Sarah Powell interviewed about arithmetic and mathematics
Who wouldn't want to know about teaching arithmetic effectively?
Professor Sarah Rannells Powell of the University of Texas provided valuable insights about teaching arithmetic and mathematics in an interview for Made For Math recorded in 2024 and published 17 January 2025. Made for Math, a company that sells methods and materials for math, has a Web page with an overview of Sarah’s1 talk and a link to the video shown here (scroll).
Readers of Special Education Today will recognize Professor Powell from earlier posts (e.g., Friday Photos—PCRC Snaps #6 from 19 February 2022; Friday Photos #19—Sarah Powell! from 8 April 2022) and from mentions of her remarkably strong scholarship (e.g., Deemphasizing 'key words' in word problems).
The video that follows doesn’t spend much time on Sarah’s accomplishments, but let me mention just a few: Outstanding Doctoral Research Award, Division for Learning Disabilities, Council for Exception Children (2010); Early Career Publication Award, Division for Research, Council for Exceptional Children (2011); Distinguished Early Career Research Award, Division for Research, Council for Exceptional Children (2018); Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE; Wikipedia entry), U.S. Government (2019)…. Oh the list could go on and on.
In addition to her excellent research chops, Sarah also knows a lot about plain old teaching. What is more, she is very skillful in explaining how research results have express, actionable implications for teaching. This interview illustrates the entire suite of her skills. I encourage readers to take the time (about 50 min) to watch it…and then give it a second watch, too, because it’s really rich.
In back-channel correspondence, Sarah told me that, for her, the big picture is that educators need to pay more attention to math literacy. “For students to be successful in math, they really need to know how to read and write using math symbols—numerals and signs. But it’s more than just symbols. It’s about using measures, graphs, and etc.”
In that correspondence, Sarah recommended Dehaene’s (2011) book on the psychology of number sense. I’ve also added a couple of sources at the end of this post for those who want to learn more about math literacy. My sources are a bit dated. I invite those readers who know this area well to provide additional source in the comments. Who knows, maybe Sarah will visit and drop a few herself!
To learn more about Sarah and her work, take the time to visit her personal Web site, SarahPowellPhD.com, or visit the faculty bio page for her at University of Texas at Austin.
Resources
Dehaene, S. (2011). The number sense: How the mind creates mathematics. Oxford.
Jablonka, E. (2003). Mathematical literacy. In A. J. Bishop, M. A. Clements. C. Keitel, J. Kilpatrick, & F. K. S. Leung (Eds.), Second International Handbook of Mathematics Education (pp. 75-102). Kluwer.
Kilpatrick, J. (2001). Understanding mathematical literacy: The contribution of research. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 47(1), 101-116.
Footnote
Yes, I’m using the Professor Powell’s first name. I know some readers will see that as unusual and maybe even disrespectful. Well, Sarah and I have been buddies for something like 15 years. I don’t think she’ll mind.
Sarah Powell is the best. I saw that link to the interview you shared and shared it with my colleagues as well!
I have been a fan at least since I came across this video featuring Dr. Powell and Dr. Devin Kearns demystifying the term "explicit instruction" in a unique way: https://youtu.be/T-6cCgS8Eio?si=DdHnNGHc2HxQPORl
Thanks for introducing me to Sarah Powell.