Say something about yourself and your hopes after you receive your PhD.
Posted at Aug 06/2018 09:44PM: Stu 3: My name is Stu 3 Villatoro. I earned both an M.A. and a M.A.T. In mathematics from UCDavis in 2006. I spent most of the last 12 years teaching at the community college level. Recently I was involved in a lot of committee work that reminded me that I wanted to be a part of improving math education and made me realize that I do not currently know how to make the kind of impact I want to. I am hoping to learn how to conduct research that I can use to help improve the quality of our math education at the college level. I am not sure what that will look like once I graduate, but am excited about what I will get to learn in the coming years.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 01:31PM: Stu 8: Hello, I am Stu 8. I am very excited to start my first year of the math ed program at ASU. Education has been a long-held interest for me as I have found both through personal experience and observation that students can really thrive and learn a great deal when given the chance. Since high school, I have also found that I really enjoy mathematics with all of its conjecturing, proofs, and problem-solving. My hope is that the education and experiences I receive here will help me to foster an interest for learning mathematics and critical thinking in other students. Outside of math education, I enjoy playing the piano and listening to classical music, learning about random science facts, and other hobbies.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 03:02PM: Stu 2: Hi ! My name is Stu 2 Guy. I am from Atlanta, GA and this is my first year here at Arizona State. I received my B.S. in Mathematics at Valdosta State, then my M.S. in Mathematics. I taught one year of College Algebra at the collegiate level, which was alot of fun. I am excited to start this program in math ed. I have kinda started my research a little bit on the conceptual understanding of variables and their misconceptions ( I might change it a little bit). I plan are learning more about how to conduct, think, and analyze the improvement of mathematical thinking at the collegiate level and high school.
I love to travel, eat, venture out into the world, and always open to new ideas and events! Very excited to be working with you all!
Posted at Aug 07/2018 03:02PM: Stu 7: Hello everyone, I am Stu 7. I have always wanted to be a math teacher, but as my undergrad came to an end I realized I wanted to know more and eventually teach higher math. This is my first year here at ASU and I am super excited to be going for my PhD in Math Ed. I am from Fresno, California, but went to school in Los Angeles California for the last 3 years as an undergraduate. I played in division II softball as an undergrad and eventually want to get back to playing it in the future. I am really excited to get my feet wet in research as well as more Analysis! Some things I do on my off time are water sports(wake-board) as well as other sports.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 05:39PM: Stu 6: My name is Stu 6 Sullivan. I have been teaching mathematics since 2002. I started in high school, taught at the community college, worked in professional development with K-12 teachers across Arizona, and now teach full-time at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus. I've always enjoyed doing mathematics and watching how others experience mathematics. I have experienced changing views of teaching and learning mathematics over the last 15 years. My focus has been on the interplay of conceptual understanding and procedural understanding. I look forward to studying that interplay and researching how 21 century needs affect and define mathematics teaching and learning. What is mathematics in the 21st century? What is the focus of mathematical needs in a global society? How can the teaching and learning of mathematics capitalize on problem solving and critical thinking? I look forward to meeting new people and discussing new ideas. If you catch me outside of class it will probably be at trivia night.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 09:44PM: Stu 4: My name is Stu 4 Eckman. I am from southeast Idaho and graduated in 2013 with a B. S. in mathematics education from Brigham Young University-Idaho. My undergraduate university focused a lot on teaching methods and techniques, which I have used for the last five years teaching high school in Holbrook, Arizona.
I'm sure that my ideas for research will change in the coming years, but right now I am very interested in studying how to motivate students to better engage in conceptual mathematics. As a high-school teacher, I saw first-hand that most students prefer rote memorization of algorithms to actual thoughtful engagement with mathematical concepts. Is there a way to present conceptual mathematics and teach metacognitive skills such that a typical student will come to enjoy, relish, and motivate themselves to think proactively and creatively about mathematical concepts? Furthermore, how can mathematics teachers synthesize this process with other disciplines and real life conflicts and situations?
