MST professors continually work on innovative research. Their work spans everything from testing, tinkering, and games to racial and gender equity in mathematics education, and their book publications reflect the wide range of research interests within the department. Four members’ books about their work were published in 2022: Professor Alexander Karp (Mathematics Education), Professor Nathan Holbert (CMLTD), Professor Nicholas Wasserman (Mathematics Education), and Professor Lalitha Vasudevan (CMLTD). Below, you can learn about these exciting new projects:
Advances in the History of Mathematics Education
Professor Alexander Karp is the Editor of Advances in the History of Mathematics Education, a collection of studies in the history of mathematics education which were presented at the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction Congress in 2021. Topics covered range from the formation and development of mathematics education for women to the creation forms of student assessment as entrance exams to higher educational institutions. As Professor Karp’s research focuses on gifted education, problem solving, and the history of mathematics education, this book speaks directly to his dedication to documenting historical developments within mathematics education. “The book is of interest not only to historians of mathematics education, but also to wide segments of specialists in other areas of mathematics education” (book description). Advances in the History of Mathematics Education is a valuable resource for math education professors, practitioners, historians, and math researchers. Available on Bookshop.org.
Playful Testing: Designing a Formative Assessment Game for Data Science
Playful Testing: Designing a Formative Assessment Game for Data Science is a book co-authored by CMLTD Professor Nathan Holbert, Senior Researcher for SRI Education Daisy Rustein, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Matthew Berland. The book is a collection of insights from the team’s three years of research which resulted in the creation of Beats Empire, a game designed for the formative assessment of computer science and data science skills. In line with Professor Holbert’s commitments to playful learning tools and assessment, design thinking, and equity, this book is an example of what it looks like to design, develop, and implement an assessment game. Instructional designers, technologists, educators, and graduate students in the field can all glean valuable insights from this book. It is available on bookshop.org and Barnes & Noble, as well as most other book retailers. You can also hear more about Professor Holbert’s play-based research on TC DFI’s Pop and Play podcast.
Understanding Analysis and its Connections to Secondary Mathematics Teaching
Professor Nicholas Wasserman, alongside professors from Temple University, Rutgers University, and Middlebury College, co-authored a textbook titled Understanding Analysis and its Connections to Secondary Mathematics Teaching. “This supplemental textbook is intended for secondary mathematics teachers in a real analysis course” (book description). Most of Professor Wasserman’s research focuses on secondary teachers’ (advanced) mathematical knowledge and development, primarily in the context of two tertiary mathematics courses: Abstract Algebra and Real Analysis. This book is a continuation of Professor Wasserman’s research in this area. Understanding Analysis and its Connections to Secondary Mathematics Teaching is available at Barnes & Noble, among a number of other book retailers.
Collaborative Research in Theory and Practice: The Poetics of Letting Go
Co-authored by CMLTD Professor and Vice Dean for Digital Innovation, Lalitha Vasudevan, Collaborative Research in Theory and Practice: The Poetics of Letting Go outlines an alternative frame for collaborative research. The book was written and edited with Professor Kate Pahl of Manchester Metropolitan University and Professor Richard Steadman-Jones of the University of Sheffield. “Using the concepts of ‘letting go’ (the recognition that research is always in a state of becoming) and 'poetics’ (using an approach that might interrupt and remake the conventions of research), it envisions collaborative research as a space where relationships are forged with the use of arts-based and multimodal ways of seeing, inquiring and representing ideas” (book overview). As a practitioner of participatory, ethnographic, and multimodal methodologies, Professor Vasudevan reflects on more than 20 years of experience doing collaborative research. This book is essential reading for researchers engaged in (youth) participatory action research, community engaged research, and researchers and practitioners involved in collaborative research more broadly. Collaborative Research in Theory and Practice: The Poetics of Letting Go is available on bookshop.org and Barnes & Noble, among a variety of other book sellers.