some background
information on
Dr. Lawrence(Larry)
Lesser
EDUCATION
precollegiate education after 1st grade was in Houston ISD public schools, including Bellaire HS
B.A.
(1986) in Mathematics / Mathematical Sciences from Rice University
M.S.
(1989) in Statistics from the University of Texas at Austin
Also did all UT coursework for a statistics PhD
and have credit for Society of Actuaries' Exams 100,110,120 (i.e., Course
1, plus 35 prof. dev. units)
Ph.D. (1994) in Mathematics Education
from the University of Texas at Austin
Click HERE
for a list of selected papers (many with direct links),
click HERE for some
abstracts of papers, or click HERE for a
2-page overall vita.
My research program is
situated in mathematics education and includes a specialized focus on
statistics education, an area still rapidly growing in size and importance with
the ever increasing need for all citizens to gain statistical literacy,
reasoning and thinking in our information age.
Because mathematics and statistics have been shown to be frequently
associated with anxiety, difficulty, and disinterest among secondary and
postsecondary students, and because of the extra responsibility of making sure
that the preservice and inservice
teachers we teach will not reinforce negative attitudes, the driving interest
behind my research has been to develop and assess ways to make
mathematics/statistics more intuitive, interesting and meaningful to
students. I’ve had papers accepted
in a variety of selective and highly-selective juried statistics/mathematics education
research publications (e.g., Statistics Education Research Journal,
Journal of Statistics Education, Journal of Mathematics Education
Leadership, Adults Learning Mathematics International Journal, Journal
of Mathematics and Culture, Model Assisted Statistics and Applications, and
the NCTM Yearbook) as well as in a variety of juried publications
designed to reach a larger audience that includes non-researcher educators
(e.g., Teaching Statistics, Mathematics Teacher, ON-Math:
Online Journal of School Mathematics, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School, Statistics Teacher Network, Spreadsheet User, Technological
Horizons in Education Journal). In 2007, I was nominated for the Mathematical Association
of America’s bi-annual Annie
and John Selden Prize for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education.
My scholarship about making
mathematics/statistics more intuitive includes my studies of the learning of
specific topics such as analysis of variance (ANOVA), disjunctive event
probability (e.g., how many people it takes to have at least a 50% chance of at
least 2 people in the room being born on the same day of the year), weighted
averages (e.g., the average class size paradox), and Simpson’s Paradox
(i.e., a comparison can be reversed upon aggregation). Understanding Simpson’s Paradox is
listed by the National Council on Education and the Disciplines (2001) as an
essential for citizenship, and plays a big role in understanding observed
association between variables. My NCTM Yearbook chapter
on representations of Simpson’s Paradox was listed (www.statlit.org/StatLit2006.htm)
as the second-most downloaded article in 2006 out of the hundreds on a premier
statistics literacy website. Examining
the role of multiple representations supports not only the newest standard of
NCTM (2000) but also recommendations for teaching English language learners.
I’m also intrigued by
the relationship between what students find intuitive and what they find
interesting. My dissertation
developed a theoretical model on the selection and role of introductory
statistics scenarios that motivate and engage the intuition and serve as rich
vehicles for multiple representations/perspectives, and some of my subsequent
publications (see below) further explored, extended or applied this. I conducted empirical survey research in
which college students starting an introductory statistics course showed highly
significant positive correlation between interest in and surprise with respect
to true statistical statements in lay language.
This result suggests that counterintuitive scenarios such as
Simpson’s Paradox may motivate more than they demoralize. The importance of this to curriculum and
instruction is reflected by this Teaching
Statistics paper getting selected twice for (international)
republication. Also, I have discussed related
framework issues in Journal of Statistics
Education, and these ideas also relate to my involvement in a recent NSF CCLI
grant in engineering education.
From 2006-2009, one of my biggest research projects
was a case study of pre-service teachers to explore issues English language
learners may encounter in learning statistics.
This research, conducted with Illinois
State University’s Matthew Winsor, is published in the November 2009
issue of a top-tier research journal (Statistics
Education Research Journal) and
quantitative followup work is now in progress or
under review. In addition to conducting various empirical
quantitative/qualitative studies, I also research ways to make
mathematics/statistics more meaningful to students (and connected to the
educational environment), using the depth and breadth of my background to find
or make bridges between the literatures of mathematics, statistics, mathematics
education, statistics education, and a variety of other realms (e.g.,
lotteries, music, ethics, social justice, culture/ethnomathematics). These papers, especially in subareas where
there is little prior work, are often integrative syntheses or critical reviews
of a theoretical, foundational, developmental, philosophical or
historical/cultural nature. I have enjoyed getting to publish the first and/or
most definitive/comprehensive articles (see list of papers) on
several particular intersections of topics, including: statistics
education and English language learners, multiple representations
and Simpson’s Paradox, statistics
education and philosophical ethics, statistics
education and social justice, Jewish
culture and (ethno)mathematics, mathematics/statistics and song,
probability/statistics and magic, and statistics
education and fun.
