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Academic Areas & Divisions
Curriculum & Instruction
Student Profiles: Mathematics Education
Educational Technology | Language & Literacy | Mathematics Education | Multicultural Education | Science Education | Social Studies Education | Teaching and Curriculum
Nicole Bannister
I am a 5th year PhD student in the Learning Sciences program, and have background experiences as a high school math teacher (my first love), math coach, and professional development leader for math teachers. I focus my studies on on secondary 
mathematics education and teacher learning, and am curious about how participation in a teacher community influences teachers’ understanding of critical aspects of teaching.
I'm still working on my ideas, which stem from my ongoing experiences with two 9th grade mathematics teacher teams in urban schools who chose to adopt a progressive pedagogy and curriculum to create better learning opportunities for all of their students, including a purposeful focus on supporting struggling students. Through my work with Lani Horn and the PD3 project, I have been fortunate to have a integral role with the development and support of these teams, including studying their daily collaborative period and continued professional development (Complex Instruction training, Video Club, IMP curriculum training). Most recently I had the opportunity to join one of the teams as a coaching-teaching member by teaching 2 sections of 9th grade math, which gave me insider access to teachers' sensemaking and practices. I am looking forward to better understanding these ideas with my dissertation study, and am interested in chatting with other people about them. I always learn so much from the people around me! When I'm not writing, I enjoy hanging out with my husband and friends, reading for fun, watching movies/TV, cooking, going on road trips, and playing board games.
Andy Coons 
I’m one of the crazy ones that continue to teach while pursuing my PhD in Curriculum and Instruction. I’ve been a middle school math teacher for over ten years and am heavily involved in National Board advocacy and facilitation. My graduate research focuses on math coaching models of teacher professional development. I’m interested in how district organizational structures as well as individual relational factors such as status and power effect math teacher utilization of coaching resources. I’m currently using a framework based in both Sociocultural and Organizational Learning Theories to study how different district coaching models shape the practice of math coaching work. I want to know what conditions help and hinder math coaching and how districts and individuals address these conditions. Finally, I’m interested in how those involved in the coaching process; math teachers, district leaders and coaches themselves define the effectiveness of their work. All my free time is spent with my family which consists of a one year old, a four year old, a teenage nephew and my very supportive and encouraging wife.
Adrian Cunard
I am in the third year of my doctoral studies and am interested in the pedagogy of Teacher Education in Mathematics. I was an elementary teacher for many years as well as a math coach before beginning my graduate work.
I love to spend time with my family as well as to cook and work in the garden.
Joan Davis
I am a Learning Sciences doctoral student and a graduate research assistant in the LIFE Center. In my previous life, I developed software for educational research and development projects and workgroup applications for the corporate world. My research interests include teachable agent environments and the development of reasoning, problem solving, and analytical skills. My other-life interests include running, jazz and traveling (on a budget).
Bill Day
I am entering the first year of my master's program. In addition to my course work, I serve as a research assistant to Lisa Jilk on the Scaling Math project. My research interests include equity issues, professional learning communities, and literacy instruction in mathematics classrooms. Prior to joining the College of Education, I taught high school math in private and charter high schools in Maine and Washington, DC, respectively. Most recently at my charter school in DC, I served as an instructional coach and facilitator of a professional learning community. I earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Bowdoin College. Outside of study and work, I enjoy biking, tennis, reading, bowling, movies, music, and many other activities. I am originally from Minnesota, which makes me a big Twins and Vikings fan.
Teresa Dunleavy 
I am a C&I doctoral student in Math Education. I taught high school math in Minnesota for 6 years, including AP Statistics, Geometry, Algebra 2, Algebra, Integrated 2, and Integrated 3. Before coming to the University of Washington as a full-time student, I started pursuing a PhD in C&I part time at the University of MN, while teaching. I earned an MAT in Math and Physics in 2002 at Duke University in 2002 and a BA in Physics at Lawrence University in 2000. My research interests involve students who typically struggle in mathematics. I am interested in how identity, status, and equity play into success in mathematics.
Mandy Hubbard
I am a doctoral candidate in the Learning Sciences program, and currently work part time at a local independent school as a 1st and 2nd grade teacher/math specialist.
I also serve as a mentor for Reel Grrls (an after school program teaching media literacy and film production), and lead professional development with the Mathematics Education Project. Through my facilitation and research I seek to better understand and support teacher learning across the career trajectory, particularly through practice-based professional education in elementary mathematics. I am also interested in how P-12 students negotiate participation across multiple contexts and subject matters. This line of inquiry places concerns about equity at the center of my work and explores how school subjects, particularly mathematics, can provide access to ways of critically engaging with the world.
Sheldon Levias
I am a Ph.D. student in the University of Washington’s Learning Sciences program. Previously, I worked in the Seattle School District as a middle school math and science teacher, and as a science resource teacher. I have also done freelance video work, including running camera for Comcast On Demand in Snohomish County, and as a lead researcher for a PBS television series
As a graduate student, my research focus is qualitatively studying mathematical practices in informal settings, specifically consequential financial decisions that families make. In order to do this work, I am integrating my other main interest, which is the use of video as a tool for learning. I use video both as a means for capturing interviews and family interactions, and then as an object for analysis.
Becca Lewis
I am working on a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in the area of Elementary Math
Education. Before coming to UW, I spent five years teaching 4th & 5th grade in Tacoma, WA. My interests include: how students construct mathematical knowledge, how students communicate about mathematics, and educators' professional learning in the area of mathematics. When I'm not in class or writing papers, I can be found skiing or riding my bike.
