In the Spotlight: Helen Burn

Helen Burn 
Mathematics Education Researcher
Highline College Mathematics Faculty Member 

RMETYC is pleased to present this spotlight on the research and work of Helen Burn.
Please read the spotlight on Burn in the
September 2017 issue of MathAMATYC Educator.

The first two years of college mathematics include critical transition courses for students that have profound impacts on student progression through academic programs. College algebra and calculus build the mathematical foundation supporting further study in STEM courses and programs. Developmental mathematics, which is predominantly taught within two-year colleges, serves an important role in preparing underprepared students for college level study in both STEM and non-STEM pathways and programs. These courses are simultaneously important gateway courses leading to advance study and career opportunities, and known exit points from postsecondary education for many students. Underserved populations in STEM are disproportionately represented in these departures. Helen Burn’s research is centered on inquiry around these critical transitions and the interplay of curriculum, teaching and learning within.

Burn is currently a co-principal investigator on the NSF-funded grant, Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges (NSF DUE I-USE #1625918). 

  

Helen Burn is an instructor in the Department of Mathematics and director of the Curriculum Research Group at Highline College, in Des Moines, Washington. Burn has served as both chair of the Pure and Applied Sciences Division and the mathematics department coordinator at Highline College and received the 2014 Washington State Two-Year College Mathematics Education Reform Award for her decade-long work in reforming pre-college mathematics within her department and state. 

Burn holds a BS from The Evergreen State College, an MS in mathematics from Western Washington University, and a PhD in higher education from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education.

Listen to a conversation with Helen Burn on her research here*.* This will link to an audio file hosted on Google Drive. 

Recommended Reading 

Burn, H. E., & Mesa, V. (2017). Not your grandma’s lecture: Interactive lecture in calculus I in the CSPCC two-year cases. MathAMATYC Educator, 8(3), 22–26, 54.

Mesa, V., Burn, H. E., & White, N. (2015). Good teaching of calculus I. In D. Bressoud, V. Mesa, & C. Rasmussen (Eds.), Insights and recommendations from the MAA national study of college calculus (pp. 83–91). Washington, DC: MAA Press.

Burn, H.E. (2012). Factors that shape curricular reasoning about college algebra reform. MathAMATYC Educator, 4(1), 22 - 28.

In the Spotlight is a feature of the MathAMATYC Educator that focuses on research that is being done in mathematics education on the first two years of college mathematics.