My scholarship on engagement and my ability to write
curriculum informed by the latest education research recommendations has led to
major textbook writing projects.
I co-authored the 1998 McGraw-Hill text ACT in Algebra: Applications, Concepts and Technology in Learning
Algebra, which lets applications (not definitions) launch the mathematics,
incorporates modeling and technology appropriately, emphasizes conceptual
understanding as well as computational skill, and has realistic acknowledgement
of the role of factoring-dependent methods. In 2007, I was invited to
succeed former ASA president (and Founder’s Award winner) David S. Moore on the
distinguished Freeman/COMAP author team to prepare the
thoroughly-revised 8th
edition of the first (and still the best!) applied
math-for-liberal-arts textbook For All Practical Purposes and I was given sole responsibility for its four statistics
chapters (one of which was chosen to be featured at: http://portals.bfwpub.com/fapp8e.php).
Much of my research has been connected to externally
funded grants. I am a PI of an NSF
CCLI grant (with Dennis Pearl) currently under review. My past research in the
area of standards and alignment led to my being PI of a 2008 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
to co-chair a Statewide Discipline-Based Vertical Team conducting gap analysis
between the Texas Essential Knowledge
and Skills and the Texas College
Readiness Standards. I gave an
invited featured solo presentation of the findings at the 2008
Click HERE for a near-complete list of papers (many with direct links), click HERE for some abstracts of papers, or click HERE for a 2-page overall vita.
CITATIONS
by others of my work have appeared in several dissertations, books
(e.g., the 2008 MAA book Calculation vs. Context: Quantitative Literacy and
its Implications for Teacher Education, the 2008 Springer Verlag book Developing Students' Statistical Reasoning:
Connecting Research and Teaching Practice, and the 2009 Wiley-Blackwell
book A Guide to Teaching Statistics:
Innovations and Best Practices), major websites (e.g., www.statlit.org),
and in over two dozen periodicals, including: Statistics
Education Research Journal, Journal
of Statistics Education, Model Assisted Statistics and Applications,
Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Primus, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and
Science Teaching, Computers in the Schools, International Journal
of Computer Algebra in Mathematics Education, Journal of Educational
Technology Systems, Teaching
Statistics, Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education, Journal of Mathematics and Culture, The
International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, The Montana Mathematics
Enthusiast, Mathematics Teacher, Journal
of Mathematics and the Arts, Radical
Statistics, Syllabus, Choice, Transportation Research Record,
Proceedings of the Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics
Education and Proceedings
of the World Congress of the International Fuzzy Systems Association.
My 50+ presentations at national/international
conferences include the International Conference on Teaching Statistics, the
United States Conference on Teaching Statistics, International Conference on Technology
in Collegiate Mathematics, National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics, Mathematical
Association of America (winter & summer meetings), North American
chapter of the International Group for the Psychology
of Mathematics Education, Association
for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, Joint Statistical
Meetings (American Statistical Association),
International Conference
on Education, Labor & Emancipation, Conference on Math Education and
Social Justice, Lineae Terrarum: International
Borders Conference, Association of Mathematics
Teacher Educators, National Council of
Supervisors of Mathematics, Working
Class/Poverty Class Academics Conference, the Sun Conference on Teaching and Learning,
the Advanced Placement Conference,
Research Council on Mathematics Learning,
and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Research Presession. The
most exotic place I’ve presented was probably
