Women Who Count Honoring African American Women Mathematicians

Tessellations, palindromes, tangrams, oh my! Women Who Count: Honoring African American Women Mathematicians is a children's activity book highlighting the lives and work of 29 African American women mathematicians, including Dr. Christine Darden, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan from the award-winning book and movie Hidden Figures. Although the book is geared toward children in grades 3–8, it is appropriate for all ages. The book includes portrait sketches and biographies for the featured mathematicians, each followed by elementary-school and middle-school activity pages. Children will enjoy uncovering mathematicians' names in word searches, unscrambling math vocabulary words, solving equations to decode interesting facts, using logical thinking to uncover magic squares, locating hidden objects on an “I Spy” page, and more! They will also read about the important contributions of Drs. Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes, Evelyn Boyd Granville, and Marjorie Lee Browne, the first three African American women to receive doctoral degrees in mathematics. Other women profiled include contemporary mathematicians who will inspire today's children to become tomorrow's leaders. Women Who Count is a must-read for parents and children alike!

This volume is put together by the National Association of Mathematicians to commemorate its 50th anniversary. The articles in the book are based on lectures presented at several events at the Joint Mathematics Meeting held from January 16–19, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland, including the Claytor-Woodard Lecture as well as the NAM David Harold Blackwell Lecture, which was held on August 2, 2019, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The bold story of Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who worked for NASA during the space race and was depicted in the film Hidden Figures. You've likely heard of the historic Apollo 13 moon landing. But do you know about the mathematical genius who made sure that Apollo 13 returned safely home? As a child, Katherine Johnson loved to count. She counted the steps on the road, the number of dishes and spoons she washed in the kitchen sink, everything! Boundless, curious, and excited by calculations, young Katherine longed to know as much as she could about math, about the universe. From Katherine's early beginnings as a gifted student to her heroic accomplishments as a prominent mathematician at NASA, Counting on Katherine is the story of a groundbreaking American woman who not only calculated the course of moon landings but, in turn, saved lives and made enormous contributions to history. Christy Ottaviano Books

"This book is designed as a primary resource for educators engaging in mathematics task adoption, design, planning, and implementation in ways that have potential to engage, inspire, and empower K-5 children. The goal is to offer a practical and inspirational approach to culturally-relevant mathematics instruction in the form of intensive, in-the-moment guidance and practical classroom tools to meet teachers where they are and help grow their practice day by day. This book focuses on research-based and learner-centered teaching practices to help students develop deep conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge and fluency, and application in all mathematical content in grades K-5"--

This collection of refereed papers celebrates the contributions, achievements, and progress of female mathematicians, mostly in the 20th and 21st centuries. Emerging from the themed paper session “The Contributions of Women to Mathematics: 100 Years and Counting” at MAA's 2015 MathFest, this volume contains a diverse mix of current scholarship and exposition on women and mathematics, including biographies, histories, and cultural discussions. The multiplicity of authors also ensures a wide variety of perspectives. In inspiring and informative chapters, the authors featured in this volume reflect on the accomplishments of women in mathematics, showcasing the changes in mathematical culture that resulted as more women obtained tenure-track and tenured academic positions, received prestigious awards and honors, served in leadership roles in professional societies, and became more visibly active in the mathematical community. Readers will find discussions of mathematical excellence at Girton College, Cambridge, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; of perseverance by Polish women in mathematics during and after World War II and by Black women in mathematics in the United States from the 1880s onward; and of the impact of outreach programs ranging from EDGE's promotion of graduate education to the Daughters of Hypatia dance performances. The volume also provides informative biographies of a variety of women from mathematics and statistics, many of them well-known and others less well-known, including Charlotte Angas Scott, Emmy Noether, Mina Rees, Gertrude Cox, Euphemia Lofton Haynes, Norma Hernandez, Deborah Tepper Haimo, and Teri Perl. These essays provide compelling reading for a wide audience, including mathematicians, historians of science, teachers of mathematics, and students at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Anyone interested in attracting more girls and women as students, faculty, and/or employees will also find this volume engaging and enlightening.

“This rich volume is a national treasure.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Captivating, informative, and inspiring…Easy to follow and hard to put down.” —School Library Journal (starred review) The inspiring autobiography of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who helped launch Apollo 11. As a young girl, Katherine Johnson showed an exceptional aptitude for math. In school she quickly skipped ahead several grades and was soon studying complex equations with the support of a professor who saw great promise in her. But ability and opportunity did not always go hand in hand. As an African American and a girl growing up in an era of brutal racism and sexism, Katherine faced daily challenges. Still, she lived her life with her father’s words in mind: “You are no better than anyone else, and nobody else is better than you.” In the early 1950s, Katherine was thrilled to join the organization that would become NASA. She worked on many of NASA’s biggest projects including the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first men on the moon. Katherine Johnson’s story was made famous in the bestselling book and Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures. Now in Reaching for the Moon she tells her own story for the first time, in a lively autobiography that will inspire young readers everywhere.

Math really is for everyone—so let’s prove it. You’ve heard it from kids, from friends, and from celebrities: "I’m bad at math." It’s a line that society tends to accept without examination—after all, some people just aren’t "math people," right? Wrong. As we do with other essential skills, we need to expose the stereotypes, challenge the negative mindsets, and finally confront the systemic opportunity gaps in math education, and replace them with a new vision for what math is, who it’s for, and who can excel at it. In this book you’ll find Research on teacher and student mindsets and their effect on student achievement Audience-specific and differentiated tools, reflection questions, and suggested actions for educators at all levels of the system Examples from popular media, as well as personal stories and anecdotes Quotes, data-driven figures, and suggestions for deeper learning on all aspects of a positive and equitable vision of math education Both social commentary and a toolkit of solutions, this bold new book directly challenges the constructs that have historically dictated our perceptions of what makes someone a "math person". Only by dismantling those misplaced assumptions can we reform math education so it works for everyone. Because in truth, we are all math people.

Empower your students as they reimagine the world around them through mathematics Culturally relevant mathematics teaching engages and empowers students, helping them learn and understand math more deeply and make connections to themselves, their communities, and the world around them. The mathematics task provides opportunities for a direct pathway to this goal; however, how can you find, adapt, and implement math tasks that build powerful learners? Engaging in Culturally Relevant Math Tasks helps teachers to design and refine inspiring mathematics learning experiences driven by the kind of high-quality and culturally relevant mathematics tasks that connect students to their world. With the goal of inspiring all students to see themselves as doers of mathematics, this book provides intensive, in-the-moment guidance and practical classroom tools that empower educators to shape culturally relevant experiences while systematically building tasks that are standards-based. It includes A pathway for moving through the process of asking, imagining, planning, creating, and improving culturally relevant math tasks. Tools and strategies for designing culturally relevant math tasks that preservice, novice, and veteran teachers can use to grow their practice day by day. Research-based teaching practices seen through the lens of culturally relevant instruction that help students develop deep conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge, fluency, and application in all K-5 mathematical content. Examples, milestones, opportunities for reflection, and discussion questions guide educators to strengthen their classroom practices, and to reimagine math instruction in response. This book is for any educator who wants to teach mathematics in a more authentic, inclusive, and meaningful way, and it is especially beneficial for teachers whose students are culturally different from them.