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Jul10th, 2019 by Web Specialist
The Structure of Student Teaching Can Change the Focus to Students’ Mathematical Thinking

The Structure of Student Teaching Can Change the Focus to Students’ Mathematical Thinking

Older News, Top 3 News
For many undergraduates studying in the field of math education, student teaching serves as a trial run for their real world experience. When structured correctly, student teaching can prepare students to be excellent mathematics teachers when they finally step into their own classroom. However, when the focus of the experience is on classroom management rather than on teaching the educational material, the student teacher fails to garner the skill most vital to their chosen profession: helping students to learn and understand mathematics. In 2006, Dr. Blake Peterson and Dr. Keith Leatham (current chair and associate chair of the BYU Mathematics Education Department) evaluated their traditional approach to student teaching, and then restructured the student teaching experience to better meet the needs of the student teachers and of the program. This…
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May22nd, 2019 by Web Specialist
Professor Dawn Teuscher wins research award from NCTM

Professor Dawn Teuscher wins research award from NCTM

Top 3 News
On April 3rd, 2019 Professor Dawn Teuscher along with former students Kylie Palsky and Charlie Palfreyman, received the Linking Research and Practice Outstanding Publication Award from NCTM for their co-authored article “Inverse Functions: Why Switch the Variable?” published in the March 2018 issue of Mathematics Teacher. “I was surprised by the award, but also excited to know that my work was appreciated and applicable to mathematics teachers. One of my reasons for leaving teaching in the public schools is that I wanted to influence more students than just my 180 students each year. I feel like my job now is to influence teachers, who then can influence their students. This allows me to impact more students than just those who would have taken my mathematics class.”  This award recognizes outstanding contributions to Linking…
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May21st, 2019 by Mathed Office
Dr. Blake Peterson Receives​ the Benjamin Cluff Jr. Excellence in Educator Preparation Award

Dr. Blake Peterson Receives​ the Benjamin Cluff Jr. Excellence in Educator Preparation Award

Top 3 News
On March 28th, 2019 Dr. Blake Peterson received the Benjamin Cluff Jr. Excellence in Educator Preparation award. Educator Preparation is the work to teach future K-12 teachers. Dr. Peterson has been the chair of the Department of Mathematics Education since 2014. Since then he has been very involved in recruitment. He said, “My focus is on preparing 7-12 mathematics teachers. Because of my current assignment as department chair, I have not been teaching future teachers much and my role is more with recruiting majors or working with accreditation issues across campus.” Dr. Peterson says, “Starting when the missionary age changed in the fall of 2012, we saw a 30% drop in the number of mathematics education majors. We thought those numbers would rebound after a couple of years, but the…
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Apr1st, 2019 by Mathed Office
CPR for the Common Core: Using the Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction (CMI) Framework to Unpack Standards Across a Learning Cycle

CPR for the Common Core: Using the Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction (CMI) Framework to Unpack Standards Across a Learning Cycle

Past Presentations, Top 3 News
In April of 2018, Scott Hendrickson and Sterling Hilton, a professor in Educational Leadership and Foundations presented their findings, CPR for the Common Core: Using the Comprehensive Mathematics (CMI) Framework to Unpack Standards Across a Learning Cycle of Instruction, at the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics Annual Meeting. Scott Hendrickson is a Teaching Professor who has been at BYU since 2005. The Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction (CMI) Framework developed by the Brigham Young University Public School Partnership informs teachers on how to align Common Core State Standards along a progression from emerging ideas, strategies and representations towards more robust conceptual, procedural and representational understanding. In this presentation, participants used the CMI Framework to deepen their understanding of a subset of high school standards by selecting, sequencing and connecting these standards across…
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Mar9th, 2019 by Web Specialist
How students interpret line and vector integral expressions

How students interpret line and vector integral expressions

Top 3 News
Professor Steven Jones is fascinated with how we, as humans, think and how we communicate with each other about our thoughts. He chose to teach at BYU because “It has such great students. I also have great colleagues in my department.” He has been teaching at BYU for almost six years now. In October of 2017, Jones presented his findings entitled “How students interpret line and vector integral expressions" at a mathematics conference. The basic idea of this study came from the fact that “students struggle in multivariable calculus, especially in making sense of the ideas, beyond just being able to calculate the right answers on tests. I wanted to dig in and see what I could learn about these challenges.” While this curiosity has led to a potential series…
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Jan28th, 2019 by Web Specialist
Good mentoring during student teaching pays off in first-year

Good mentoring during student teaching pays off in first-year

Top 3 News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMzUuGR1UWA&feature=youtu.be Kelly Eddington, a recent graduate now teaching at Bear River High School, has learned to enjoy her interactions with the sophomores and juniors she teaches. “As a student teacher I was a little unsure how to interact with the students and how to make connections,” said Eddington. “Just from experience and practice I have learned to connect with teenagers and get to know them as people. I am more patient with their sometimes ‘disruptive’ behavior because I see them as kids who just want to have fun.” Eddington’s experience with student teaching is not an uncommon one; many student teachers have to face realities of teaching that they did not realize existed before.  The challenges are different for all teachers, but the reality is always the same—being a new…
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Jan7th, 2019 by Mathed Office
Congratulations Brinley Stevens!!

Congratulations Brinley Stevens!!

Older News
Congratulations to Brinley Stevens who was the recipient of the Mathematics Education Outstanding Student award for Winter Semester 2019. She will be student teaching this semester and will be graduating in April 2019. We wish you the best!
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Nov27th, 2018 by Mathed Office
Congratulations Dr. Dawn Teuscher, Kylie Palsky, and Charlie Palfreyman

Congratulations Dr. Dawn Teuscher, Kylie Palsky, and Charlie Palfreyman

Top 3 News
Dawn Teuscher and two student co-authors, Kylie Palsky and Charlie Palfreyman, were given the Linking Research and Practice Outstanding Publication Award from NCTM for their article "Inverse Functions: Why Switch the Variable?" which was published in the March 2018 issue of Mathematics Teacher.  They will be honored at the NCTM Conference in April 2019 in San Diego, California.
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