Sybilla Beckmann

Kazez

Professionally, I use "Sybilla Beckmann"

Mailing address:

Sybilla Beckmann
Department of Mathematic
Boyd Graduate Studies Building
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
 
Office: 501 Boyd Graduate Studies Building
 
Phone: (706) 542-2548
 
E-mail: sybilla at math dot uga dot edu  

I'm a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Georgia

My research interests are in the Mathematical Education of Teachers, Arithmetic Geometry/Algebraic Number Theory, and Mathematics Education from PreK to the graduate level.

Short biography: Sybilla Beckmann is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Georgia. She has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and taught at Yale University as a J. W. Gibbs Instructor of Mathematics. Beckmann has done research in Arithmetic Geometry, but her current main interests are the mathematical education of teachers and mathematics content for students at all levels, but especially for PreK through the middle grades. Beckmann developed three mathematics content courses for prospective elementary school teachers at the University of Georgia and wrote a book for such courses, Mathematics for Elementary Teachers, published by Addison-Wesley, now in a second edition. She is interested in helping college faculty learn to teach mathematics content courses for elementary and middle grades teachers and she works with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows toward that end. As part of this effort, Beckmann directs the Mathematicians Educating Future Teachers (MEFT) component of the University of Georgia Mathematics Department’s VIGRE II grant. Beckmann was a member of the writing team of NCTM’s Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics, was a member of Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics of the National Research Council and co-author of its report, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity, has worked on the development of several state mathematics standards, and is a member of the mathematics writing team for the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Recently, Beckmann taught an average 6th grade mathematics class every day at a local public school in order to better understand school mathematics teaching. Beckmann has won several teaching awards, including the General Sandy Beaver Teaching Professorship awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia.

Teaching: MATH 5002 spring 2010 (a geometry course for PreK – grade 5 teachers), MATH 5030 spring 2010 (a geometry course for grades 4 – 8 teachers), EMAT 9700 (an observation course to prepare teachers of future teachers). Webpages of current and past courses

Some recent books, projects, papers, and presentations:

Math for elementary teachers:

Mathematics for Elementary Teachers, 2nd edition, published by Addison-Wesley (Pearson Education), 2008. See also the companion website for the book The 3rd edition will be published spring 2010

Description of the math program for elementary teachers at UGA which was the only program in a June 2008 study by the National Council on Teacher Quality, No Common Denominator, to receive an “exemplary” rating. UGA Columns article.

webpages for courses for elementary and middle grades teachers taught by Beckmann at the University of Georgia

Mathematics for Elementary Teachers: Making Sense by "Explaining Why", in Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics at the Undergraduate Level, J. Wiley & Sons, Inc., (2002).

Preparing teachers of teachers:

VIGRE MEFT: Mathematicians Educating Future Teachers

Beckmann’s section of EMAT 9700, an observation course to prepare teachers of future teachers

What mathematicians should know about teaching math for elementary teachers. Mathematicians and Education Reform Newsletter, Spring 2004. Volume 16, number 2. Scroll down to find the link to previous issues. Or retrieve the issue here.

Math for students in school, PreK to grade 12:

Member of the mathematics writing team for the Common Core State Standards Initiative to develop common K – 12 standards; 48 states have joined

National Research Council Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics. Beckmann was a member of this committee, which wrote the report, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity

Coauthor of the IES Practice Guide, Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RtI) for Elementary and Middle Schools, April 2009

Focus in Grade 5, Teaching with Curriculum Focal Points. 2009. Published by NCTM. This book elaborates on the Focal Points at grade 5, including discussions of the necessary foundations at grades 3 and 4.

With Karen Fuson. Focal Points: Grades 5 and 6. Teaching Children Mathematics. May 2008. Volume 14, issue 9, pages 508 – 517.

Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2006. Beckmann was a member of the writing team.

Solving Algebra and Other Story Problems with Simple Diagrams: a Method Demonstrated in Grade 4 - 6 Texts Used in Singapore, The Mathematics Educator, 14, (1), pp. 42 - 46 (2004).

Some recent presentations:

Presentations on the Focal Points at the Georgia and South Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conferences, October 2007. Hint on the triangle area problem. Hint 1 on the angle problem. Hint 2 on the angle problem.

Presentation on Key Ideas of Elementary Mathematics at the Lesson Study Conference, Chicago, May 2007.

I am a member of the Teacher Education Group in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Georgia.

My husband, Will Kazez, is also a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Georgia. Here are websites of many of my Kazez relatives.