Posted at Aug 08/2018 07:04AM: Stu 1: Hi everyone, I am Stu 1! I am from Iowa (a.k.a. God's country) and I extremely excited to be starting my first year here! I just finished my B.S. in Mathematics Education at Western Illinois University. During my time as an undergrad I had the opportunity to be a TA for a college algebra course for three semesters, and I also went through multiple student teaching experiences. During all of my teaching experiences I noticed how limited students' mathematical reasoning is, and that many of them viewed mathematics as nothing more than an algorithmic process. While at ASU, I am interested in studying cognitive issues of students’ understanding and learning of mathematics. I am also extremely interested in studying what pedagogical practices lead to a more robust understanding of mathematics.
Posted at Aug 08/2018 07:52PM: Stu 9: Hey all! My name is Stu 9 Bettersworth. I am from Bowling Green, Kentucky (where Corvettes come from). I am very excited to continue my educational journey with all of you. A little bit about me, I received my BS in Mathematics and Physics from Georgetown College, where I met my now wife Aimee. She's amazing and has been very supportive of me and my want to pursue my PhD at ASU. Aimee has her Master's degree in Student Affairs and Higher Education, so we often discuss how to solve the world's educational problems over wine and cheese. After leaving Georgetown, my wife and I went on to pursue our Master's degrees at the behest of faculty mentors. We both received our Master's from the same institution, and thus I received my MS in Mathematics from Western Kentucky University. My research was in the field of Knot Theory which is a field of mathematics housed under the Topology umbrella. I got a real taste of publishing in the Pure Mathematics realm and to be honest it has sometimes been discouraging. After graduating from WKU I was fortunate enough to be hired on as a full-time instructor teaching developmental mathematics to at-risk URM students.
While at WKU, I volunteered my time at an academic Makerspace and helped co-write a NSF EPSCOR grant to help fund applied mathematics workshops to be implemented in my classroom. As such, I would like to further investigate how maker activities and hands-on learning helps students develop self-efficacy in STEAM fields and how this translates to success in a traditional math course. I am curious to further explore what motivates students, how to develop carefully scaffolded teaching materials that keep student cognition in mind, and I want to learn and better understand what is being done in the field of mathematics education. When not mathing, I like to play guitar, fix and repair electric guitars, read science fiction and fantasy novels (currently the Wheel of Time), travel on a budget, and play board games with friends.
Posted at Aug 19/2018 08:07PM: Franklin: Hello my name is Franklin Yu! I'm from Southern California (LA/OC). I went to UCIrvine for my Undergrad and majored in Sociology and minored in Education and Mathematics. I also got my Masters in Mathematics at CSUF. Throughout all the schooling, I taught College Algebra, Calc 1/2, and some hybrid of Series and Matrices. I took RUME 1 last year, but will be sitting in this year to be a part of the discussions!
My hopes after getting a Ph.D. would be to be a professor somewhere that does a solid mix of teaching as well as research on student thinking.
Fun facts about me: I have an older brother named Benjamin, so together we are Benjamin Franklin. I love food, food is my love language.
Posted at Aug 20/2018 03:52PM: Stu 5: Hi everyone! My name is Stu 5. I'm in the math masters program now, but I'm planning to apply to the math education PhD for next fall. I've taken most of the undergraduate math education classes here, and I've been tutoring math at Glendale Community College for five years. Both of these experiences have really changed my perspective about what it means to do and understand mathematics.
I think that mathematics should be used to help people understand the world and various problems facing humanity. Many students have never had the opportunity to connect mathematics to their daily lives in any meaningful way. For example, math could be used to put the devastation of war into perspective, or students could look at the complexity of trying to define and recognize gerrymandering of political districts. I feel that so much more could be done in classrooms to help improve the world that we all share.