Lauren Persky
I came to the PhD program after teaching high school math in Mexican immigrant and migrant farm working communities for twelve years. My strengths as a teacher involved building relationships with my students that enabled empowerment and mutual respect. As a doctoral student I have worked on a research project that has helped teachers develop a community of practice around the implementation of complex instruction in schools with large populations of traditionally under-served students. Our eye has been on equitable teaching practices for student empowerment. My research goals incorporate my teaching experience as I think about the community that is developed in a complex instruction mathematics classroom through relational pedagogy. I am thinking about student's perspectives and the motivational element that may be present.
Nicole Russell
I am a mathematics instructional coach at TAF Academy, a 6th – 12th grade public school in Federal Way. The Technology Access Foundation (TAF) organization
developed a private partnership with Federal Way public schools and provides additional financial and technological support for the student body. The significance of this institution lies within the beliefs and rationale for its creation and embodies my research interests. TAF has over 80% minority student population and the curriculum is project based learning with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) framework. This school was founded to test the notion of the “achievement gap,” which TAF Academy Founder; Trish Millines Dziko believes is really an “access gap.”
I am a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in math education and multicultural education. My primary research interests are in teacher math education, minority parent/student empowerment in mathematics, and examining the Eurocentric nature of mainstream mathematics—its segregated image, content, and pedagogy.
Helen Thouless 
I am a third year student in the Learning Sciences program, with an emphasis in mathematics education. I am interested in studying how to teach mathematics to students with learning disabilities. My current research focuses on what students with language delays can learn by engaging in instructional activities that encourage the communication of mathematical ideas. As well as studying at the university, I also teach mathematics to 2nd and 3rd graders in a Seattle Public School. Prior to this job I taught students with learning disabilities and other special needs. I have also taught English and science at a primary school in Tanzania. When not working or studying, I can be found at the local fencing club or hiking.
Maria Zavala
I am a doctoral candidate in the learning sciences, with an emphasis on K-12 mathematics education. At UW I have been a teaching assistant in the elementary teacher education program in multicultural education and math methods course, and have taught courses in the UW Tacoma and UW Seattle teacher education programs. Since arriving in Seattle five years ago, I have been involved with Seattle schools as a volunteer and active in the College of Education's student organizations, primarily Educators for Social Justice and the Associated students of the College of Education.
My dissertation study focuses on the mathematical identities of Latino/a students. I collected data fall to spring of 2010-2011 in two high school algebra classes. I have been able to do this work with the valuable assistance of a GO-MAP dissertation fellowship. When not diligently working on my dissertation, I play water polo, ride my bicycle, take pictures, and travel.
Recent Mathematics Education Graduates
Allison Hintz
Allison Hintz is an assistant professor in the Education Program at University of Washington, Bothell. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of student learning, elementary mathematics, classroom discourse, and teacher development. Her current research focuses on the mathematical and interactional demands students experience during discussion with care for supporting all children through mathematically productive and socially supportive discourse.
Megan Kelley-Petersen
As a former elementary teacher and math coach in Seattle Public Schools, I found myself seeking to further my own learning and interest in supporting and improving elementary math education. This led me to completing my PhD in Curriculum & Instruction (with a focus in elementary math education) at the University of Washington in June, 2010. I am currently a Research Associate at the College of Education at the UW and continue to be interested in research that seeks to learn from and improve teacher education, in both the contexts of professional development for practicing teachers as well as in teacher education programs for beginning teachers. While I find research to be incredibly exciting, I am also grateful to be able to continue to hone my practice as a teacher educator by facilitating professional development through my affiliation with the Mathematics Education Project as well as being an adjunct professor in the Teacher Education Program.
Sunshine Campbell
Prior to beginning my graduate work at the University of Washington, I spent eight years in the classroom as a middle and high school math teacher. I have also worked as a middle school math coach. Currently, I hold a regular faculty position at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. I teach in the Masters of Education Program which offers a Masters degree and a secondary mathematics certification for practicing teachers. My research interests include ways to support new and practicing teachers as they learn to implement effective and equitable teaching practices for secondary mathematics. I am also interested in teacher learning, specifically the ways in which teacher education can better connect university experiences to classroom experiences for pre-service teachers. My personal interests include spending time in the wilderness with my family and training for races such as Hood to Coast and Ski to Sea.
Andrea S. Levy, Ed.D.
I am a tenured mathematics professor at Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) where I teach developmental math and math for elementary school teachers. At SCCC, I am actively involved in the Transition Math Project, working with the Seattle Schools to improve the transition of students moving from applied math at the high school level into workforce training programs at the community college level. At my work website, http://seattlecentral.edu/faculty/alevy/, you will find a link to my dissertation, curriculum vita, and teaching philosophy and professional development plan.
I earned my doctorate in curriculum and instruction at the University of Washington in December of 2005. My dissertation examined math methods course curriculum and the pedagogy used to train secondary math teachers. Prior to working on my doctorate, I taught math at the junior high and high school levels in both the Lake Washington and Bellevue School districts.
Curriculum & Instruction
Faculty
- Banks, James
- Barajas-Lopez, Filiberto
- Dabach, Dafney Blanca
- Frederiksen, John
- Gay, Geneva
- Gehrke, Nathalie (Emeritus)
- Glenn, Allen (Emeritus)
- Hebard, Heather
- Kazemi, Elham
- Kerr, Stephen
- McDonald, Morva
- Parker, Walter
- Stritikus, Tom
- Thompson, Jessica
- Valencia, Sheila
- Varghese, Manka
- Windschitl, Mark
- Zeichner, Ken
- Lecturers, Researchers and Teaching Associates