Zelbo, Sian E. (sez2105)

Teachers College, Columbia University, M.A. (2010) and Ph.D. (2020)

University of Texas School of Law, J.D. (1995)

Louisiana State University, B.A. (1991)

I am a mathematics education researcher specializing in the historical development of mathematics education and its cultural transmission. My research examines how mathematical ideas and pedagogical approaches move through different cultural contexts and into the public sphere, from nineteenth-century French mathematical influences in American education to the "New Math" movement of the 1960s-70s. This historical perspective also informs my work in mathematics teacher preparation, where I help future teachers examine their own practices and curriculum through a critical and culturally informed lens. 

PUBLICATIONS

Publications in the History of Mathematics Education

Zelbo, Sian. (upcoming, July 2025). "Mathematical Shibboleths: When Reading Line Graphs Was a Marker of Status and Power." For the Learning of Mathematics 45(2).

Zelbo, Sian. 2025. The rise of egalitarianism and the privatization of giftedness in America (1960-1984). International Group for Mathematical Creativity and Giftedness Newsletter, 24. www.igmcg.org

Zelbo, Sian. 2023. "The Role of the United States Military Academy at West Point in the Formation of America's Engineering Profession (1802 to 1850)." Histoire & Mesure 38(2): 217-240. Link.

Zelbo, Sian. 2023. "A Re-examination of the Nineteenth Century French Influence on American Mathematics Education through Textbook Author Charles Davies." In Dig Where You Stand 7: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on the History of Mathematics Education, edited by A. Karp, F. Furinghetti, G. Schubring, J. Zender, J. Prytz, K. Bjarnadóttir, and Y. Weiss, 331-345. Münster: WTM. Link.

Zelbo, Sian. 2022. "Building an American Mathematics Community from the Ground Up: Artemas Martin and the Mathematical Visitor (1877-1887)." In Advances in the History of Mathematics Education: International Studies in the History of Mathematics and Its Teaching, edited by A. Karp, 218-238. Cham: Springer. Link

Zelbo, Sian. 2022. "Edgar J. Edmunds: A Historical Case Study of Race in Mathematics Education." Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 53(5): 350-364. Link.

Zelbo, Sian. 2020. "Edgar J. Edmunds (1851-1887): A Cross-cultural Case Study of an African American Mathematics Teacher Who Studied at the École Polytechnique." In Dig Where You Stand 6, edited by Évelyne Barbin, Kristin Bjarnadóttir, Fulvia Furinghetti, Alexander Karp, Guillaume Moussard, Johan Prytz, and Gert Schubring, 193-204. Münster: WTM. Link

Zelbo, Sian. 2019. "E. J. Edmunds, School Integration, and White Supremacist Backlash in Reconstruction New Orleans." History of Education Quarterly 59(3): 379-406. Link

Zelbo, Sian. 2019. "The Recreational Mathematics Activities of Ordinary Nineteenth Century Americans: A Case Study of Two Mathematics Puzzle Columns and Their Contributors." British Journal for the History of Mathematics 34(3): 155-178. Link

Zelbo, Sian. 2019. "Edgar Joseph Edmunds (1851-1887), Mathematics Teacher at the Center of New Orleans' Post-Civil War Fight over School Integration." Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University. Link

Publications in Mathematics Education

Flint, Rachel, and Sian Zelbo. 2024. "The Power of an Opening Problem: A Pathway for Mathematics Teachers to Explore Formative Assessment." Mathematics Teacher Educator 13(1): 61-80. Link.

Zelbo, Sian. 2021. Cryptarithms. New York: Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics. Link

Zelbo, Sian. 2021. "COVID and the Importance of Casual Interactions in Mathematics Classrooms." Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College 12(1): 53. Link

Saul, Mark, and Sian Zelbo. 2014. Camp Logic: Activities for Young People. Chapel Hill: Natural Math. Link