Student - College of Education

Before he joined the Ph.D program in STEM Education at UT-Austin, he taught mathematics for 3 years at a middle school and for 3 and half years at a high school in South Korea. Throughout his teaching career, he participated in two a-year-long research projects; his own project on instructional practice and a collaborative one which led him to pursue a doctoral degree in STEM education with emphasis on mathematics.

His research interests include proof and reasoning in general, how to formulate more opportunities for students to engage in proving-related activities in classroom and how teachers can facilitate the process in particular.

As he taught students at secondary schools, he has found it out that students with difficulty dealing with algebraic representation or manipulation seem less likely to be successful in their future mathematics courses. More generally, algebraic reasoning is critical for their future study regardless of their majors or jobs; this becomes worse in their higher grades or even in their college years based on his personal conversations with students whom he taught in my earlier career. His primary research interest includes students arguments, reasoning, and students development of proof. As often it is said that proof is difficult to be learned and taught, based on his observations of students when they were engaged in developing their own proof, it is not an exaggeration. To facilitate both students and teachers through the process of learning and teaching proofs, he plans to conduct research of which results may be readily implemented into practice.

Eric Knuth (Supervisor)
Explores how to democratize access to algebra for students who historically have had limited access to the STEM pipeline due to algebras gatekeeper role.

Provided by College of Education

Graduate Recruitment Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin (2018 - 2019)

Hangil Kim