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 - Creative Methods in Mathematics Education
Dr. Ami Mamolo's research areas include mathematics education, conceptual development through non-routine tasks, mathematics knowledge for/in teaching, and task design and implementation.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
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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
- Mamolo, A. (2017). April and the infinitely many ping pong balls. For the Learning of Mathematics, 37(3), 2-8.
- Mamolo, A. (2014). Cardinality and cardinal number of an infinite set: A nuanced relationship. Proceedings of the 38th International conference for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Vancouver, B.C.
- Mamolo, A. & Bogart, T. (2011). Riffs on the infinite ping-pong ball conundrum. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 42(5), 615 – 623.
Math Knowledge for Teaching
- Mamolo, A. (2018). Perceptions of social issues as contexts for secondary mathematics. Journal of Mathematical Behaviour, 51, 28-40
- Gadinidis, G., LeSage, A., Mamolo, A., & Namukasa, I. (2017). Re-designing K-12 teacher education: A focus on computational and mathematical thinking. CATE Polygraph Series: Initial Teacher Education in Ontario.
- Zazkis, R. & Mamolo, A. (2011). Reconceptualizing knowledge at the mathematical horizon. For the Learning of Mathematics, 31(2), 8 – 13.
Technology & Task Design
- Hughes, J., Morrison, L., Mamolo, A., Laffier, J., & deCastel, S. (2019). Addressing bullying through critical making. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(1), 309-325.
- Mamolo, A., Ruttenberg-Rozen, R., & Whiteley, W. (2015). Developing a network of and for geometry learning. ZDM Mathematics Education, 47(3), 483-496.
- Sinclair, M., Mamolo, A., & Whiteley, W. (2011). Designing spatial visual tasks for research: The case of the Filling Task. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 78(2), 135 – 163.
