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Dr. Craig Cullen

Professor
Mathematics
Office
Stevenson Hall - STV 331C
Office Hours
By appointment
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Biography

Before coming to ISU, I taught high school for 6 years at Willowbrook high school in Villa Park IL. During that time, I taught algebra, geometry, precalculus, data analysis, and calculus. Outside of the classroom, I coached the Willowbrook boy's gymnastics team.

Current Courses

314.001Concepts of Calculus for Middle School Teachers

223.001Introduction To Secondary Mathematics Education

599.011Dissertation

500.001Independent Study

500.002Independent Study

500.004Independent Study

223.001Introduction To Secondary Mathematics Education

326.001Mathematical Problem Solving Using Technology

585.001Topics In Mathematics Education Seminar

Teaching Interests & Areas

My teaching focuses on courses for preservice high school teachers. I have taught all of our methods courses for these students. The course I have taught the most is our technology course for preservice teachers.

Research Interests & Areas

The role of technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Children's development of measurement concepts. I am currently focused on quantitative reasoning, especially as it relates to students' understanding of angle measure and trigonometry.

Ph D Mathematics Education

Illinois State University
Normal, Illinois

MA Mathematics Education

DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois

BS Mathematics Education

Illinois State University
Normal, Illinois

College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding University Teacher Award nominee

College of Arts and Sciences
2022

Department Outstanding Teacher Award

Department of Mathematics (ISU)
2022

Outstanding University Teaching Nominee

2018

Outstanding College Teaching Award

Department of Mathematics (ISU)
2017

Department Outstanding Teacher Award

Department of Mathematics (ISU)
2016

Million Dollar Club

Research and Sponsored Programs (ISU)
2014

STaR Fellow

AMTE
2012

Departmental Teaching Initiative Award

Department of Mathematics (ISU)
2012

Book, Authored

Barrett, J. E., Cullen, C. J., Klanderman, D., & Behnke, D. (2017). A Pleasure to Measure. (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics): Reston, VA.

Book, Chapter

Barrett, J. E., Wickstrom, M. H., Tobias, J. M., Cullen, C. J., Cullen, A. L., & Baek, J. M., (2019), Chapter 3: Children’s Measurement Project. In P. Sztajn, P. H. Wilson (Eds.), Learning Trajectories for Teachers: Designing Effective Professional Development for Math Instruction. (pp. 48-74). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Barrett, J. E., Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., Miller, A. L., Cullen, C. J., Van Dine, D. W., . . . Klanderman, D. (2017). Integration of results: A new learning trajectory for area. In J. E. Barrett, D. H. Clements, & J. Sarama (Eds.), Children’s measurement: A longitudinal study of children’s knowledge and learning of length, area, and volume. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education monograph series (Vol. 16, pp. 129–148). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Barrett, J. E., Cullen, C. J., Miller, A. L., Eames, C. L., Kara, M., & Klanderman, D. (2017). Area in the middle and later elementary grades. In J. E. Barrett, D. H. Clements, & J. Sarama (Eds.), Children’s measurement: A longitudinal study of children’s knowledge and learning of length, area, and volume. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education monograph series (Vol. 16, pp. 105–127). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Cullen, C. J., Barrett, J. E., Kara, M., Eames, C. L., Miller, A. L., & Klanderman, D. (2017). Integration of results: A new learning trajectory for volume. In J. E. Barrett, D. H. Clements, & J. Sarama (Eds.), Children’s measurement: A longitudinal study of children’s knowledge and learning of length, area, and volume. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education monograph series (Vol. 16, pp. 181–201). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Hertel, J., & Cullen, C. (2011). Teaching trigonometry: A directed length approach. In L. R., Wiest, & T. Lamberg (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rdAnnual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 1400 - 1407). Reno, NV: University of Nevada, Reno.

