Math education - M.A.

Mathematics education is in transition. The nature of mathematics content for school children and the pedagogy for teaching mathematics are changing in exciting ways. National standards for school mathematics recommend that content for students pre-K to 12 cover topics in five areas: number and numeration, data and probability, algebra, geometry, and measurement. Mathematics content is taught using a pedagogy that emphasizes problem solving, communication, connections, reasoning, and representation. New curricula are available to support teachers as they implement this new content and methodology.

The faculty's professional initiatives have focused on helping schools during this period of transition from teaching mathematics that emphasized algorithms to teaching a wider range of mathematics topics. They have also found ways to help teachers change their pedagogy style from a “teaching by telling” pedagogy to one which emphasizes conceptual understanding and problem solving.

Graduate students participate in this work as teaching assistants, research assistants in externally funded projects, and as instructors.

Other faculty initiatives include research related to the teaching and learning of specific mathematical topics. The Rational Number Project is the longest funded cooperative research project which studies children's learning of fractions and proportionality, as well as how to help teachers implement new curriculums. Graduate students have play an important role in all aspects of this project.

The mathematics education faculty supports the following programs:

1. postbaccalaureate initial licensure programs for elementary, middle school, and secondary teachers,
2. M.A. and M.Ed. programs with specializations at each of the three levels mentioned above,
3. a two-year M.A. program in mathematics conducted in conjunction with the mathematics department, and
4. a Ph.D. program in curriculum and instruction with a major emphasis in mathematics education.

A guiding philosophy encourages all students to develop a solid background in mathematics content to augment their study in pedagogy and policy. In addition, coursework in educational psychology is normally a part of each of our programs.

Faculty

• Lesa Covington Clarkson
  My research agenda focuses on mathematics in the urban classroom, specifically identifying successful strategies that increase student achievement and reducing the achievement gaps.
• Kathleen Cramer
  I am co-principal investigator for the Rational Number Project, a cooperative research program to investigate teaching and learning of fractions and proportionality among elementary and middle school students.
• Tamara Moore
  I research problem solving, mathematical modeling, and teamwork. I look at ways to teach mathematics at the secondary and post-secondary level through realistic engineering contexts using authentic assessment tasks called Model-Eliciting Activities.
• Thomas Post
  I am currently principal investigator (PI) on a National Science Foundation (NSF) project to assess the impact of standards-based middle grades and secondary high school curricula on standardized assessment instruments, and, on college level mathematics achievement and course taking patterns.
• Terry Wyberg
  I teach method courses for pre-service teachers, teacher enhancement courses for in-service teacher, and conduct teacher training workshops for the NSF funded Minneapolis and St. Paul Areas Merging to Achieve Standards Project.

Course requirements

• Summary of M.A. Plan A and Plan B requirements by track

May 2006