Dr. Kathleen Clark

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education
Core Faculty, FSU-Teach
Phone: (850) 644-8497
Email: drkclark@gmail.com

Dr. Kathleen M. Clark is interested in how a historical perspective can be used in the teaching of mathematics, as well as how the study of the history of mathematics contributes to both teachers’ and students’ understanding of mathematics. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2006, where she was a doctoral fellow at the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning (MAC-MTL). Prior to her graduate work at Maryland, she spent one year on Capitol Hill as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow. As an Einstein Fellow she assisted in the educational policy efforts of the United States Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Dr. Clark spent 14 years as a high school mathematics teacher, teaching in a variety of contexts (urban, gifted, and residential environments) in both Florida and Mississippi. She is an active member of a variety of professional organizations, including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), the History of Science Society (HSS), the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). In July 2009 she was appointed Associate Editor for Convergence!, an online journal offered through the MAA, which offers a “wealth of resources to help teach mathematics using its history”.

Dr. Clark is interested in a variety of other research topics including: planning, implementing, and studying the professional development of in-service teachers; investigating the development of mathematics teacher educators; and identifying the problem-solving actions and behaviors of undergraduate students.
For the 2009 calendar year, Dr. Clark was awarded a research fellowship in the history of mathematics by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, NZ). While there, she worked with Dr. Clemency Montelle and concentrated on conducting original historical research. She currently specializes in the history of logarithms and is working on a critical edition of Joost Bürgi’s Arithmetische und Geometrische Progress Tabulen (Prague, 1620).

Recent Publications

Clark, K. M., Kotsopoulos, D., & Morselli, F. (2009). What are the practices of mathematics teacher educators? Proceedings of the 33rd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Robson, E., & Clark, K. (2009). The cuneiform tablet collection of Florida State University. Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, 2009:2.

Clark, K. M. (2009). Observing and conferencing with a focus. In G. Zimmermann (Ed.), Empowering the mentor of the preservice mathematics teacher (pp. 18-20). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Clark, K. M. (2008). Heeding the call: History of mathematics and the preparation of secondary mathematics teachers. In F. Arbaugh & P. M. Taylor (Eds.), Inquiry into mathematics teacher education: Association of mathematics teacher educators (AMTE) monograph series, Volume 5 (pp. 85-95).

Clark, K., & Robson, E. (2008). Ancient accounting in the modern mathematics classroom, British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM) Bulletin, 23(3), 129 – 142.

Clark, K. M., & Dickey, L. (2008). The FSU cuneiform tablet collection: Using mathematics of the past to inform teaching in the future. In R. Cantoral, F. Fasanelli, A. Garciadiego, B. Stein, C. Tzanakis (Eds.), Proceedings of HPM 2008, The satellite meeting of ICME: History and pedagogy of mathematics. Mexico City, Mexico.

Clark, K. M. (2008). Reflection and revision: First experiences with a “using history” course. In E. Barbin, N. Stehlikova, & C. Tzanakis (Eds.), History and epistemology in mathematics education: Proceedings of the fifth European summer university (pp. 343-351). Prague: Vydavatelsky Press.

Clark, K. M. (accepted). Reflection and revision: Evolving conceptions of a Using History course. Submitted to V. Katz & C. Tzanakis (Eds.), Recent developments on introducing a historical dimension in mathematics education (provisional title). Based on a refereed paper presented at HPM 2008.

Recent Courses

MAE 4862/MAE 5865:	Using History in the Teaching of Mathematics
MAE 5641:	Researching Mathematics for Mathematics Education
MAE 5658:	Using Technology in Teaching Mathematics
MAE 6939:	Doctoral Seminar in Mathematics Teacher Education
MATH 301:	Mathematics in Perspective (University of Canterbury)