Erna Beth Seecamp Yackel (February 13, 1939 – September 1, 2022) was an American college professor and math educator. She was a member of the faculty at

Purdue University Northwest Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a public university with two campuses in Northwest Indiana; its main campus is in Hammond with a branch campus in Westville. It is part of the Purdue University system and offers more than 70 undergradu ...

from 1984 to 2004.

Early life and education

Erna Beth was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, the daughter of Carsten Herman Seecamp and Ida Julia Zepik Seecamp. Both of her parents were from Canada; her father was a clergyman born in Germany, and the family lived in various rural places in Canada during her childhood. She earned a bachelor's degree at

Dickinson State University Dickinson State University (DSU) is a public university in Dickinson, North Dakota, United States. It is part of the North Dakota University System. It was founded in 1918 as Dickinson State Normal School and granted full university status in ...

in 1957, at age 18, and a master's degree in mathematics at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

at age 21. She later completed doctoral studies in mathematics education at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

in 1984. Her dissertation was titled "Characteristics of Problem Representation Indicative of Understanding in Mathematics Problem Solving".

Career

Yackel taught statistics at Purdue while she was working on her doctorate, and for several years co-taught "Overcoming

Math Anxiety Mathematical anxiety, also known as math phobia, is a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in daily life and academic situations. Math anxiety Mark H. Ashcraft de ...

", a noncredit class. She was a member of the faculty at

from 1984 until she retired in 2004. Early in her career, she won a Young Investigator Award from the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

. She spoke at international conferences in her field. In 1992, she received the Golden Hawk Award from Dickinson State University. In 2005, she received a Distinguished Education Alumni Award from Purdue University.

Publications

Yackel published over 100 articles and book chapters in mathematics education, often on the subject of "sociomathematical norms", a concept she helped to develop. She also co-wrote a textbook on math education. Her work was published in scholarly journals including ''

American Educational Research Journal The ''American Educational Research Journal '' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of educational research. The editors are Ellen Goldring (Vanderbilt University), Angela Calabrese-Barton (University of Michigan), Sean Kelly ( ...

'', ''

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education The ''Journal for Research in Mathematics Education'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of mathematics education. The journal is published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in five issues a year. The editor-in- ...

'', ''

Educational Studies in Mathematics ''Educational Studies in Mathematics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering mathematics education. It was established by Hans Freudenthal in 1968. The journal is published by Springer Science+Business Media and the editors-in-chief are Vi ...

'', ''

Educational Psychologist An educational psychologist is a psychologist whose differentiating functions may include diagnostic and psycho-educational assessment, psychological counseling in educational communities ( students, teachers, parents, and academic authorit ...

'', ''The Journal of Mathematical Behavior'', ''The Arithmetic Teacher'', and '' Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education''. * "Research Into Practice: Experience, Problem Solving, and Discourse as Central Aspects of Constructivism" (1990, with Paul Cobb, Terry Wood, Graceann Merkel, and Michael T. Battista) * "Change in Teaching Mathematics: A Case Study" (1991, Terry Wood and Paul Cobb) * "A Constructivist Alternative to the Representational View of Mind in Mathematics Education" (1992, with Paul Cobb and Terry Wood) * "Interaction and Learning in Mathematics Classroom Situations" (1992, with Paul Cobb and Terry Wood) * "Constructivist, emergent, and sociocultural perspectives in the context of developmental research" (1996, with Paul Cobb) * "Sociomathematical Norms, Argumentation, and Autonomy in Mathematics" (1996, with Paul Cobb) * "Social and sociomathematical norms in an advanced undergraduate mathematics course" (2000, with Chris Rasmussen and Karen King) * ''Symbolizing and Communicating in Mathematics Classrooms: Perspectives on Discourse, Tools, and Instructional Design'' (2000, with Paul Cobb and Kay McClain) * "Mathematical tasks designed to foster a reconceptualized view of early arithmetic" (2007, with Norma Salem Elias and Diana Underwood) * "Young Children’s Emotional Acts While Engaged in Mathematical Problem Solving" (2011, with Paul Cobb and Terry Wood) * "The Development of Collaborative Dialogue Within Small Group Interactions" (2013, with Terry Wood) * "Justification in the Context of High School: Co-constructing Content and Process" (2022, with Jill Newton)

Personal life

Erna Beth married fellow academic James Yackel in 1960, while they were both graduate students in Minneapolis. They had three children, including attorney Juliet Yackel, computer science professor Jonathan Yackel, and Carolyn Yackel, a noted mathematician. She died at her home in

Dyer, Indiana Dyer ( ) is a town in St. John Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 16,517 at the 2020 census. It is a southeastern suburb of Chicago. Geography Dyer borders Munster to the north, unincorporated St. John Townshi ...

on September 1, 2022, at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yackel, Erna Beth 1939 births 2022 deaths American mathematics educators Dickinson State University alumni University of Minnesota alumni Purdue University alumni Purdue University faculty Educators from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians 20th-century American academics 21st-century American academics Mathematicians from Oregon American people of German descent