Alison Marr facts for kids

Alison M. Marr, born in 1980, is an American mathematician and a teacher who helps people learn math. She studies something called graph theory and also loves a teaching method called inquiry-based learning. She is a professor at Southwestern University in Texas.

Her Journey in Math

Alison Marr finished college at Murray State University in 2002. She then earned a master's degree in math from Texas A&M University in 2004. In 2007, she received her Ph.D. (a high-level degree) from Southern Illinois University. Her special project for this degree was about "Labelings of Directed Graphs."

Since 2007, she has been a math professor at Southwestern University. From 2015 to 2018, she was the head of the math department. Besides teaching math, she has also taught a fun class for new students about television game shows.

Making Math Fun: Teaching Ideas

Alison Marr strongly supports inquiry-based learning in mathematics. This way of teaching encourages students to discover things for themselves. Instead of just being told the answers, students act like researchers. This method is similar to the Moore method of teaching.

In 2016, she helped start a special group for inquiry-based learning. This group is part of the Mathematical Association of America. She also helps edit the Journal of Inquiry-Based Learning in Mathematics. Plus, she is on the board of directors for an organization called the Initiative for Mathematics Learning By Inquiry.

Exploring Graph Theory

Alison Marr is an expert in graph theory. This is a branch of math that studies networks of points and lines. With Walter Wallis, she wrote a book called Magic Graphs. This book is about special kinds of graphs and how they can be "labeled" with numbers. She even gave a speech about magic graph labelings at a big math conference in 2011.