.edu

Dana Grosser-Clarkson
Dr. Dana Grosser-Clarkson

Dana Grosser-Clarkson is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland.  Dana is interested in practice-based teacher education and focuses on discourse in secondary mathematics classrooms. dgrosser@umd.edu

Elizabeth Fleming
Dr. Elizabeth Fleming

Elizabeth Fleming is a Mathematics Education postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland.  Her research interests include classroom interactions and positioning in undergraduate mathematics courses. fleming1@umd.edu

Angela Stoltz
Angela Stoltz

Angela Stoltz has a B.A. from the University of Delaware and an M.Ed. from Wilmington University.  Angela taught over five years of Middle School Mathematics in Delaware where she participated in the University of Delaware's, MSERC run, P-Cubed Project and Converging Curriculum Project for a total of 5 years.  She also participated in Connected Mathematics training in Delaware and at Michigan State University. Angela currently adjuncts at Frederick Community College.  She is passionate about improving mathematics education for struggling learners, including special education students, and enjoys the prospect of fostering meaningful, long-term change in education.  astoltz@umd.edu

Barbie Dunnan
Barbie Dunnan
Barbie Dunnan considers herself a life-long learner and tries to utilize those “golden moments” from every situation she encounters. Teaching and learning has been a guiding force in her life both personally  and professionally.  Barbie has a master’s degree in both mathematics education and mathematics and focused her studies and research around best practices.  She has been teaching for 12 years: 7 years in K-12 and 5 years in post-secondary.  Barbie is currently fascinated by and focusing her doctoral research around mathematical literacy and mathematics anxiety in terms of cognitive development, identity, and the relationship between literacy and anxiety. barbie@umd.edu

University of Michigan Team

UMICH Project Team
Patricio Herbst
Dr. Patricio G. Herbst

Pat Herbst is a professor of Education and Mathematics at Michigan. He studies the knowledge and rationality involved in teaching mathematics and the use of digital technologies to represent and communicate professional knowledge. pgherbst@umich.edu

Chieu Vu Minh
Dr. Chieu Vu Minh

Chieu Vu Minh has degrees in computer science and learning technologies and is a researcher at the University of Michigan, School of Education.  His current research focuses on interactive multimedia learning.   vmchieu@umich.edu

Amanda Milewski
Dr. Amanda Milewski

Amanda Milewski is a researcher at the University of Michigan that studies teachers’ instructional practices and innovative approaches for intervening in those practices through PD. She has a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education and M.A. in Mathematics.   amilewsk@umich.edu

Nicolas Boileau
Nic Boileau

Nicolas Boileau is a mathematics education Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on teacher decision-making, in particular, the role that norms play in regulating secondary geometry teachers’ instruction.  nboilea@umich.edu

Umut Gursel
Umut Gursel

Umut Gürsel is a Mathematics Education doctoral student at the University of Michigan.  She researches students’ perceptions of math classrooms and the use of digital technologies to represent and communicate professional knowledge.   ugursel@umich.edu

Srikanth Lavu image

Srikanth Lavu has an MS in Computer Science. His work mainly involves designing and developing Software Applications for the GRIP team which are used for research studies.  srikantl@umich.edu