Deborah Loewenberg Ball
{{short description|American mathematics education researcher}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Deborah Loewenberg Ball
| image = Deborah Ball at NSB Awards Ceremony.jpg
| caption = Deborah Loewenberg Ball at the 2017 National Science Board Awards Ceremony
| education = Ph.D. from Michigan State University (1988)
| alma_mater = Michigan State University
| occupation = Educational researcher
| known_for = Mathematics instruction, mathematical preparation of teachers
| employer = University of Michigan
| organization = TeachingWorks
| title = William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education
| awards = Palmer O. Johnson Award (2004)
Outstanding Contributions to Mathematics Education Award (2008)
Louise Hay Award for Outstanding Contributions to Mathematics Education (2009)
Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2012)
| children = 3
}}
Deborah Loewenberg Ball is an educational researcher noted for her work in mathematics instruction and the mathematical preparation of teachers. From 2017 to 2018 she served as president of the American Educational Research Association.{{Cite web | url=http://www.aera.net/About-AERA/Who-We-Are/AERA-Leadership | title=AERA Leadership}} She served as dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan from 2005 to 2016, and she currently works as William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of education. Ball directs [http://www.teachingworks.org/about/our-team/ TeachingWorks], a major project at the University of Michigan to redesign the way that teachers are prepared for practice, and to build materials and tools that will serve the field of teacher education broadly. In a sometimes divisive field,
Ball has a reputation of being respected by both mathematicians and educators. She is also an extremely well-respected mentor to junior faculty members and graduate students.{{cite web |url=http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13509833 |title=Utah Local News - Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive - The Salt Lake Tribune |publisher=Sltrib.com |date=2009-10-07 |accessdate=2014-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129141540/http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13509833 |archive-date=2016-01-29 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.awm-math.org/hayaward/2009.html |title=19th Louise Hay Award: Deborah Loewenberg Ball |publisher=Awm-math.org |date=2008-02-19 |accessdate=2014-06-27 |archive-date=2013-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801210252/http://www.awm-math.org/hayaward/2009.html |url-status=dead }}
Education
As an undergraduate at Michigan State University, Ball majored in French and then taught elementary school for seventeen[http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2007/nov/ball.php] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624111445/http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2007/nov/ball.php|date=June 24, 2010}} years in East Lansing, Michigan.{{cite web|url=http://mathforum.org/kb/servlet/JiveServlet/download/323-1994196-6867037-571358/att1.html |title=Interview: Deborah Ball and Bob Moses |publisher=Mathforum.org |date= |accessdate=2014-06-27}} Ball only started serious study of mathematics when she saw her students struggling in math. In 1988 she received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University from the department of teacher education. Her thesis was titled Knowledge and reasoning in Mathematical Pedagogy: Examining What Prospective Teachers Bring to teacher education.{{Cite web | url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dball/books/DBall_dissertation.pdf |title = Deborah Loewenberg Ball — Deborah Ball's Publications}}
Research
Ball's research focuses on improving the effectiveness and quality of mathematical instruction.{{cite web|url=http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/bios/ball.html |title=Archived: Biography of Dr. Deborah Loewenberg Ball |publisher=Ed.gov |accessdate=2014-06-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627223116/http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/bios/ball.html |archivedate=2015-06-27 }}{{Cite web |url=http://sustainability2003.terc.edu/do.cfm/242/show |title=Bio: Deborah Loewenberg Ball |access-date=2009-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723072638/http://sustainability2003.terc.edu/do.cfm/242/show |archive-date=2010-07-23 |url-status=dead }} Much of her work investigates the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching, and she was among the first to suggest that this knowledge is qualitatively different from what is taught in advanced mathematics classes.
Notable students of Ball's include Deidre Le Fevre, Professor of Learning, Development and Professional Practice at University of Auckland in New Zealand.{{Cite thesis |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/123430 |title=The work of designing video -based multimedia curriculum for learning teaching. |publisher=University of Michigan |date=2003 |type=PhD thesis |last=Le Fevre |first=Deidre Marjorie}}
Awards and Positions
In 2004, Ball and coauthors David K. Cohen and Stephen W. Raudenbush won the Palmer O. Johnson Award presented by the American Educational Research Association for the best article published in an AERA journal in 2003 for their paper Resources, instruction, and research.{{Cite web | url=http://www.aera.net/AboutAERA/Default.aspx?menu_id=20&id=234 | title=About AERA}} In 2007, she was elected member of the National Academy of Education (NAEd).{{cite web |url=http://www.naeducation.org/NAEd_Members.html |title=NAED Members |accessdate=2009-10-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091108012522/http://www.naeducation.org/NAEd_Members.html |archivedate=2009-11-08 }} In 2008, she won the Outstanding Contributions to Mathematics Education Award, presented by the Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics.{{cite web |url=http://www.mictm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=19&Itemid=22 |title=Outstanding Achievement Award |publisher=Mictm.org |date= |accessdate=2014-06-27 |archive-date=2018-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201075430/https://www.mictm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=19&Itemid=22 |url-status=dead }} In 2009, she won the 19th Louise Hay Award for Outstanding Contributions to Mathematics Education, presented by the Association for Women in Mathematics. In 2012 she became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.[https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society], retrieved 2012-11-03. Ball is included in deck 2 of EvenQuads which is a series of playing card decks that feature notable women in mathematics published by the Association of Women in Mathematics.{{Cite web |title=PlayingCards_Deck2 |url=https://awm-math.org/publications/playing-cards/playingcards_deck2/ |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) |language=en-US}}
In 1999, Ball was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley to serve on the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, a committee chaired by Senator John Glenn.[http://www.ed.gov/inits/Math/glenn/members.html Commission Members] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121064045/http://www.ed.gov/inits/Math/glenn/members.html |date=November 21, 2008 }} From 1999 to 2003, Ball served as chair of the RAND Mathematics Study Panel, whose work culminated in the publication Mathematical Proficiency for All Students: Toward a Strategic Research and Development Program in Mathematics Education.{{cite web|url=http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1643/ |title=Mathematical Proficiency for All Students: Toward a Strategic Research and Development Program in Mathematics Education |publisher=RAND |date= January 2003|accessdate=2014-06-27|last1=Ball |first1=Deborah Loewenberg }} In 2003, Ball was appointed to the board of trustees of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, and serves as the chair of the Education Committee there.[http://www.msri.org/about/mission/index_html About MSRI] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006192311/http://www.msri.org/about/mission/index_html |date=October 6, 2009 }} In 2006, Ball was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel.{{cite web|url=http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/index.html |title=Archived: National Mathematics Advisory Panel |publisher=Ed.gov |date= |accessdate=2014-06-27}}
Family
Ball is married and has 3 children.{{Cite journal |last=Bass |first=Hyman |date=March 2024 |title=Deborah Loewenberg Ball: Teaching/Learning Mathematics Teaching |url=https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202403/rnoti-p302.pdf |journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society |volume=71 |issue=3}} Her husband, Richard Ball, also focuses on the educational field as a middle school teacher. Their children, Sarah, Joshua and Jacob, work on different fields of education.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://deborahloewenbergball.com/ Deborah Ball's website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Deborah Loewenberg}}
Category:University of Michigan faculty
Category:American educational theorists
Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:20th-century American academics
Category:20th-century American women academics
Category:Schoolteachers from Michigan
Category:21st-century American women academics
Category:21st-century American academics