My research background has naturally guided my service to the profession, including: service as a founding Editor of Teaching for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics (national journal of TODOS: Mathematics for ALL), an Associate Editor of Journal of Statistics Education (an international journal of the American Statistical Association), as an Associate Editor of Journal of Mathematics and Culture (international journal of the North American Study Group on Ethnomathematics), as an Editor of Noticias de TODOS: News from TODOS Mathematics for All, and an Editorial Board member of Texas Mathematics Teacher (Texas-wide refereed journal of Texas Council of Teachers of Mathematics). Also, I have done invited refereeing of papers for other journals (e.g., Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Statistics Education Research Journal, Mathematics Teacher, and Teaching Statistics) and conferences (e.g., Psychology of Mathematics Education North American conferences and the International Conference on Teaching Statistics). I have also served on program and other committees for various national or regional mathematics/statistics/education conferences (e.g., USCOTS, MAA, NCTM, Western Statistics Teachers' Conference, "Transitions in Qualitative Inquiry" seminar series). I was deeply honored to be recognized as a finalist for the 2001 Gladys M. Thomason Distinguished Service Award by the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics based on “distinguished service in the field of mathematics education at the local, regional, and state levels,” to receive a certificate of appreciation from TODOS President Miriam Leiva for “Exemplary contributions as a leader in TODOS: Mathematics for All 2006-07,” a 2006 plaque from GEPCTM recognizing my “support and promotion of high-quality mathematics teaching and ongoing professional development throughout the preparation and careers of teachers of mathematics,” and a nomination for the Martha H. Salmon Leadership Award for the College Board southwestern region. I served (2005-2009) on the RAB (Research Advisory Board) of CAUSE (Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education), have been mentoring several early-career researchers, served on the Program Committee of USCOTS 2007 (United States Conference on Teaching Statistics), and have been co-coordinating a “Fun” Resources Page and associated bi-annual national contest for CAUSEWeb. On the state level, I did invited service in 2008 as faculty chair of a Statewide Discipline-Based Vertical Team on college readiness for the THECB and the TEA. At UTEP, my recent service activities include chairing the UTEP Museum Committee (for 3 years), editing the math department’s annual newsletter (MAXIMA), chairing the mathematics education PhD proposal program committee, and chairing a Mathematics Education Search Committee (which succeeded in making a quality hire who joined us!).
TEACHING & RELATED EXPERIENCE
Through my education, my interest in
mathematics was developed by involvement in extracurricular mathematics
activities, including UIL
Number Sense, Mu Alpha Theta, Atlantic Region Mathematics League (I competed
at this national meet as a member of the Texas delegation), and Putnam exams (scoring as high as the
70th percentile nationwide). I learned there's much mathematics beyond
our textbooks and that "recreational mathematics" is not an
oxymoron! I was fortunate to have many excellent professors in
college (e.g., Dr. Richard Tapia)
who helped prepare me and inspire me to pursue graduate work. In my own
teaching today, I strive similarly to give students high levels of challenge
and support, broaden their view of how mathematics/statistics connects to other
areas, and give them a view of how mathematics/statistics is done by real
people in real life!
In graduate school, I took the usual
“pure mathematics” courses in analysis, topology and abstract
algebra before taking my first statistics class ever, which fed my passion to
use my mathematical background in a more applied way. I proceeded to earn
a masters' degree in statistics, work as a statistical consultant on a
test-equating psychometrics project with Carl
Morris, teach (and coordinate) statistics for UT business majors, pass
some actuary exams, and work for a couple of years as the sole staff
statistician for the Texas Legislative
Council (I helped research and implement methodology to estimate racial
bloc voting for the redistricting
project, a real-world experience of using mathematics outside academia that
has given my classroom teaching additional authenticity). The
professional tutoring I had done for a private company and various university
departments and the non-tenure-track university teaching I was doing [by the
time I earned my PhD, I had taught 16 classes -- mathematics and statistics,
upper & lower-division -- at St.
