Presentation Schedule
All paper and poster presentations can be found in the online conference program. If you are attending the conference virtually, we will utilize the Gather Town virtual space such that the space mirrors the physical in-person space. Thus, whether you are in-person or virtual you will attend all paper presentations in the room listed on the program.
All attendees can use the Gather Town space at any time, whether you are a virtual or in-person attendee. The only in-person exclusive events at Conference RUME are the in-person poster sessions. We plan to provide a space for in-person poster presenters to share digital copies of their posters.
All attendees will receive virtual space information a few days before the start of the conference. The conference program is subject to change up until the start of the conference; any changes made after the start of the conference will be announced to all attendees. Program changes after the conference begins are not typical.
Invited Plenaries
Estrella Johnson (Virginia Tech)
Plenary Title: Things You Miss When You are Looking at Something Else
Abstract: The complexities of teaching and learning are simply too much to take in all at once. As researchers, we must narrow our focus to specific phenomena in order to demarcate, structure, and make sense of our data. This specificity, combined with the theoretical and analytic perspectives we take, provides us, as researchers, with the opportunity to establish the expertise and depth needed to advance the research field and develop new theories. Throughout my early research, I focused on the implementation of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) informed curricular materials. This implementation, inquiry-oriented instruction, became my research phenomenon of choice. I studied what inquiry-oriented instruction means as an instructional practice, the challenges and affordances teachers bring to this instructional context, and how we can best support teachers’ successful implementation. My commitment to understanding, explaining, and advancing this phenomenon resulted in significant research contributions. However, my focus and commitment came with a trade-off in terms of what was not being attended to in my research context. In this talk, I will discuss some of the major findings that exemplify the nuance and depth gained by my commitment to inquiry-oriented instruction. I will also discuss important classroom phenomena that were obscured by my commitment and only started to come into focus once I began to ask different questions, look in different places, and attend to different aspects of the data.
About: Dr. Estrella Johnson is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on the pedagogical practices of mathematicians, with the goal of better understanding and supporting high-quality, ambitious teaching in undergraduate mathematics classrooms. Research projects range from investigating and supporting mathematicians as they work to implement inquiry-oriented instructional materials to large-scale national survey projects investigating instructional practice, and influences on practice, in undergraduate STEM education.
Yvonne Lai (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Plenary Title: Asset Frames in and for Research
Abstract: Mathematics education fundamentally involves disciplinary, theoretical, empirical, and experiential commitments. In this talk, I will use the case of mathematical knowledge for teaching at the secondary level to argue for asset frames in and for research. That is, we as researchers should consider not only what it means to view students, teachers, and participants from an asset perspective; we should also consider what it means to view informing commitments from an asset perspective. Along the way, I will offer potential future directions for mathematical knowledge for teaching, as well as reflections for our community for how we think of research design and reporting.
About: Yvonne Lai is the Milton E. Mohr Professor of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Through her research program, she seeks to improve the education of secondary mathematics teachers and early mathematics majors by bridging disciplinary perspectives from mathematics and education. She has been an investigator or co-investigator on projects receiving a total of nearly $8M in funding. Lai currently chairs the MAA’s Committee on the Mathematical Education of Teachers, and she founded the MAA’s Special Interest Group on Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, an organization with now over 200 members, to support mathematics faculty invested in teacher education. She is the 2024 MAA Lecturer on Teaching and Learning for the Joint Mathematics Meetings.
Michelle Friend (University of Nebraska - Omaha)
Plenary Title: Let a million flowers grow: Changing minds, hearts, (and grades) in Gen Ed courses
Abstract: At many universities, college algebra is the main – and possibly only – general education mathematics course. High failure rates and sub-optimal pedagogy reinforce students’ fear and loathing of math. At the University of Nebraska at Omaha, we leveraged interdisciplinary partnerships to radically improve gen ed math. This talk will share our story of change, as an exemplar for other schools. I will describe how to integrate computer science, service learning, and better pedagogy, in service of supporting students who are poorly served by the status quo. More importantly, the goal of this talk is to provoke you to improve your own practice through interdisciplinary ideas and partnerships.
About: Michelle Friend is an Associate Professor of Disciplinary-Based Education Research in the Teacher Education Department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is a learning scientist whose research focuses on equity in computer science, particularly young women’s interest in computing careers from middle school through adulthood, and on interdisciplinary connections between computer science and other disciplines to enhance learning in each. Since 2016, she has collaborated with the UNO Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences to create and investigate general education quantitative reasoning courses. Dr. Friend was formerly a middle school computer science teacher, and was the first female president of the Computer Science Teachers Association.
Pre-Conference Working Groups
Please click on a title for additional details. Sign up to join a working group by filling this survey out.
WG1: Fire Circles on Undergraduate Mathematics Education Research with Indigenous Communities
WG3: Research Mentoring in RUME
WG4: Research on Community College Mathematics
WG5: Research on Technology in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
WG6: Fostering Mathematical Exploration and Conjecture in Linear Algebra Using Digital Worksheets
WG7: Research in Graduate Mathematics Education
WG8: Teaching Geometry for Secondary Teachers
WG9: Stochastics Education Research
WG10: Research on College Mathematics Instructor Professional Growth