Why Math Nerd?

Lots of times I am confronted with negative comments about what I do for a living. My sister calls me a math nerd. People automatically believe I love Sudoku. If I make a calculation error, someone will say-and you are a mathematician? Ha!  The other night while at a dinner with professionals including two lawyers, an engineer and a realtor, I mentioned the word quadratic and I was immediately hit with a barrage of statements including, "oh come on! math who wants to talk math?".  Huh? I did not have that reaction when you said " latest house bill" or when you say "Selling trend"? What? I thought you guys were educated, and most of all my friends?

I am over it (sort of), but I realize that I AM a math nerd, just like someone is a Star Wars nerd, or a chess nerd or even a football nerd. I am interested in math. I like talking and hearing about things that involve interesting math ideas, like "I wonder if the number of people have died in the world is more or less than the number of people living right now?" No, I am not GREAT at math. I do not use calculus at all, for anything, but I am interested in how calculus works and how it was developed and how the graphs created using calculus change when something about the equation changes. Anyway, I like math in a way that some people enjoy lots of things but aren't experts at it. Talking about math stuff (and actually science too) is enjoyable social activity for me.

This blog will give me a chance to explain this point of view, and also describe what I do that makes me a math educator with a PhD. I get to do research on how people learn and think about math. How people feel about math and how that effects their ability to do math. I get to teach. In the past two months I've taught a bunch of second graders, some pre-service teachers, some in-service teachers and some teachers of teachers. I have also been researching the relationship between the quality of a professional development experience and teachers' content knowledge. It is fun and promises to be "funner" all the time. Yup I am a math nerd.