Edward's University (a Carnegie Master’s comprehensive Univ. II in
Austin of 3000 students), Southwestern
University (a baccalaureate liberal arts college in Georgetown, TX of
1200), and the University of Texas at Austin
(a Carnegie Doct./Research Univ. Extensive of
50,000)] helped me realize that, while I greatly enjoyed acquiring my solid
background in mathematics and statistics content, I had still greater talents,
interests and calling in the areas of curriculum and instruction, finding ways
to make important content more accessible and interesting. (an aside: be open not only to the
possibility that your direction may evolve, but also to the idea that what you
learn now may be useful later in unexpected ways!) I then pursued a PhD
in Mathematics Education under Ralph Cain with the distinguished committee of
Ray Carry, Charles Lamb, Maggie Myers, and Mary Parker, and with valuable
encouragement from statistics educator (whose distinctions now include ASA
Fellow, ASA Founders Award, USCOTS Lifetime Achievement Award) Joan Garfield
as well. I was the first student in the program specifically to
declare a focus (in terms of both dissertation and supporting coursework) in
statistics education. It was (and still
is) an exciting time for involvement in the areas of statistics education and
mathematics education, which are growing rapidly, along with their overlap, and
I’ve been able to be part of a “bridge” by remaining engaged
with both fields and their literatures (e.g., I’ve published in ASA
journals, NCTM journals, and joint ASA-NCTM journals!). In 1993, a UT adult education course I
created and taught on the psychology and probability underlying the
then-months-old Texas Lottery attracted
extensive media
coverage -- from a story
spanning 37 column inches in the August 28 Austin American-Statesman
all the way to the lead "Dollars and Sense" segment throughout that
weekend's Cable News Network (CNN) Headline News! (Subsequent
stories have often accompanied the times lotteries begin new games or amass
particularly big jackpots, including interviews by
After my PhD, I began teaching and
developing/reforming numerous courses (in statistics & statistics
education, mathematics & mathematics education, mathematics history, and
research methodology) as an Assistant Professor for the mathematical sciences department of the University of Northern Colorado (a Carnegie
Doctoral/Research extensive University of 10,000 students an hour north of
Denver). While at UNC, I worked with middle/secondary in-service
teachers, helped coordinate seminars & conferences, and supervised tutors,
student teachers, undergraduate research and doctoral dissertations. As a
key member of the Educational
Mathematics PhD program, one of my accomplishments was developing doctoral
courses such as one in qualitative research methods in mathematics
education. I was a faculty content person in the "NEXT STEP: K-12
and Higher Education Working Differently and Together" grant (funded by
the Colorado Commission
on Higher Education) to explore creating a seamless K-16 standards-based
alignment between high school exit standards and college entrance standards. I
also taught and redesigned courses for pre-service and in-service teachers as
part of the Rocky
Mountain Secondary Teacher Enhancement Initiative in Mathematics and Rocky
Mountain Teacher Education Collaborative NSF grants. As a member of the
first competitively-selected CCHE-funded Educational
Technology Improvement Project team at UNC, I gained experience in
developing and implementing standards, performance-based assessments and
rubrics (just as most states’ K-12 schools have been required to
implement) and was the first at UNC to integrate sustained, standards-based
technology and reformed curriculum into the multi-section introductory
statistics course. I was also active in the Colorado Council of Teachers
of Mathematics (e.g., presentations and committee work for state & regional
conferences), was Vice-Chair of UNC's Professional
Education Council. At UNC, I also did
some administrative-type work such as coordinating multi-section introductory
statistics courses, a university-wide tutoring lab, and programmatic assessment
reports, and I have done some of this at other institutions as well.
In 1999, I began an Associate Professor
position in the Department of
Mathematics at Armstrong Atlantic
State University (a comprehensive Carnegie Master's University I of
5500 students in the University System
of Georgia) to renew and broaden further my mathematics education
background, especially into the elementary school curriculum -- not only
by teaching courses for pre-service elementary school teachers, but also by
spending significant time in some local schools (from suburban to urban, such
as Savannah's East Broad
Street Elementary School, where I spent over 50 hours), observing and
working with several inservice teachers and teaching
some lessons myself. I also worked with in-service teachers as part of an
Eisenhower grant and delivered in-service teacher training workshops -- for
individual schools as well as for larger educational organizations such as the
AASU/Chatham County Public Schools Partnership Board, the Lowcountry
Math and Science Hub, and even the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame & Museum! Also, I spent two of my
five Armstrong years on leave to strengthen my secondary mathematics education
experiential base by working as a full-time high school math teacher
(and department chair) at Emery HS.
Emery’s advisory activities, outdoor learning, field trips, and strong
community service component/mission gave me deeper insight into how to support
and motivate “the whole person.”
My experience there teaching a range of students (e.g., from the 35th
to the 99th percentiles) and courses (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra
II, Precalculus, Calculus) has greatly enhanced my
subsequent work with pre-service and in-service teachers.
