Events @ TC

Join Alexander Karp, Professor of Mathematics Education, and Bruce Vogeli, Clifford Brewster Upton Professor and Director of the Program in Mathematics, as we celebrate their highly unique contribution to the scholarly Series on Mathematics Education (World Scientific). Drawing on their extensive teaching and professional experiences in Russia, Drs. Karp and Vogeli will discuss on Tuesday, November 13th Russian Mathematics Education (volume 4, History and World Significance, 2010, & volume 5, 2011, Programs and Practices. They will provide a broad description and analysis of the origin and development of mathematics in Russia, a country historically known for the strength of its schooling in mathematics -- and one to which Teachers College, with many grant projects in the field, has looked for ideas on strengthening mathematics curriculum in America.

Writes Siddhartha Mitter for Inside TC, Russian Mathematics Education is a landmark collection offering a wealth of detail on how Russian mathematics education evolved from Czarist times through today, how it has weathered the country's political and social changes, and how teachers are trained and all aspects of mathematics taught in Russian schools. With writings by 24 contributors from Russia, the United States, Poland, Cuba, Hungary and Israel spread across two volumes -- 'History and World Significance' and 'Programs and Practices' - Russian Mathematics Education has an encyclopedic heft and feel."

Alexander Karp is Professor of Mathematics Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics education from Herzen Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, Russia, and he holds a degree from the same university in history and education. Dr. Karp worked for many years as a teacher in a school for the mathematically gifted in St. Petersburg and as a teacher educator. His scholarly interests span many areas, including: gifted education, mathematics teacher education, the theory of mathematical problem solving, and history of mathematics education. He is the managing editor of International Journal for the History of Mathematics and the author of over 100 publications, including more than 20 books.

Bruce R. Vogeli is the Clifford Brewster Upton Professor and Director of the Program in Mathematics at Teachers College, Columbia University. Before joining the Columbia University faculty in 1965, Professor Vogeli served as Visiting Professor at the Lenin Pedagogical Institute in Moscow and Herzen Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad and worked as a "curriculum specialist" in the Mathematics Section of the Academy of Pedagogical Science in Moscow. Professor Vogeli is the author of Soviet Schools for the Mathematically Talented and Special Mathematics Schools - An International Panorama, as well as more than 200 books for students and teachers.

For additional information on the history pf the Program in Mathematics, be sure to see The Little Folding Book of Travel Adventures, by David Eugene Smith, edited by Diane R. Murray, and published in 2012 by the Program in Mathematics, Teachers College, Columbia University (original document available in the David Eugene Smith Professional Papers, 1860-1945, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University).

This book talk is sponsored by the program in Mathematics and Gottesman Libraries.

Persons interested in attending may rsvp by Friday, November 9th.

Where: 306 Russell