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Mathematics Education Research Group

The mathematics education research group at Oklahoma State University conducts educational research related to teaching and learning mathematics at the undergraduate level. Several members of our research team are involved in a statewide project to improve mathematics instructor professional development. Our group also includes practitioners who are serving as course coordinators and are involved with mentoring TAs and the preparation of preservice teachers.


Faculty

 

 

Current Grants

 

            Mathematical Inquiry Project, 2018-2023

            (NSF # )

  1. Oehrtman, A. Dorko, W. Jaco, J.P. Cook, and M. Tallman

Description: This project is a statewide collaboration among mathematics departments at the 27 public institutions of higher education in Oklahoma to foster sustainable, large-scale reforms in entry-level mathematics courses; (funding: $2,999,632 over 5 years)

 

            Mathematics Learning Resources Leadership Workshop, 2017-2019

            (NSF # 1645086)

  1. Mills, W. Jaco, and M. Tallman

Description: This grant funded two workshops for directors of mathematics learning centers and mathematics education researchers. We developed a research agenda for issues related to mathematics learning in a tutoring context and compiled resources that are useful for math center directors.

 

Current Publications:

Cook, J. P. (2019). Monster-Barring as a Catalyst for Bridging Secondary Algebra to Abstract Algebra. In Connecting Abstract Algebra to Secondary Mathematics, for Secondary Mathematics Teachers (pp. 47-70). Springer, Cham.

Rickard, B. & Mills, M. (2018) The effect of peer tutoring on course grades in Calculus I. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology. 49(3), 341-354.

Zazkis, D. & Mills, M. (2018). The roles of formalisation artefacts in students’ formalisation processes. Research in Mathematics Education, 17(3), 257-275.

 Cook, J.P. (2018). An investigation of an undergraduate student’s reasoning with zero-divisors and the zero-product property. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 49, 95-115.

 

  Cook, J.P., Zazkis, D., & Estrup, A. (2018). Rationale for matrix multiplication in linear algebra textbooks. In S. Stewart, C. Andrews-Larson, A. Berman, & M. Zandieh (Eds.), Challenges and Strategies in Teaching Linear Algebra (pp. 103-125). Springer, Cham.

 

  Zazkis, D., & Cook, J. P. (2018). Interjecting Scripting Studies into a Mathematics Education Research Program: The Case of Zero-Divisors and the Zero-Product Property. In Scripting Approaches in Mathematics Education (pp.

  205-228). Springer, Cham.

 

  Cook, J.P. & Zazkis, D. (2017). A contradiction in how introductory textbooks approach matrix multiplication? IMAGE: A Bulletin of the International 

  Linear Algebra Society, 59(2), 21-22.

 

  Cook, J. P., & Garneau, C. (2017). Challenging Students' Beliefs about Mathematics: A Liberal Arts Approach. Journal of Transformative Learning, 4(1).

 

Dawkins, P. C., & Cook, J. P. (2017). Guiding reinvention of conventional tools of mathematical logic: students’ reasoning about mathematical disjunctions. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 94(3), 241-256.

 

 Cook, J. P. (2015). Moving beyond solving for x: Teaching abstract algebra in a liberal arts mathematics course. Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies (PRIMUS), 25(3), 248-264.

 

 

 

Alumni

Current Position

Research Interests

David Miller

(Ph.D. 2006)

millerd@math.wvu.edu

Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia

Mathematical Proof, especially the transitions students make during their mathematics major; Assessment of Proofs; Worked Examples; Expository Mathematics.

Brian Fisher

(Ph. D. 2008)

Brian.Fisher@lcu.edu

Visiting Scholar, Lubbock Christian University, Lubbock, Texas

Brian is interested in educational problems throughout the calculus sequence and in addition to his work on the use of guided reinvention toC develop the formal definition of convergence he is interested in the use of physical models to develop quantitative reasoning in multivariable calculus.

Ben Wescoatt

(Ph.D. 2013) bmwescoatt@valdosta.edu

Associate Professor at Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia

 

Melissa Mills

(Ph.D. 2013)

melissa.mills@okstate.edu

Teaching Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University

Mathematics learning in the context of tutoring centers, mathematical proof

Kedar Nepal

(Ph. D. 2014)

nepal_k@mercer.edu

Assistant professor of mathematics at Mercer University, Macon, Georgia.

Students’ mathematical thought processes; self-assessments behaviors and metacognition; professional development of college mathematics instructors.

 

 

 

Emeritus Faculty

Douglas B. Aichele

 

B.A./M.A., University of Missouri/Columbia; Ed.D., University of Missouri/Columbia, 1969. He is interested generally in issues and trends related to collegiate and school mathematics education. More specifically, curriculum and teacher preparation/professional development, mathematics and science connections, entry-level mathematics curriculum and pedagogy, mathematical structures (geometric and quantitative) for prospective elementary teachers, school geometry curriculum and pedagogy.

James Choike

B.S., University of Detroit; M.S., Purdue University; Ph.D., Wayne State University, 1970.  His mathematical research interests are topics in complex analysis, especially the behavior of functions near singularities.  His work in mathematics education is focused on issues of effective strategies for teaching students connected with how students learn mathematics, curriculum development in mathematics at grades 6 – 16, issues of instructional design for technology-enhanced distance learning systems, and the design and delivery of professional development materials to mathematics teachers of grades 6 – 12, including AP Calculus.

Benny Evans

B.S., OSU; M.A./Ph.D., Michigan, 1971. Low-dimensional topology, mathematics education.

               

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