About Me
I am currently a Professor of Mathematics Education at BGSU in the College of Education and Human Development. I have served as Vice-President for Publications for the Research Council on Mathematics Learning (RCML), Vice-President for the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics (OCTM), Vice-President of the Arkansas Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ACTM) and many other roles and committees for various educational organizations. I currently serve as President for OCTM, on the Council for the World Association of Lesson Study (WALS) and Secretary for RCML. I also advise BGSU's Math Camp (www.bgsu.edu/mathcamp) and co-advise BGCTM (www.bgsu.edu/bgctm).
My teaching career began in a rural school, teaching middle and high school mathematics. Later, I was given an opportunity to create a mathematics program at an urban school within the state’s largest district. I was one of many teachers and administrators whose charge was to try new and innovative teaching methods to ensure the success of students. The school's name was Santa Fe South Schools in south Oklahoma City. During this time, I worked alongside amazing administrators and teachers to creatively energize the curriculum and learning experiences for the students. My main focus was spurring connections among STEM topics and learning for deep mathematical understanding. These efforts led to engaged and successful learning by the students and earned me the District’s Teacher of the Year award in Oklahoma City Schools from the South Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.
I went on to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the University of Oklahoma. I taught pure and applied mathematics courses in the mathematics department at the University of Oklahoma for seven years. I then went on to teach mathematics and mathematics education courses for the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith for seven years. I joined the faculty at BGSU in 2011. I have actively led 23 grant-funded projects designed to help teachers create dynamic and minds-on classrooms that improve the learning and assessment of their students. I am constantly involved in school projects with many districts in Ohio, other states, and other nations. My passion for teaching and for students can be seen through my service and leadership in the Bowling Green Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the largest student affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and BGSU’s Math Camps, which have won two awards for community service and partnership. Through my service to Math Camp, I advise and work alongside hundreds of preservice teachers to impact the lives of 1000’s of students, locally, and globally.
My research centers on authenticity in learning and improving professional learning spaces for teachers. Since becoming a professor at BGSU, I have more than 57 peer-reviewed publications, 15 invited papers to professional societies, 26 invited talks, and 9 keynote speeches given both domestically and abroad in nations such as Japan, China, Thailand, and Australia.
In addition to my grant work with teachers in northwest Ohio, I have given more than 100 workshops across the United States, Malawi, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan to 1000’s of teachers. Additionally I have received scholarly grants to be a visiting Mathematics Education Professor for Khon Kaen University in Thailand and to travel to the APEC Education meetings at Tsukuba University in Tokyo, Japan and Val Paraiso, Chile.
I love to seek out the wealth of knowledge about mathematics education from around the world. I have taken educators and preservice teachers on more than16 study abroad courses that I've designed with the help of many partners from around the world. During these courses, students travel abroad and study the intricate relationships between culture and education systems in the nations of Malawi, Greece, Italy, Crete, Turkey, China, Thailand, Australia, Bulgaria, New Zealand, and Fiji.
Currently, I am excited to be working on Lesson Study projects with teachers in Northwest Ohio and several countries, working to develop problem solving measures with Drs. Jonathan Bostic, Toni May, Kristen Koskey, and Greg Stone for the NSF funded DEAP-CAT grant, and working on connections between the pre-service, induction, and in-service teachers through the DoE funded project IMPACT.
Those who know me know that I have a fondness for adventure. If you asked me what my greatest adventure has been, I would tell you, raising my three amazing daughters with my wife and high school sweet-heart.
Q & A With Dr. Gabriel Matney:
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