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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Ami Mamolo
PhD

Associate Professor

Faculty of Education

Contact information

Education Building Downtown Oshawa
11 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON

905.721.8668 ext. 3769

ami.mamolo@ontariotechu.ca



Bio

Dr. Ami Mamolo is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Ontario Tech University.  Her research is educational mathematics, with focus on higher and teacher education. Ami’s work explores how to foster and elicit reasoning that can disrupt misguided and ingrained preconceptions about mathematics content, learning, and teaching.  She is especially interested in how creative and multi-modal approaches to math teaching and learning can be networked to encourage conceptual growth, meaningful engagement, and enjoyment with mathematics. Her projects related to teachers' mathematical knowledge, mathematical applications to social justice, and computational modelling have received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Her current SSHRC-funded work looks at using mathematical models to disrupt probabilistic misconceptions about social issues.

Service and Leadership

Currently, Ami serves as:

  • Co-chair of the Fields Institute Mathematics Education Forum
  • Editorial Panel member of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
  • Editorial Board member of the Journal of Mathematical Behavior
  • Editorial Board member of the Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
  • Editorial Board member of Vector
  • Member of the Fields Centre for Mathematics Education

Ami has served as:

  • Executive Committee member and recording secretary of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group / Groupe Canadien d"Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques
  • Newsletter editor CMESG / GCEDM
  • Board of Directors member and recording secretary of For the Learning of Mathematics
  • Member of the Program Committee for the Special Interest Group of the MAA, Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Conference

Education

  • PhD in Mathematics Education (2009), Simon Fraser University
  • MSc in Mathematics (2005), McMaster University
  • BSc (Hons) in Mathematics (2003), McMaster University​

For more information:

Courses taught

Bachelor of Arts (ESTD)

  • Problem- and Inquiry-Based Learning – EDUC 4703U
  • Foundations of Adult Learning - AEDT 1110U

Bachelor of Education

  • IS Mathematical Thinking and Doing - EDUC 1310U
  • IS Mathematics I  - CURS 4140U
  • IS Mathematics II - CURS 4141U
  • PJ Mathematics I - CURS 4240U

Master of Education

  • Humanizing Mathematics - EDUC 5399G
  • Math in Society: Equity, Equality and Everything Between – EDUC 5399G
  • Beyond the Textbook: Rethinking Mathematics Learning and Teaching - EDUC 5999G
  • Research Methods - EDUC 5003G

Research and expertise

Ami’s research can be organized into three strands: paradoxes and mathematical reasoning, math knowledge for teaching, and technology and task design. The three strands of research work together to give insight into how to prepare future teachers with disciplinary knowledge and experiences beneficial for their future pupils.  This work helps teachers develop and enact math knowledge and pedagogies that offer rich and meaningful opportunities for students to develop and apply robust mathematical understandings in a diverse set of circumstances.

Paradoxes & Mathematical Reasoning

  • Paradoxes, ambiguities, and other uncertainties can offer playgrounds through which learners, explorers, enthusiasts can develop appreciation of the aesthetic, structural, and generative elements of mathematics.  A leading expert in reasoning with and about infinity, Ami’s research has shed light on how "playing" with ambiguities in language, notation, context, or perception can invite the development of new ideas and knowledge, as well as foster skills in mathematical argumentation. 

Math Knowledge for Teaching

  • This research focuses on teachers' Knowledge of the Mathematical Horizon (KMH), which is characterized by knowledge of the mathematical terrain, its interconnected nature, and the values and sensibilities that allow learners to navigate the terrain.  It sheds light on how a more robust KMH can enhance pedagogy and help teachers broaden their expectations for what are important and helpful experiences for learners. 

Technology and Task Design

  • This research focuses on the design and development of technologically enhanced, interdisciplinary, and multi-modal investigations that seek to balance conceptual development, procedural fluency, and contextual awareness. ​Digital technologies can encourage deeper understanding and more robust mathematical connections, both within the subject and across its many applications. This research studies topics and task design in spatial visual reasoning, digital making & data visualization, and social justice.
Paradoxes & Mathematical Reasoning
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Math Knowledge for Teaching
Technology & Task Design