Dr. Bill McKenna:
I have a Ph.D. in STEM Education from UT Austin under the tutelage of Uri Treisman and Leema Berland. I currently employ IBL techniques at The Art Institute of Austin. In these classes of creative students with minimal math skills, I have all but abandoned prescribed learning outcomes in favor of individual growth through exploration and collaboration. We declare victory when each of the students comes away having developed healthier relationships to mathematics, themselves, and each other. In my studies of the often grim and brutal history of American education, I find IBL-ers to be a reassuring bright spot. Together, we can and will transform our education system into a way of life that genuinely serves people from all walks of life!
Carolyn Luna:
Hired as a mathematics lecturer at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2008, I quickly realized that lecturing alone was not an effective method of instruction for incoming freshmen and those who are returning to the subject. I attended my first IBL workshop in 2018 and I’ve been hooked ever since! IBL offers evidence-based methods of instruction that maximize student discourse; it gets my students talking about, writing, and doing mathematics collaboratively each class meeting. In addition to teaching large-enrollment courses in College Algebra for STEM majors and business majors, I am the San Antonio Virtual and Interactive Geometry lab (SAVIG) program director at the Institute of Texan Cultures. IBL plays a large role in the culturally responsive mathematics lessons SAVIG facilitates at the museum using the museum collection as the source of inquiry.
Dr. Cody Patterson:
I am an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Texas State. My research in mathematics education focuses on how students and teachers make decisions in problem solving and in evaluating the mathematical correctness of mathematical claims and reasoning. As a teacher, I use elements of IBL in courses from the entry level to upper-level undergraduate and graduate mathematics. I enjoy engaging students in collaborative work during class and designing problem sets that help students uncover major mathematical ideas prior to the formal presentation of these ideas in class.
Dr. Priya Prasad:
I am an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, specializing in Mathematics Education. I focus on preparing teacher candidates and working with in-service teachers to teach through problem solving, which is a pedagogical strategy that is closely tied to Inquiry-Based Learning. I use IBL in just about all my courses, from elementary math content courses to upper-division and graduate mathematics courses. I use intentionally-structured small group work to support students to construct important conceptual ideas in mathematics.
