Elham Kazemi facts for kids

Elham Kazemi, born in 1970, is a special kind of teacher. She helps other teachers learn how to teach math better. She is a professor at the University of Washington, where she teaches about math education and how people learn.

Elham Kazemi's Journey in Education

Elham was born in Iran and moved to the United States when she was 11 years old. She went to Duke University and finished her first degree in psychology in 1992. After that, she became an elementary school teacher in Phoenix, Arizona.

She loved teaching, but she also wanted to learn more about how students think and learn. So, she went back to school at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She earned a master's degree in 1997 and then a Ph.D. in 1999. Her Ph.D. research was about how teachers can learn from watching students solve math problems.

In 1999, Elham Kazemi started working as a professor at the University of Washington. She became a special professor there in 2014, called the Geda and Phil Condit Professor.

Helping Students Learn Math

Elham Kazemi has written a book with Allison Hintz called Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions. This book helps teachers learn how to lead good conversations in math class. It teaches them how to get students to talk about their math ideas and explain how they solve problems.

She has also worked with the Renton School District to create new math lessons. In these lessons, students don't just solve problems. They also explain their methods to each other and give feedback. This helps students understand math more deeply and learn from their classmates.

Her work with teachers in Renton was so good that a paper describing it won an award in 2014. It showed how important it is for students to talk about their math thinking.