Profile
Jennifer Suh is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, College of Education and Human Development, George Mason University. Dr. Suh teaches mathematics courses in the Mathematics Education Leadership and Elementary Education programs. Dr. Suh is also the PDS University Facilitator at Westlawn Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia. As a University Facilitator, she supervises teacher interns who are in the Professional Development School Program.
She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education Leadership with a specialization in instructional technology from George Mason University in 2005, her Masters in Teaching and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in 1994. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Suh was an elementary classroom teacher for 11 years working in Virginia and for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Seoul, Korea. Currently, she teaches the Elementary Mathematics Methods courses for prospective teachers and Research in Mathematics Education for the Mathematics Specialist Masters and PH.D Programs.
Research Interests
- Mathematics teacher development, in particular using lesson study to develop pedagogical mathematics knowledge.
- Children’s development of mathematical meaning and models to build understanding and representational fluency, with a focus on diverse populations of students.
- Adaptive Learning Environments to Promote 21st Century Skills: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration in STEM Education
Mathematics Teacher Development -Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Dr. Suh’s current research focuses on effective methods in developing elementary mathematics teachers’ pedagogical and content knowledge. She has conducted research with elementary teachers on lesson study and explored the use of mathematical models using physical and virtual manipulatives as means to develop pedagogical mathematics knowledge. She continues to work with pre-service and in-service teachers who “relearn” the fundamental mathematics by mathematical knowledge mapping, multiple representations & models, and meaningful problem solving activities.
Children’s development of mathematical meaning and models to build understanding and representational fluency with diverse student populations
Her other research efforts focus on effective methods in building representational fluency, that is allowing students to translate or reinterpret a mathematical idea from one mode of representation to another: from real life experiences, manipulative models, pictorial representations, written symbols and spoken words. Dr. Suh’s research examines how students use multiple representations of mathematics concepts to build flexibility and mathematical proficiency, particularly with diverse populations of students.
Adaptive Learning Environments to Promote 21st Century Skills: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration in STEM Education
Dr. Suh continues her research in leveraging best practices to promote a responsive learning environment to promote 21st century Skills: Creativity, Critical thinking, Communication and Collaboration. Her recent work in STEM education has involved Lesson Study focused around the design of lessons integrating interdiscplinary topics to promote real world contexts in STEM learning.