Michal Yerushalmy
Biography:
Michal Yerushalmy is a professor in the department of Mathematics Education at the University of Haifa, Israel. Yerushalmy is the director of the Institute of Research and Development of Alternative sin Education, a member of the Learning in Networked Society (LINKS) National Research Center and Vice President for Research of the University of Haifa. Yerushalmy studies mathematical learning and teaching, focus on design and implementation of reformed curricula and on cognitive processes involved in learning with multiple external representations, bodily interactions and modeling. Yerushalmy co-authored and designed numerous software packages in geometry (The Geometric Supposer), algebra curriculum (the interactive "VisualMath" secondary school mathematics web curriculum) and studies learning of calculus in dynamic and multi-representation environments. Current projects focus on learning with interactive diagrams in interactive electronic books and on mLearning. In the Math4Mobile project Yerushalmy offers ways to make technology available for mathematical inquiry learning everywhere. Over the Past 25 years she has taught courses of didactic methods of mathematics and on cognitive and curricular implications of technology for education. Michal Yerushalmy received the 2010 ISDDE Prize for Excellence in Educational Design.
Presentation Title:
Inquiry Curriculum, Textbooks & Assessment: Technological Changes that Challenge the Representation of School Mathematics
Presentation Description:
VisualMath was designed to challenge traditional notions of what school mathematics is and how it can be taught and learned. For over two decades, this curriculum has been implemented in a variety of settings in Israel. As the product of academic laboratory development, VisualMath aims to address future innovations and analyze the potential of new technologies. Innovative resources were designed and incorporated at a time when personal technology, e-books, and mobile hardware were still in their infancy. Schools in Israel as in the rest of the world have been undergoing educational reforms aimed at standardization of skills and centralization of assessment. Developing for these schools means coping with societal and curricular constraints that at times are in tension with innovative visions. The restructuring of the mathematical subject is the design story that guided us in the development of the VisualMath curriculum. The design of a new organizational map was our major challenge of designing the algebra inquiry; it guided us in posing questions of order, in asking how known algebra tasks may be based on new resources and in finding the relevance of traditional tasks that do not seem to be the natural subject to address in an inquiry environment of the type that we envisioned. The 'tour' I attempt to take will travel through major research and design cycles with a focus on current challenges of instructional materials in the form of interactive textbooks and automated assessment.