Geometry and writing, rural Iowa, and urban Massachusetts—these seemingly opposite combinations came together in a project that has, in part, earned Deidra Franzen Baker the 2012 Yager Educational Accomplishment Honor.

Deidra Franzen Baker

Baker and University of Iowa College of Education Professor Bonnie Sunstein will present their research, “Math in the Margins: Expanding the Five-Minute Universe with Geometry and Writing” at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in the Teacher Leader Center, N140 Lindquist Center. The presentation is free and open to the public.

The project investigates how high school students from rural Iowa and urban Massachusetts collaborate and solve problems when they write about math in their everyday lives across 1,500 miles.

The Yager award is presented each year to a UI College of Education graduate who has demonstrated significant accomplishment or innovation in the K-12 setting. It was established by Emeritus Professor Robert E. Yager, who over the past 55 years has helped the College of Education earn a well-deserved international reputation as a leader in science education.

Baker is a UI graduate and mathematics teacher at Keota Community Schools.

For more information or for special accommodations to attend, contact Gloria Lawrence, at 319-335-5326 or gloria-lawrence@uiowa.edu.