Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Arizona
Engaging students in actively learning mathematics can be a challenging endeavor! Research in STEM education supports the advancement of instructional strategies that deepen students’ thinking through active learning, yet the uptake of such strategies has been minimal in post-secondary mathematics. This presentation will focus on sharing research findings from two large projects aimed at infusing active learning in university and community college mathematics courses.
For over 25 years, April Strom’s primary passion has been teaching mathematics at the community college. She currently teaches at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Arizona, which is part of the Maricopa County Community College District. As an active member of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), April has served as the AMATYC Southwest Vice President and she was also the founding chair of AMATYC’s Research Committee. In addition, April served as the MAA Vice President and she is active in two MAA Special Interest Groups — Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) and Mathematical Knowledge for Teachers (MKT) —and serves as a member of MAA’s Committee on the Mathematical Education of Teachers (COMET), Committee on Sessions of Contributed Papers, and JMM MAA Invited Address Committee. April served as lead contributing author and editor for AMATYC’s recent publication called IMPACT and she also served on MAA’s Steering Committee for the Instructional Practices Guide.
April enjoys working with teachers in K-16 and has been a leader in various professional development projects to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics. She served as the Principal Investigator for the Arizona Mathematics Partnership, an NSF-funded project focused on professional development for middle school mathematics teachers (DUE #1103080, $9M), and she is currently a Co-PI on two NSF-funded projects: Teaching for Prowess (DUE #2013493, 2013232, 2012962, $3M) and Algebra Instruction @ Community Colleges project (DUE #1561436, $2.3M). She also served as senior personnel on the Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning (SEMINAL) project funded by NSF (DUE #1624643, $3M).