September 2023

CPM’s Research Department is pleased to announce the 2023 recipient of CPM’s Outstanding Dissertation in Mathematics Education Award. This competitive $30,000 award is intended to support one doctoral candidate each year to pursue a dissertation that will have a positive impact on both mathematics education research and the practice of mathematics teaching and learning in secondary mathematics classrooms. The request for proposals for funding for the dissertation award is released each year in October with proposals due in February, and the awardee notified in June. All dissertation proposals submitted for the fellowship were reviewed by a panel of highly qualified mathematics education researchers.  

This year’s recipient, Amanda Huffman Hayes, is pursuing her dissertation at Purdue University under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Newton. Her dissertation focuses on the distribution and delegation of mathematical authority in problem-based classrooms. This topic is not only significant in mathematics education research but is also timely for CPM with the CPM 2023 Research Base on Problem-Based Learning focusing on mathematical authority. 

Bio: Amanda Huffman Hayes, Purdue University 

Amanda Huffman Hayes is a Ph.D. Candidate at Purdue University pursuing a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in Mathematics Education. Her dissertation developed through her sustained work with pre-service teachers in teaching mathematics methods focused on student-centered practices. Amanda’s work with pre-service teachers began during her career as a high school mathematics teacher at an urban high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. While teaching high school, Amanda simultaneously earned a graduate degree (M.S., Effective Teaching and Leadership, Butler University) with a thesis that examined the relationships formed between a mentor teacher (Amanda) and pre-service teachers during practicum site-based mathematics methods workshops. The thesis focused on dimensions of the mentor-mentee teacher relationship that supported the pre-service teachers to bridge theory and practice. Amanda continued to lead site-based mathematics methods workshops with undergraduates at Butler University after she completed her study, and this model expanded to all content areas and was recognized at the national level through Teach to Lead. 

Amanda also holds a B.S. in Middle/Secondary Education with a double major in Mathematics. In addition to her M.S. from Butler University, Amanda has also earned a graduate certificate in Mathematics from Indiana University. 

Dissertation Abstract: An Exploration into the Development of Students’ Mathematical Authority in a Problem-Based Algebra Classroom

Mathematics education researchers have repeatedly found an undeniable link between classroom practices that foster mathematical authority and more equitable learning opportunities. In particular, advancing students’ mathematical authority repositions them as competent sense makers by shifting the power differential to be more distributed between teachers and students rather than centered within the teacher. 

In her dissertation, Amanda Huffman Hayes is investigating how CPM curricula and teacher moves help develop students’ mathematical authority — defined as students’ engagement in solving mathematical tasks and responsibility to contribute in conversations with others, justifying one’s process and reasoning and establishing mathematical arguments while developing one’s mathematical understanding — in problem-based algebra classes. 

Using a school-based ethnographic case study, Amanda will examine how two expert teachers, curriculum materials (i.e., CPM’s Core Connections Algebra), and students contribute to developing students’ mathematical authority in problem-based learning classrooms. Data will consist of interviews and classroom observations focusing on discourse and mathematical authority. 

This dissertation’s exploratory studies of students’ development of mathematical authority in problem-based algebra classrooms will provide both theoretical and practical contributions to the field of mathematics education. To contribute to theory, this study will increase understanding of the interactions between the curriculum, teacher, and students by re-conceptualizing the curriculum from a static scope and sequence to a more teacher-embedded and student-centered living course of action. To contribute to practice, the new insights developed by this study will be articulated in ways that other researchers and teachers can learn from as they also work towards developing students’ mathematical authority.