Bard Professor Lauren Rose Receives Grant To Help Improve Mid-Hudson Valley Middle School Mathematics Education

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.––Lauren Rose, associate professor of mathematics at Bard College, received funding from the American Institute of Mathematics to bring a team of educators to the institute’s intensive weeklong program, “How to Run a Math Teachers’ Circle Workshop,” in Washington, D.C., this past July. Rose’s team comprises Jeff Suzuki (former Bard math professor and mathematician from Brooklyn College); Beth Goldberg (Bard Master of Arts in Teaching alumna and middle school teacher at the Linden Avenue Middle School, Red Hook); Sheila Shaffer (middle school teacher at Bailey Middle School, Kingston); and Dana Fulmer (administrator at the Ulster County BOCES).

Experience gained through the workshop enabled Rose and her team to launch The Mid-Hudson Math Teachers’ Circle, which strives to improve mathematics education in local middle schools by hosting bimonthly Math Teachers’ Circles throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley. Math Teachers’ Circles bring together middle school teachers and professional mathematicians to enrich teachers’ experience of problem solving and to build mathematical community.

“We organize hands-on workshops for middle school teachers that make math come alive,” says Rose. “Teachers will learn new problem-solving strategies in a fun and supportive environment, strengthen their math background, and come away with ideas for engaging students in the mathematics classroom.” Although geared toward middle school teachers, events are open to all.

Rose also anticipates joining forces with Japheth Wood (Bard Master of Arts in Teaching mathematics faculty) to provide expanded mathematics programming for local math teachers. Rose and Wood have collaborated in the past to cofound the Bard Math Circle program for elementary, middle, and high school students, which has attracted local math teachers who earn continuing education credit for attending. Wood also organizes the New York Math Circle Summer Teachers Workshop, now in its fourth year of bringing math teachers to Bard College for a weeklong mathematics immersion experience.

In keeping with Bard’s civic engagement aims, the ongoing efforts of Rose, Wood, and their collaborators will have a profound effect on the kind of mathematics that school teachers present in their classrooms. Ultimately, each teacher involved has the potential to affect thousands of students throughout his or her teaching career, bringing richer mathematical experiences into their daily lives.

For more information about The Mid-Hudson Math Teachers’ Circle and the forthcoming Math Teachers’ Circle for middle school teachers, please contact Lauren Rose at [email protected].

About the American Institute of Mathematics
The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1994 by Silicon Valley businessmen John Fry and Steve Sorenson, longtime supporters of mathematical research. The goals of AIM are to expand the frontiers of mathematical knowledge through focused research projects, through sponsored conferences, and through the development of an on-line mathematics library. In addition, AIM is interested in helping to preserve the history of mathematics through the acquisition and preservation of rare mathematical books and documents and in making these materials available to scholars of mathematical history. www.aimath.org

The MTC (Mathematics Teachers’ Circle) Network was founded in 2006 and is a project of the American Institute of Mathematics. It includes Member Circles through the United States, which are informal gatherings led by mathematicians in which students work collaboratively on engaging, open-ended math problems, and also offers materials, resources and logistical support to help the MTC succeed. www.mathteacherscircle.org


 

 

This event was last updated on 10-08-2012

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