November 7, 2002
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt University education professor Paul Cobb has been honored for his work focusing on core mathematical concepts for grades K-3 and middle school grades with election to the prestigious National Academy of Education.
Founded in 1965 the academy has as its mission to “promote scholarly inquiry and discussion concerning the ends and means of education, in all its forms, in the United States and abroad."
Today, the academy consists of up to 150 members who are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship or outstanding contributions to education.
Cobb, a faculty member at the Peabody College of education and human development at Vanderbilt since 1992, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in mathematics education. He has also served as an adjunct professor of education at Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia, since joining the faculty there in 1998.
Cobb’s research interests focus on students’ mathematical learning as it occurs in the social context of the classroom. In his work, he conducts classroom design experiments in which he investigates innovative instructional approaches in inquiry-based classrooms.
Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Cobb spent nine years on the faculty of Purdue University. He also served as a mathematics instructor at Brighton, Hove and East Sussex Sixth Form College in Brighton, England, and at Headlands School in Swindon, England.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Bristol in England and master’s and doctorate degrees in mathematics education from the University of Georgia.
Cobb is the author of numerous publications including book chapters, journal articles and instructional materials. He has edited several books and is co-author of two books – “Children’s Counting Types: Philosophy, Theory and Applications” and “Young Children’s Construction of Arithmetical Meanings and Strategies.”
He is a member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Society for the Study of Education, American Education Research Association, International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) and the North American Chapter of PME.
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Contact: Princine Lewis, 615-322-NEWS, princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu