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Terri Kurz
Associate Professor
Faculty
POLY Campus
Mailcode
2680
Assoc Professor
Faculty
POLY Campus
Mailcode
2680
Biography
Terri L. Kurz is an associate professor in mathematics education and holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction in mathematics education. She has over 80 total published articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and conference presentations that primarily focus on using tools and technology to support learning and understanding in mathematics and STEM. Professor Kurz has an interest in improving how children are taught mathematics and frequently publishes practice-based articles to impact teaching and learning in the classroom. Her research-based articles and presentations often focus on understanding preservice teachers' changes in thinking in relation to teaching and learning. She specifically explores how tools and technology impact preservice teachers' understanding of concepts and how to teach those concepts. She has served for three years as editor in the integrating science, technology, and engineering into the mathematics classroom (iSTEM) department of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics journal, Teaching Children Mathematics. Professor Kurz primarily teaches mathematics content and methodology courses that use tools and technology to investigate concepts. She was a mathematics and social science middle school and high school teacher in Los Angeles County, California for seven years before becoming a university professor. She is designing and implementing lessons in her methodology courses that model how to seamlessly embed STEM explorations in the classroom.
Education
- Ph.D. Mathematics Education (Curriculum and Instruction), Arizona State University 2004
- M.A. California State University-Northridge 1999
- B.A. California State University-Northridge 1992
Research Interests
Guiding Research Questions:
- How can tools and technology be used to support understanding in mathematics teaching and learning?
- What misconceptions do preservice teachers have regarding mathematics and STEM concepts and how can these misconceptions be used to improve and guide instruction?
Current Research Projects:
Dr. Kurz' current research focuses on using alternative base systems with preservice teachers to improve their understanding how to teach the base-10 system to children. The challenges of learning operations using alternative base systems can potentially enhance their understanding of childrens difficulties.
Kurz is currently trying to improve the integration of STEM-based lessons in elementary and middle school classrooms. In her methodology courses, she is designing and implementing lessons that model how to seamlessly embed STEM explorations in the classroom.
Publications
Kurz, T. & Garcia, J. (2015). Covering the bases: Exploring alternative base systems. Mathematics Teacher 108(7), 549-552.
Kurz, T. & Kokić, I. (2014). Predilections on requisite pedagogical content for mathematics and science video cases. Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning, 9(4), 275-293.
Kurz, T. & Yanik, H.B. (2015, March). The impact of using the CBR2 on preservice teachers’ understanding of graphs. In Proceeding of the 26th International Conference on the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education in Las Vegas, Nevada. Available: http://www.editlib.org/j/SITE/v/2015/n/1/
Courses
Spring 2019 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 280 | Invest Qnty: Number Operations |
Fall 2018 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 280 | Invest Qnty: Number Operations |
MTE 281 | Inves Space: Geom, Meas & Vis |
MTE 301 | Invst Chng Ptrn, Func & Model |
Summer 2018 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EED 537 | Math Methods & Assessment |
Spring 2018 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 281 | Inves Space: Geom, Meas & Vis |
Fall 2017 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 280 | Invest Qnty: Number Operations |
Summer 2017 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 280 | Invest Qnty: Number Operations |
SED 544 | Creating Classroom Climates |
Spring 2017 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 281 | Inves Space: Geom, Meas & Vis |
MTE 412 | Mathematics in Elem Schools |
Fall 2016 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 280 | Invest Qnty: Number Operations |
Spring 2016 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 281 | Inves Space: Geom, Meas & Vis |
MTE 412 | Mathematics in Elem Schools |
Fall 2015 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 280 | Invest Qnty: Number Operations |
MTE 301 | Invst Chng Ptrn, Func & Model |
Spring 2015 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 281 | Inves Space: Geom, Meas & Vis |
EED 412 | Mathematics in Elem Schools |
Fall 2014 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
MTE 280 | Invest Qnty: Number Operations |
MTE 301 | Invst Chng Ptrn, Func & Model |