In This Series Teaching Mathematics The Women of Martha Cook: A Longitudinal Study on Actualization in Women In a Different Place: Reading Interests of Gifted Adolescent Females Reclaiming the Lives of Gifted Girls and Women Stories We Tell Our Children

Royal Fireworks Monographs on Education

New and innovative works that make an original contribution to the field of education by experienced teachers and academics.

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Teaching Mathematics

The first title in the new series of Royal Fireworks Monographs on Education, Teaching Mathematics is a "knock-out of a book", a personal and beguiling synthesis of scholarly theory and practical teaching methodology developed from real school situations. Drawing extensively from a diverse range of research on learning, Dr Mason describes his discovery of a new construct which he calls: '"the puncturing of space' with conceptual proxies''.

He asserts that enabling students both to recognize the knowledge that they possess, and to relate that knowledge to new information, should be the goal of a curriculum. His methods and his theory are aimed at "unlocking" the potential that he believes each student has for learning, in this case, mathematics. He also recognises that all teaching is done in a social context and he has a great understanding of the demands and influences on teachers in schools.

"Part authoritative teaching handbook, part textbook, and part philosophical discourse from a master pedagogue with more than thirty years teaching experience, it is a marvelous resource for all teachers of mathematics and the natural sciences". Dr Kenneth Offit, Professor, Medicine and Public Health, Cornell University

"My own field is in English and in Dramatic Literature, but what Dr. Mason had to say about the process and art of teaching Math was equally relevant to me...I believe that this book will become an essential inspiration and tool to anyone who teaches and who sees their work as an integration of the craft of teaching, and intellectual engagement with their field of study...I think it opens a possibility for a community of scholar/teachers--new and experienced, those engaged in lower school, high school and college education-- to define what they do...I was knocked out by the book". Dr. Evangeline Morphos, Columbia University

The Women of Martha Cook: A Longitudinal Study on Actualization in Women

Part of the Royal Fireworks series of Monographs on Education, this book is the result of a fascinating project that examined student experiences, and subsequent adult lives, of a sample of high-ability women who resided in the Martha Cook dorm at the University of Michigan in the 1950s and 60s. The college ethos of achievement, leadership and community contribution was expected to have had an effect, but only with following up individual women could this be ascertained.

Through extensive data culled from questionnaires and anecdotal case-studies, the upbringing, education, professions, accomplishments, beliefs and relationships of 167 women were analyzed. With 50 being the average age of the interviewees, this longitudinal study is well fitted to offer recommendations for women and girls on achieving their life purposes.

Author, Dr Jan Hansen, pays tribute to Dr Eleanor G Hall who initiated the project but who died before it could be finished. Conducted over twelve years, Hansen was inspired and enthused by what she learnt from these gifted women and gives valuable advice based on unique and insightful research.

Note: The Martha Cook Building was described as the most beautiful college dormitory in the United States when it opened in 1915. William Cook hoped the residence, named for his mother, would provide an atmosphere of beauty and harmonious living that would nurture “the charm and grace and principles of cultured American womanhood.” While Cook was raised on these principles and hoped to nurture them, he also was a man of vision and foresaw the future of women’s education.

In a Different Place: Reading Interests of Gifted Adolescent Females

In contrast to academics and teachers suggesting books that gifted girls might want to read, Elizabeth Romey’s study lets gifted girls tell, in their own words, the kind of books that they find helpful and meaningful.

She sets out to discover the common themes in books preferred by a group of gifted adolescent females, whether they prefer fiction or non-fiction and what conclusions can be drawn. She looks at how themes and books relate to their personal experiences, finds out some of the issues that affect their lives, and explores the benefit of reading as bibilotherapy.

Dr Romey is Assistant Professor of Gifted Education in the Department of Leadership and Teacher Education, University of South Alabama.

Part of the Royal Fireworks series of Monographs on Education.

Reclaiming the Lives of Gifted Girls and Women

Royal Fireworks Press is proud to present this important new work from one of the leading figures in Gifted Education as part of the Royal Fireworks series of Monographs on Education. Dr Smutny writes about the special challenges and needs of gifted females, drawing both on academic research and on the life-experiences of individuals.

Though drawing on research, this is a practical guide with activities and strategies to strengthen the inner life of gifted girls, "enabling them the freedom to be themselves."

The book is in two parts. First she examines the challenges and then she explores how teachers and parents can better prepare girls for future growth and development.

Both gender bias and societal expectations mean that so often women give up on their road to fulfilment to serve the needs of others. “In my work with gifted students”, she writes, “I have noticed repeatedly the struggle of gifted girls and young women teetering between different and often conflicting influences.”

She emphasises the importance of self-knowledge, self-understanding and self-acceptance as pillars for building a strong foundation for gifted girls and women to lead progressive and fulfilling lives. This is a vital contribution to girls' gifted education.

Dr Joan Franklin Smutny is founder and director of the Center for Gifted at National-Louis University, Evanston, Illinois and a winner of the NAGC Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contribution to the field of education. She directs programs for thousands of gifted children every year and teaches courses on gifted education for graduate students. She is editor of the Gifted Children Journal, contributing editor of Understanding Our Gifted and the Roeper Review for gifted education professionals, and a feature writer for the Gifted Education Communicator. She has authored many books and articles on gifted education.

Stories We Tell Our Children

Children first encounter history in the stories we read to them or tell them. Yet, as we read stories to our children, we often miss the opportunity to explore that history. David Thomas here unpacks the history embedded in children’s picture books. Parents and teachers alike will see familiar stories in a new light as they recognize historical values and trends in books they have read and loved for years.

David Thomas is Professor of History at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee and has been recognized for excellence in teaching. He uses children’s literature in the classroom as one way to enhance students’ abilities to explore and understand the past.

This is part of the Royal Fireworks series of Monographs on Education.