Faculty Spotlight! Meet Dr. Alayne Armstrong, our new Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Human Resources. Dr. Armstrong is also Associate Professor of Mathematics Education and has worked with our Faculty since 2016.
Dr. Armstrong is passionate about teaching her students that mathematics is truly “for everyone because it can be approached in so many ways. And it’s never too late to build someone’s mathematical understanding.”
For her research, Dr. Alayne Armstrong is “interested in how students come to learn and understand mathematics through drawing on their own experiences and interests, even those that at first may not seem particularly mathematical. Some of my current projects involve exploring how small groups ‘think’ when they’re doing mathematics and investigating how students with mathematics learning disabilities can use technology to support their mathematical learning.”
As advice for Education students, Dr. Armstrong says, “During your education, keep your future students in mind – how you’re going to help them learn, and how you’re going to make a difference in their lives. Some of your courses will be practical, and some will seem quite theoretical, but they all have an important part to play in starting you on your journey as a teacher. Keep and open mind and an open heart.”
If you are interested in taking a course with Dr. Armstrong, she teaches EMTH 310 (Teaching Mathematics in Elementary Schools), EMTH 200 (Implementation and Assessment of Problem Solving in Mathematics), and EMTH 326 (Spatial Reasoning for the Elementary School Mathematics Teacher).
Dr. Armstrong says EMTH 326 is a course that might really interest you: “Recent research has shown how important the development of spatial reasoning is for children’s understanding of *all* mathematical areas, even those that don’t seem to be related to shape and space (geometry). In EMTH 326, we are really on the cutting edge of ideas about mathematical teaching and learning!”
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