Helen Burn
Mathematics Education Researcher
Highline College Mathematics Faculty Member
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.