Besides spending too much time thinking and worrying about complicated problems, I really like listening to The Beatles (maybe too much), reading, and watching nerdy YouTube channels. :)
Posted at Aug 06/2018 09:44PM:
Stu 3: My name is Stu 3 Villatoro. I earned both an M.A. and a M.A.T. In mathematics from UCDavis in 2006. I spent most of the last 12 years teaching at the community college level. Recently I was involved in a lot of committee work that reminded me that I wanted to be a part of improving math education and made me realize that I do not currently know how to make the kind of impact I want to. I am hoping to learn how to conduct research that I can use to help improve the quality of our math education at the college level. I am not sure what that will look like once I graduate, but am excited about what I will get to learn in the coming years.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 01:31PM:
Stu 8: Hello, I am Stu 8. I am very excited to start my first year of the math ed program at ASU. Education has been a long-held interest for me as I have found both through personal experience and observation that students can really thrive and learn a great deal when given the chance. Since high school, I have also found that I really enjoy mathematics with all of its conjecturing, proofs, and problem-solving. My hope is that the education and experiences I receive here will help me to foster an interest for learning mathematics and critical thinking in other students. Outside of math education, I enjoy playing the piano and listening to classical music, learning about random science facts, and other hobbies.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 03:02PM:
Stu 2: Hi ! My name is Stu 2 Guy. I am from Atlanta, GA and this is my first year here at Arizona State. I received my B.S. in Mathematics at Valdosta State, then my M.S. in Mathematics. I taught one year of College Algebra at the collegiate level, which was alot of fun. I am excited to start this program in math ed. I have kinda started my research a little bit on the conceptual understanding of variables and their misconceptions ( I might change it a little bit). I plan are learning more about how to conduct, think, and analyze the improvement of mathematical thinking at the collegiate level and high school. I love to travel, eat, venture out into the world, and always open to new ideas and events! Very excited to be working with you all!
Posted at Aug 07/2018 03:02PM:
Stu 7: Hello everyone, I am Stu 7. I have always wanted to be a math teacher, but as my undergrad came to an end I realized I wanted to know more and eventually teach higher math. This is my first year here at ASU and I am super excited to be going for my PhD in Math Ed. I am from Fresno, California, but went to school in Los Angeles California for the last 3 years as an undergraduate. I played in division II softball as an undergrad and eventually want to get back to playing it in the future. I am really excited to get my feet wet in research as well as more Analysis! Some things I do on my off time are water sports(wake-board) as well as other sports.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 05:39PM:
Stu 6: My name is Stu 6 Sullivan. I have been teaching mathematics since 2002. I started in high school, taught at the community college, worked in professional development with K-12 teachers across Arizona, and now teach full-time at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus. I've always enjoyed doing mathematics and watching how others experience mathematics. I have experienced changing views of teaching and learning mathematics over the last 15 years. My focus has been on the interplay of conceptual understanding and procedural understanding. I look forward to studying that interplay and researching how 21 century needs affect and define mathematics teaching and learning. What is mathematics in the 21st century? What is the focus of mathematical needs in a global society? How can the teaching and learning of mathematics capitalize on problem solving and critical thinking? I look forward to meeting new people and discussing new ideas. If you catch me outside of class it will probably be at trivia night.
Posted at Aug 07/2018 09:44PM:
Stu 4: My name is Stu 4 Eckman. I am from southeast Idaho and graduated in 2013 with a B. S. in mathematics education from Brigham Young University-Idaho. My undergraduate university focused a lot on teaching methods and techniques, which I have used for the last five years teaching high school in Holbrook, Arizona.
I'm sure that my ideas for research will change in the coming years, but right now I am very interested in studying how to motivate students to better engage in conceptual mathematics. As a high-school teacher, I saw first-hand that most students prefer rote memorization of algorithms to actual thoughtful engagement with mathematical concepts. Is there a way to present conceptual mathematics and teach metacognitive skills such that a typical student will come to enjoy, relish, and motivate themselves to think proactively and creatively about mathematical concepts? Furthermore, how can mathematics teachers synthesize this process with other disciplines and real life conflicts and situations?
