Alan H.

Schoenfeld
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search

Alan Schoenfeld at Berkeley, California in 1998

Alan Henry Schoenfeld (born July 9, 1946) is an American mathematics education
researcher and designer. He is the Elizabeth and Edward Conner Professor of
Education and Affiliated Professor of Mathematics at the University of California,
Berkeley.[1]

Contents
1 Education and career
2 Research
3 Appointments
4 Honors and awards
5 References
Education and career
Schoenfeld was raised in New York City, studying at Queen's College (BA 1968)
before moving to Stanford for research in pure mathematics (MS 1969, Ph.D 1973 on
topology and measure theory). During his graduate studies he became increasingly
interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics, particularly of non-routine
problem solving. He taught at UC Davis (1973–5), UC Berkeley (1975–78), Hamilton
College (1978–81) and the University of Rochester (1981–1985) before moving back to
Berkeley where he now works.

Research
Schoenfeld's work ranges widely across thinking, teaching, and learning in
mathematics and beyond, with particular interest in methodological issues aimed at
improving the effectiveness of educational research. He has written, edited, or co-
edited twenty-two books and more than two hundred articles on thinking and
learning. He has focused successively on three major areas:

On problem solving. He made an empirical study of how far mathematics

undergraduates tackling non-routine problems can use the strategies set out in
George Polya's seminal work How to solve it [2](1945) The strategies were based on
Polya's reflections on how he solved problems. Schoenfeld's study found that the
strategies alone are weak, and need to be strengthened by complementary domain-
specific tactics. He also showed the importance of students' monitoring their work
on a problem and adjusting their tactical and technical moves accordingly. This
work was published as Mathematical Problem Solving (1985).[3]

On models of teaching. Understanding the decisions that teachers make in real time
in the classroom then became a focus. From the analysis in great detail of videos
of mathematics lessons, he and his collaborators developed a model of teaching
emphasising three key dimensions – the teacher's knowledge, goals and the beliefs
about mathematics. He later generalized the work to real time decision making by
professionals, published as the book How we think (2010).[4]

On improving classrooms. Since the 1990s Schoenfeld has become increasingly focused
on the challenges of translating research insights into tools and processes that
improve teaching and learning in real world classrooms. Working with the design
team at the Shell Centre for Mathematical Education.[5] in Nottingham, he has led
projects to develop tools for teaching and assessment, culminating in the
Mathematics Assessment Project.[6] Complementing this he developed a theoretical
framework, Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU),[7] a model of classrooms in
which productive learning is likely to occur. This identifies five key dimensions:
the Mathematics; Cognitive demand; Access; Agency, authority and identity;
Formative assessment.
Appointments
These include:

Honorary Professor, University of Nottingham, 1994 – present.

President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 1998–2000

Vice President of the National Academy of Education, 2001–2005

Lead author for grades 9–12 of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics'
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, 2000

Senior advisor to the Educational Human Resources Directorate of the National

Science Foundation, 2001–2003

Senior content advisor to the U.S. Department of Education's 'What Works

Clearinghouse', 2001–2003

A lead author of the mathematics content specifications for the Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium, 2010–2012

Founding Executive member of the International Society for Design and Development
in Education.

Principal investigator of grants from the US National Science Foundation, Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Sloan foundation, Heising–
Simons Foundation and others, totalling more than $45,000,000.

Honors and awards

US National Academy of Education, 1994

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2001

Laureate, Kappa Delta Pi, 2006

Inaugural Fellow, American Educational Research Association, 2007

Klein Medal for lifetime achievement in research, from the International Commission
on Mathematical Instruction, 2011

Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award, AERA, 2013

AERA Division G Henry T. Trueba Award for Research Leading to the Transformation of
the Social Contexts of Educationto The Center for Diversity in Mathematics
Education (DiME), for which Schoenfeld was a PI, 2013

Mary P. Dolciani Award, Mathematical Association of America, 2014

Walter Denham Memorial award, California Mathematics Council, 2014

Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, Queens College of the City University of New York,
2018

References
"Alan H. Schoenfeld". UC Berkeley – Graduate School of Education. Retrieved 2018-
08-11.
Pólya, George (1945). How to solve it?. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
 Schoenfeld, Alan H. (1985), "Control", Mathematical Problem Solving, Elsevier, pp.
97–144, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-628