Paul Kehle
Paul E KehleProfessor of Educational Studies
Joined faculty in 2005
Ph.D., Mathematics Education, Indiana University, 1999
B.S., Philosophy, Beloit College, 1983
Contact Information
Scholarly Interest
I am fascinated by mathematics, cognition, teacher education, and mathematics education in particular. I conduct collaborative research with undergraduate students and with high school teachers and their students, introducing them to the frontiers of computational discrete mathematics; our work is focused on hybrid circulant graphs and graph Ramsey theory. I am co-PI on the Computational Thinking Across the Disciplines curriculum-development project, funded by an NSF grant to Rutgers University, HWS, and the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP).
Teaching Experience
Westtown School (1984-1992): high school mathematics
Courses Taught
Learning, Teaching, Schools, and Mathematics
The Human Face of Mathematics (FSEM)
Teaching for a Sustainable Environment
Representations, Inferences, and Meanings
Mathematics Pedagogy Seminars
Publications
Kehle, P. (2011). Exploring properties of stable matchings. Consortium 100, Spring/Summer 2011.
Kehle, P. (2010). Mathematical experiments and experimental mathematics. Consortium 98, Spring/Summer 2010.
Kehle, P., & McCormick, K. (2010). On evaluating a curriculum: What we learned while trying to determine what the students learned. In R. Reys & B. Reys (Eds.) K-12 mathematics curriculum: Issues, trends, and future directions. Reston, VA: NCTM.
Kehle, P. & Rotjan, R. (2009). Movin' on up: Modeling how hermit crabs find new homes. Consortium 96, Spring/Summer 2009.
Kehle, P. (2008). Reading in the intersection of biography, mathematics, history, and the future. Consortium 94, Spring/Summer 2008.
Kehle, P. (2007). Reversals of genetic fortune. Consortium 92, Spring/Summer 2007.
Hodgson, T., Kehle, P., Mara, P., & Resek, D. (2006). Navigating through mathematics by integrating content and process in grades 9-12. Reston, VA: NCTM.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Mathematical Association of America/American Mathematical Society
American Educational Research Association
PERSONAL STATEMENT
I am fascinated by the world around us and by how we make sense of it. Often my first impulse upon learning something new is to find someone to share it with. I am constantly seeking opportunities to learn how people make sense of something-I try to catch sense-making in the act. My love of learning is one reason I became a high school mathematics teacher after college and teaching gave me practice watching how people make (or do not make) sense of mathematics. Teaching eventually led me back to graduate school where I studied mathematics, cognitive science, and teacher education. Now, I teach future teachers and I do research on mathematics and cognition. Despite many diverse interests, mathematics has remained the focus of my study of sense-making for two primary reasons. It seems to be somewhere between being just a game invented by humans and being part of the fabric of the universe. Also, to the extent that mathematics is the study of patterns and is a pattern itself, mathematics has the ability to apply to itself-much like when we think about how we think.