The Register-Guard – Madeline Ahearn and Dev Sinha
“In the 1980s, Barry Marshall had a theory that some ulcers were caused by bacteria, not acidity or stress. He ran experiments, and then pursued his research at a university, eventually establishing his hypothesis. Within a few years, treatments throughout the world had changed. In 2005, Dr. Marshall won a Nobel Prize. At about the same time, Deborah Ball had a theory that her third-graders’ difficulty with fractions came not from an inability to remember facts but a lack of conceptual models and precise but age-appropriate language. After success in her own classroom, she went on to become a leader in mathematics education, establishing her theories through research studies. She is now dean of the College of Education at the University of Michigan and a strong national advocate for teacher professional training, while still teaching elementary students every summer. Unlike the medical setting, which regularly witnesses widespread adoption of best practices in a short period, as of 2010 very few classrooms were employing Dr. Ball’s techniques for teaching fractions. Fortunately, most classrooms in our country are doing so now — thanks to the Common Core, which incorporated her approach.”(more)