Research
I maintain an active research program in which I investigate the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics. Specifically, my research aims to design and implement strong, effective teaching. For more information on one aspect of my research program, you can read a 2013 feature story by the USAO News Bureau on my research by clicking here. For a full publication list, see my CV.
Selected Refereed Publications:
Zazkis, D., & Cook, J. P. (2018). Interjecting Scripting Studies into a Mathematics Education Research Program: The Case of Zero-Divisors and the Zero-Product Property. In Scripting Approaches in Mathematics Education (pp. 205-228). Springer. (Link)
Cook, J.P. & Zazkis, D. (2017). A contradiction in how introductory textbooks approach matrix multiplication? IMAGE: A Bulletin of the International Linear Algebra Society, 59(2), 21-22. (Link)
Dawkins, P. C., & Cook, J. P. (2017). Guiding reinvention of conventional tools of mathematical logic: students’ reasoning about mathematical disjunctions. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 94(3), 241-256. (Link)
Cook, J. P., & Garneau, C. (2017). Challenging Students' Beliefs about Mathematics: A Liberal Arts Approach. Journal of Transformative Learning, 4(1). (Link)
Cook, J. P. (2015). Moving beyond solving for x: Teaching abstract algebra in a liberal arts mathematics course. Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies (PRIMUS), 25(3), 248-264. (Link)
Manuscripts in Preparation
Cook, J.P. & Katz, B. (under revision). Pre-Calculus with Modeling: An Inquiry-Based Approach. Currently in preparation for submission to the MAA’s Classroom Resource Materials textbook series. (Link)
Here I'm giving a talk about the connections between abstract algebra and secondary algebra, with particular focus on the implications for pre-service teachers.
Research Funding
Awarded $5,000 by the EAF to support the development of innovative instructional materials for teaching ring and field theory, including their dissemination through publication in journals and presentations at research conferences.
Selected Presentations:
"Students' Understanding of Zero-divisors and the Zero-Product Property," invited presentation for the University of Georgia's Mathematics Education Seminar (Athens, GA)
“Semantic and Logical Negation: Students’ Interpretations of Negative Predicates,” (joint with P. Dawkins), presented at the RUME Conference (Pittsburgh, PA)
Selected Seminar Talks:
Oct. 2015: “Future Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge,” OSU Math Ed Sem
Sept. 2015: “Clarity over Conciseness: Rationale for Redundant Axioms,” OSU Math Ed Sem
Sept. 2015: “Instructional Design Principles for Functions and
Modeling,” OSU Math Ed Sem
Nov. 2014: "SL(2,R) Shakes up the Upper Half Plane"
Oct. 2013: "Introduction to LaTeX," USAO's Math Club
Jan. 2013: "What are the squares modulo 5? 6?", USAO's Math Club
Oct. 2012: “Integer Primes in Z[i]: Do They Ramify, Split, or Remain
Prime?”, USAO's MTS Club
Oct. 2012: "Primes and Sums of Squares" USAO's MTS Club
Additionally, here are some talk notes related to my mathematical interests, ranging from geometric group theory to algebraic number theory to statistics: Trees and Amalgams of Groups, Methods for Calculating Integral Bases, Dirichlet's Mass Formula for Binary Quadratic Forms, Expected Values of the Three-Parameter Weibull Distribution, and Sabermetrics.