PULLMAN — Shlomo Vinner, a prominent Israeli educator, will be at WSU this month to discuss what it takes to be considered an “educated person” in today’s world, and the role that mathematics plays in that.
Vinner teaches mathematics and science education at Hebrew University. His two lectures, presented by the WSU College of Education and open to the public, will be:
• “A diary of a teacher/researcher: The importance of being theoretical,” 6 p.m. Nov. 16, Education Addition Room 116. Vinner will explain how new education theories emerge as teachers observe unanticipated results in their classrooms, critically examine explanations, and create extensions to previous theories or new mechanisms to explain their observations. He will draw from his personal experiences to discuss this process.
• “The mathematics teacher: Between solving equations and the meaning of it all,” 5 p.m. Nov. 17, Cleveland Hall Room 160A. Vinner argues that, just as knowledge of Latin was once considered essential to being considered education, now algebra is considered a gate keeper that separates people who have many opportunities from those who do not. He claims that educated behavior and mathematical behavior, such as a tendency to look for patterns, are both directed by rational thinking.
A poet as well as a mathematician, Vinner was born and raised in Jerusalem. He has taught at Concordia University in Montreal, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His work has influenced mathematics reform since the early 1980s and is reflected in Washington State Mathematics Standards.
