Lee Stiff facts for kids
Lee Vernon Stiff (born February 4, 1949 – died March 19, 2021) was an important American expert in mathematics education. He was a professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and helped lead their College of Education. Dr. Stiff also wrote many math textbooks. He spent his 72 years helping students learn math better.
Early Life and Education
Lee Vernon Stiff's father worked in a factory and had only a third-grade education. This shows how far Dr. Stiff came in his own studies.
Dr. Stiff loved math. He studied mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, finishing in 1971. He then earned a master's degree from Duke University in 1974. Later, he got his highest degree, a doctorate in math education, from North Carolina State University in 1978.
Before becoming a university professor, Dr. Stiff taught math to students in middle school and high school. He started teaching at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1978. In 1983, he returned to NCSU, where he continued his important work.
Leading Math Education
From 2000 to 2002, Dr. Stiff was the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). This is a big organization for math teachers.
Under his leadership, the NCTM worked to make sure students learned important math skills. They wanted students to be good at basic calculations. But they also wanted students to truly understand why math works.
Dr. Stiff believed that simple answers were not enough for complex problems. He said, "Back to basics is moving backward. Number-crunching alone is no longer enough." He meant that just doing calculations isn't enough. Students need to understand the ideas behind the numbers.
He suggested better training for math teachers. He also wanted teachers to use different ways to explain math topics. Dr. Stiff believed that all students could learn math, no matter their background.
Awards and Important Work
Dr. Stiff received many honors for his work. In 1995, he was a Fulbright scholar in Ghana. This is a special award that lets experts teach and study in other countries.
In 2010, his own college at NC State gave him their Distinguished Alumni Award. This award celebrates successful former students.
He also received several important awards from math organizations:
- In 2015, the Benjamin Banneker Lifetime Achievement Award.
- In 2017, the TODOS Iris M. Carl Leadership and Equity Award.
- In 2019, the NCTM Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2019, Dr. Stiff wrote a very important book with Drs. Valerie Faulkner and Patricia Marshall. It was called The Stories We Tell: Math, Race, Bias, and Opportunity. This book talked about how schools and districts should help all children succeed in math. It focused on making sure every student has a fair chance to learn.