Posted at Aug 08/2018 07:04AM:
Stu 1: Hi everyone, I am Stu 1! I am from Iowa (a.k.a. God's country) and I extremely excited to be starting my first year here! I just finished my B.S. in Mathematics Education at Western Illinois University. During my time as an undergrad I had the opportunity to be a TA for a college algebra course for three semesters, and I also went through multiple student teaching experiences. During all of my teaching experiences I noticed how limited students' mathematical reasoning is, and that many of them viewed mathematics as nothing more than an algorithmic process. While at ASU, I am interested in studying cognitive issues of students’ understanding and learning of mathematics. I am also extremely interested in studying what pedagogical practices lead to a more robust understanding of mathematics.
Posted at Aug 08/2018 07:52PM:
Stu 9: Hey all! My name is Stu 9 Bettersworth. I am from Bowling Green, Kentucky (where Corvettes come from). I am very excited to continue my educational journey with all of you. A little bit about me, I received my BS in Mathematics and Physics from Georgetown College, where I met my now wife Aimee. She's amazing and has been very supportive of me and my want to pursue my PhD at ASU. Aimee has her Master's degree in Student Affairs and Higher Education, so we often discuss how to solve the world's educational problems over wine and cheese. After leaving Georgetown, my wife and I went on to pursue our Master's degrees at the behest of faculty mentors. We both received our Master's from the same institution, and thus I received my MS in Mathematics from Western Kentucky University. My research was in the field of Knot Theory which is a field of mathematics housed under the Topology umbrella. I got a real taste of publishing in the Pure Mathematics realm and to be honest it has sometimes been discouraging. After graduating from WKU I was fortunate enough to be hired on as a full-time instructor teaching developmental mathematics to at-risk URM students. While at WKU, I volunteered my time at an academic Makerspace and helped co-write a NSF EPSCOR grant to help fund applied mathematics workshops to be implemented in my classroom. As such, I would like to further investigate how maker activities and hands-on learning helps students develop self-efficacy in STEAM fields and how this translates to success in a traditional math course. I am curious to further explore what motivates students, how to develop carefully scaffolded teaching materials that keep student cognition in mind, and I want to learn and better understand what is being done in the field of mathematics education. When not mathing, I like to play guitar, fix and repair electric guitars, read science fiction and fantasy novels (currently the Wheel of Time), travel on a budget, and play board games with friends.
Posted at Aug 19/2018 08:07PM:
Franklin: Hello my name is Franklin Yu! I'm from Southern California (LA/OC). I went to UCIrvine for my Undergrad and majored in Sociology and minored in Education and Mathematics. I also got my Masters in Mathematics at CSUF. Throughout all the schooling, I taught College Algebra, Calc 1/2, and some hybrid of Series and Matrices. I took RUME 1 last year, but will be sitting in this year to be a part of the discussions!
My hopes after getting a Ph.D. would be to be a professor somewhere that does a solid mix of teaching as well as research on student thinking.
Fun facts about me: I have an older brother named Benjamin, so together we are Benjamin Franklin. I love food, food is my love language.
Posted at Aug 20/2018 03:52PM:
Stu 5: Hi everyone! My name is Stu 5. I'm in the math masters program now, but I'm planning to apply to the math education PhD for next fall. I've taken most of the undergraduate math education classes here, and I've been tutoring math at Glendale Community College for five years. Both of these experiences have really changed my perspective about what it means to do and understand mathematics.
I think that mathematics should be used to help people understand the world and various problems facing humanity. Many students have never had the opportunity to connect mathematics to their daily lives in any meaningful way. For example, math could be used to put the devastation of war into perspective, or students could look at the complexity of trying to define and recognize gerrymandering of political districts. I feel that so much more could be done in classrooms to help improve the world that we all share.
Besides spending too much time thinking and worrying about complicated problems, I really like listening to The Beatles (maybe too much), reading, and watching nerdy YouTube channels. :)