I taught middle and high school mathematics for 3 years in Madison, WI prior to pursuing a masters degree and PhD. in mathematics education at University of Georgia. While getting these degrees, I continued teaching a range of ages of students, and now have worked with students as young as 0 and as old as 60. After my Ph.D. degree, I worked at Indiana University—IUPUI for ten years, received tenure, and subsequently served as department chair for the department of teacher education. I found my role as chair very rewarding. This year (2018) I made a transition to Indiana University Bloomington were I am looking forward to continuing my work in mathematics education.

My research is focused on designing problem sequences (i.e., curricula), and investigating the kinds of reasoning that students engage in as a result of working through these problem sequences. I am particularly interested in the role that combinatorial reasoning plays in supporting students to have insights into numerical and quantitative relationships in ways that can support their algebraic reasoning. I enjoy working with students of all ages and like to think hard about how particular tasks might elicit particular kinds of reasoning in students.

You can see some of my work here: Erik Tillema on ResearchGate