Guest Speakers

Deborah Loewenberg Ball is the William H. Payne Collegiate Professor in education at the University of Michigan, and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. She currently serves as dean of the School of Education and as director of TeachingWorks. She taught elementary school for more than 15 years, and continues to teach mathematics to elementary students every summer. Her research focuses on the practice of mathematics instruction, and on the improvement of teacher training and development. She is an expert on teacher education, with a particular interest in how professional training and experience combine to equip beginning teachers with the skills and knowledge needed for responsible practice. Ball has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications and has lectured and made numerous major presentations around the world. Her research has been recognized with several awards and honors, and she has served on several national and international commissions and panels focused on policy initiatives and the improvement of education, including the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, the National Science Board, and the Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness. She is a fellow of the American Mathematics Society and of the American Educational Research Association, and an elected member of the National Academy of Education.

David Clarke is a Professor at the University of Melbourne and Director of the International Centre for Classroom Research (ICCR). Over the last twenty years, his research activity has centered on capturing the complexity of classroom practice through a program of international video-based classroom research, most notably through the Learner’s Perspective Study – a project that has continued now for 15 years and engendered a research community across more than a dozen countries (of which Israel is happily one). For the last ten years, the ICCR has provided the focus for collaborative activities among researchers from more than 20 countries. Professor Clarke has also worked with school systems and teachers throughout Australia and in the USA, Canada, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Singapore, China, Japan, Malaysia and the Federated States of Micronesia. Professor Clarke taught High School mathematics and physics for eight years, while also researching the mathematical modeling of proton-proton scattering – which probably explains both his interest in the learning and teaching of mathematics and science and his consistent focus on the classroom as a research site. It may also explain his enjoyment of research design and his inclination to approach every problem as an exercise in modeling.

Other significant research by Professor Clarke has addressed teacher professional learning, metacognition, problem-based learning, and assessment (particularly the use of open-ended tasks for assessment and instruction in mathematics). Current research activities involve multi-theoretic research designs, cross-cultural analyses, discourse in and about classrooms internationally, curricular alignment, and the challenge of research synthesis in education. Professor Clarke has written books on assessment and on classroom research and has published his research work in over 150 book chapters, journal articles and conference proceedings papers.

Susanne Prediger is full professor and head of the IEEM (institute for development and research in mathematics education) at TU Dortmund University in Germany. She holds a master's degree in mathematics and history, a PhD in Mathematical logic and Algebra from TU Darmstadt, and a habilitation in mathematics education from the University of Klagenfurt. She is vice-president of ERME, the European Society of Research in Mathematics Education. Her research interests comprise the continuous professional development of teachers and students' conceptions in probability, arithmetic and algebra.

Alan Schoenfeld is the Elizabeth and Edward Conner Professor of Education and Affiliated Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley. In 2011 he was awarded the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction’s Klein Medal, the highest international distinction in mathematics education, and in 2013 he was awarded the American educational Research Association’s Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award, AERA’s highest honor. Alan’s interests include problem solving, diversity in mathematics education, assessment, and effective teaching. After earning his Ph.D. in mathematics, he turned his attention to the question of how mathematics instruction could be shaped so that students come to learn and enjoy just how powerful mathematical thinking can be.

Miriam Gamoran Sherin is Professor of Learning Sciences at Northwestern University in the School of Education and Social Policy. Her research interests include mathematics teaching and learning, teacher cognition and teacher education. Mathematics Teacher Noticing: Seeing Through Teachers’ Eyes, edited by Sherin, V. Jacobs, and R. Philipp, received the AERA Division K 2013 Excellence in Research in Teaching and Teacher Education award. Recent articles appear in Journal of Teacher Education, Teaching and Teacher Education and Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education. In 2001, Sherin received a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Academy of Education and the Spencer Foundation to examine how video clubs can support the development of teachers’ professional vision. Sherin was also awarded a five-year Early Career Grant from the National Science Foundation to study the ways that video can support teacher learning. In 2003, Sherin received the Kappa Delta Pi/American Educational Research Association Division K Award for early career achievements in research on teaching and teacher education