Lee Stiff

Lee Vernon Stiff (born 1949) is an American mathematics education researcher, a professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education at North Carolina State University,[1] and the author of several mathematics textbooks.

Stiff's father was "a factory worker with only a third-grade education".[2] Stiff studied mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating in 1971, and went on to earn a masters degree from Duke University in 1974 and a doctorate in mathematics education from North Carolina State University in 1978.[3][4] After teaching mathematics at the middle school and high school levels, and then holding a faculty position at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte beginning in 1978, he returned to NCSU in 1983.[3]

From 2000 to 2002 Stiff was president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.[5] Under his leadership, the NCTM pushed for a greater emphasis on basic computational skills in elementary and secondary school mathematics education, and for an appropriate emphasis on conceptual understanding.[6] Stiff rejected simple solutions to complex issues, saying that "Back to basics is moving backward. Number-crunching alone is no longer enough."[7] Instead, Stiff has recommended better training and incentives for mathematics teachers, a teaching style that incorporates a variety of ways of looking at the same material, and an attitude that all students can learn mathematics regardless of their background.[2][8]

In 1995 he was a Fulbright scholar in Ghana.[9] In 2009 he was an NCSU College Distinguished Award recipient,[10] and in 2010 the NCSU College of Education gave him their Distinguished Alumni Award.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Faculty listing, MSTE, NCSU, retrieved 2011-03-20.
  2. 1 2 Thompson, Lynn (August 2, 2006), "Why do teens fail math? "It ain't the kids"", Seattle Times .
  3. 1 2 3 Distinguished Alumni Award Archived 2011-08-13 at the Wayback Machine., NCSU College of Education, retrieved 2011-03-20.
  4. ↑ Lee Vernon Stiff at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
  5. ↑ NCTM past presidents, retrieved 2011-03-20.
  6. ↑ Hartcollis, Anemona (April 13, 2000), "Math Teachers Back Return Of Education in Basic Skills", New York Times .
  7. ↑ Greenberger, Scott S. (July 26, 2000), "Educators Adopt New Guidelines for Math", Boston Globe . Reprinted in California Online Mathematics Education Times, Vol. 1, No. 18, July 2000.
  8. ↑ Flowers, Tanner (March 4, 2008), "Math placement, not background, leaves students behind, professor says", Columbia Missourian .
  9. ↑ Fulbright directory Archived 2012-08-04 at Archive.is, accessed 2011-03-20.
  10. ↑ NCSU College Distinguished Award Recipients, retrieved 2011-03-20.
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