College of Education
Curriculum & Instruction
http://education.illinois.edu/ci/frp/ggonzlz
Faculty Research Profiles: Gloriana González
Developed by the Research Opportunities Office in BER.
Search All Faculty Research Profiles
Assistant Professor
Curriculum & Instruction
387 Education Building
1310 S. 6th St. MC 708
Research Biography
My research focuses on how teachers manage students’ prior knowledge. I am interested in examining teachers’ decision-making when handling students’ prior knowledge and the rationality underlying those decisions. I have studied this question in the particular case of the high school geometry class, which has special demands for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Methodologically, I apply Systemic Functional Linguistics to the analysis of both classroom talk and discussions among teachers.
I have found that geometry teachers shape the collective memory of the class with timely actions geared towards making students remember something from the past or towards making something memorable in the future. Moreover, geometry teachers not only control what students have to remember, but also what students have to forget as a result of teaching with a problem. In the future, I expect to have a detailed description of teaching moves to manage students’ prior knowledge in problem-based instruction. I am also interested in developing applications of my findings for the purpose of teacher education through the design of innovative rich-media environments that would scaffold how teachers consider students' prior knowledge as they plan mathematical tasks for their students.
I have a special interest in the teaching and learning of geometry. In the past, I have investigated relationships between justifications for teaching geometry and the historical development of the American high school geometry curriculum. I have also studied how the use of dynamic geometry provokes new challenges and possibilities in geometry classrooms.
Degrees
- Ph.D., Mathematics Education, University of Michigan, 2009
- M.S., Mathematics Education, Cornell University, 1995
- B.A., Secondary Mathematics Education, University of Puerto Rico, 1993
Key Professional Appointments
- Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009--
Activities & Honors
- Susan S. Lipschutz Award for exceptional scholarly achievement, a sense of social responsibility and service, and a lively interest in promoting the success of women in the academic community, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, 2008
- Beginning Researcher Award to attend the Discovery Research K-12 Principal Investigators Conference, National Science Foundation, 2007
- Jones, Payne, Coxford Award for outstanding doctoral student in mathematics education, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, 2006
- Reviewer, Divisions C, K, and SIG/RME, AERA, Division K, 2005-2009
- Center for Proficiency in Teaching Mathematics Fellowship, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, 2004-2006
- School of Education Scholars Award, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, 2003-2008
Selected Publications
- González, G., & Herbst, P. (2009). Students' conceptions of congruency through the use of dynamic geometry software. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning, 14, 153-182.
- Nachlieli, T., & Herbst, P., with González, G. (2009). Seeing a colleague encourage a student to make an assumption while proving: What teachers put to play in casting an episode of geometry instruction. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 40(4), 427-459.
- González, G., & Herbst, P. (2006). Competing arguments for the geometry course: Why were American high school students to study geometry in the twentieth century? International Journal for the History of Mathematics Education, 1 (1), 7-33.
- Herbst, P., González, G., & Macke, M. (2005). How can geometry students understand what it means to define in mathematics? The Mathematics Educator, 15(2), 17-24.