In 2004, I accepted an Associate Professor
position in the Department of Mathematical
Sciences at The University of Texas at El
Paso to have more opportunity for research and collaboration –
with a critical
mass of talented mathematics educators and science educators, statisticians
and mathematicians in rich cultural and natural environments. During my tenure here (yes, I’m
tenured), I’ve also enjoyed record opportunities to team teach in
classroom and in field-based settings (e.g., an integrated block with COE
faculty for UTEP pre-service teachers at Canutillo
ES) as well as to co-write papers and grants. UTEP is a research-intensive doctoral
university (the country’s only one with a Mexican-American majority
student population) that started in 1914 and now has some 20,000 students and
1,000 faculty. UTEP is part of the University of Texas System (the
nation’s second largest university system), where I began my teaching
career in the 80’s! Another
attraction is that I have family and familial education roots in this western
tip of Texas, including relatives who attended UTEP and had distinguished
teaching service for El Paso Community College,
El Paso ISD (while at Zach White Elementary, my great aunt Matilda
was a teacher of the year, and later organized the first education scholarship
at UTEP for future teachers: the Matilda Amstater Shanblum Future Teacher Scholarship Fund), and a religious dayschool in El Paso.
My interactive, integrated
style aims to give students of diverse backgrounds high levels of support and
worthwhile challenge, to broaden their view of how real people do (and teach)
mathematics that often connects to other areas, and to enhance their quantitative
literacy. While my students do not always declare mathematics to be their
favorite subject, they universally acknowledge that my enthusiasm and
approachability makes the class a “safe environment” and allows
them to experience greater enjoyment, interaction, meaning, and learning than
they often had in prior mathematics classes.
I appropriately draw from a broad pedagogical repertoire that
includes manipulatives, technology (ranging from the
Internet to EXCEL to data-collection devices), mass media, multiple
representations, writing, traditional and alternative assessment,
standards-based education, math history, equity/diversity awareness,
cooperative learning activities, real-world applications and connections,
literature, problem solving, student-collected data and the occasional
mathematical magic trick or math song!
(note: I actually have some juried scholarship in the area of incorporating
“fun” into teaching, and I am a published songwriter and poet and
the first-place winner of a contest sponsored by a national science humor
magazine). I have done outreach events
such as Pi Day
educational events (at elementary, middle, and high schools) and adult
education classes in lottery literacy. The following representative recent sample
of narrative comments [taken from end-of-course evaluations from preservice elementary teachers] show that I offer
assignments that were both challenging and engaging: “I really liked that
Dr. Lesser used various manipulatives, integrated
other subjects with mathematics such as social studies, sang songs to us about mathematical
concepts, related math to current events such as the presidential election, he
also challenged us and high expectations of his students.” “Very
positive attitude and motivated us every class meeting.” “Made us think – that’s a
good thing J” “The
instructor’s style is very unique.
He is always looking for things that make class fun, interesting AND
educational.” “The assignments have been challenging and fun. He makes us look forward to seeing if our
answers or assumptions were right or wrong.”
I was a finalist for AASU’s
2001 Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology and
was further honored to serve as AASU's
university-wide Arthur
M. Gignilliat, Jr. Professor (AASU’s
premier competitive faculty development award) throughout 2001. I have
also been nominated for the ASA Section on Statistical
Education's national Waller Education Award
for innovation in teaching the introductory statistics course. And I was an IMPACT Fellow for
the 2005-06 school year under the NSF ADVANCE
Institutional Transformation for Faculty Diversity grant at UTEP to play a
leadership role in developing new ways of integrating teaching, research and
service. In 2008, I was the nominee of
the UTEP Department of Mathematical Sciences for the Jack R. Bristol Award for
Teaching Excellence in the College of Science, I was appointed (representing
the College of Science) to the university-wide CETaL Council
of Fellows, and I was one of a very small number of
professors nationwide invited to audition for the prestigious college
lecture product company The Teaching Company. In 2009, I was nominated for consideration
for the UTEP
Distinguished Achievement in Teaching Award and for one of the UT
System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards, but my application did
not go forward for technical reasons.
My scholarship on engagement and my ability to write
curriculum informed by the latest education research recommendations has led to
major textbook writing projects.
I co-authored the 1998 McGraw-Hill text ACT in Algebra: Applications, Concepts and Technology in Learning
Algebra, which lets applications (not definitions) launch the mathematics,
incorporates modeling and technology appropriately, emphasizes conceptual
understanding as well as computational skill, and has realistic acknowledgement
of the role of factoring-dependent methods. In 2007, I was invited to
succeed former ASA president (and Founder’s Award winner) David S. Moore on the
distinguished Freeman/COMAP author team to prepare the
thoroughly-revised 8th
edition of the first (and still the best!) applied
math-for-liberal-arts textbook For All Practical Purposes and I was given sole responsibility for its four statistics
chapters (one of which was chosen to be featured at: http://portals.bfwpub.com/fapp8e.php).
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
I grew up in
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