Conference Proceeding

Cullen, C. J., & Martin, T. S. (2018). Exploring trigonometric relationships: Is it a function? In Editors, Proceedings of the 40th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 259–262). Greenville, SC: Publisher.
Dimmel, J., Nickels, M., Cullen, C., & Bock, C. (2018). Mathematical making in immersive virtual environments working group. In Editors, Proceedings of the 40th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 1422–1428). Greenville, SC: Publisher.
O’Dell, J. R., Barrett, J. E., Cullen, C. J., Rupnow, T. J., Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., Rutherford, G., & Beck, P. S. (2017). Using a Virtual Manipulative Environment to Support Students’ Organizational Structuring of Volume Units. In E. Galindo & J. Newton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 1329–1336). Indianapolis, IN: Hoosier Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators.
Beck, P. S., Eames, C. L., Cullen C. J., Barrett, J. E., Clements, D. H., & Sarama, J. (2014). Linking children’s knowledge of length measurement to their use of double number lines. In Liljedahl, P., Nicol, C., Oesterle, S., & Allan, D. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. (Vol. 2) (pp. 105-112). Vancouver, Canada: PME
Eames, C. L., Miller, A. L., Kara, M., Cullen, C. J., & Barrett, J. E. (2013). The longitudinal development of unit concepts in area and volume measurement contexts: A case study. In M. Martinez & A. Castro Superfine (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 171–178). Chicago, IL. Retrieved from http://pmena.org/2013/files/PMENA2013_Conference_Proceedings.pdf

Journal Article

Rupnow, T., O’Dell, J. R., Barrett, J. E., Cullen, C. J., Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., Rutherford, G. (2022). Children’s Construction of a Volume Calculation Algorithm for a Rectangular Prism with a Dynamic Virtual Manipulative, Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2022.100998




Sarama, J., Clements, D. H., Barrett, J. E., Cullen, C. J., Hudyma, A., & Vanegas, Y. (2022). Length measurement in the early years: teaching and learning with learning trajectories, Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 24:4, 267-290, DOI: 10.1080/10986065.2020.1858245






Eames, C., Barrett, J. E., Cullen, C., Ruthersford, G., Klanderman, D., Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., & Van Dine, D. (2020). Examining and Developing Fourth Grade Children’s Area Estimation Performance, School Science and Mathematics, 120 (2), 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12386



Cullen, A. L., Lawton, C. A., Patterson, C. S., & Cullen, C. J. (2020). All the way around a circle. Mathematics Teacher: Mathematics Learning and Teaching PreK–12, 113(8), 637–642.
Cullen, C. J., Hertel, J. T., & Nickels, M. (2020). The Roles of Technology in Mathematics Education. The Educational Forum, 84(2), 166-178. doi:10.1080/00131725.2020.1698683

Other

Kara, M., Eames, C., Miller, A., Cullen, C., & Barrett, J. Developing and understanding of area measurement concepts with triangular units. In L. R., Wiest, & T. Lamberg (EDs), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. University of Nevada, Reno (2011): 1015-1023.
Cullen, C., Witkowski, C., Miller, A., Barrett, J., Sarama, J., & Clements, D. Tasks and Design of Assessment with a Learning Trajectory for Length. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Ohio State University (2010)

Presentations

Cullen, C. J. (2023). Sine, Cosine, Tangent → Sine, Secant, Tangent. Presented at the The 37th Annual Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference - Southern Section, February 16, 2023.
Cullen, C. J. (2022). Respecting the Transcendental Functions. Presented at the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics 72nd Annual Meeting, October 29, 2022.
Cullen, C. J., Ssebaggala, L., & Chávez, O. (2022, March). Why Do we Really Need Radians? Presented at the 2022 Regional Conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Indianapolis, IN.
Isaacson, K. J., Cullen, C. J., Betz-Cahill, C. (2022). Supporting Equity with Technology. Council of Teachers of Mathematics 72nd Annual Meeting, October 29, 2022.
Creative Mathematical Reasoning and Key Curricular Content as an Evaluative Framework for Preservice Task Engagement.. 24th Annual AMTE Conference. Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. (2020)
Clarkson, K. A., Lawton, C. A., Azimi, K., Martin, T. S., & Cullen, C. J. (2019, November). The role of creative reasoning in a technology-based task for preservice secondary teachers. Poster presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, St. Louis, MO.
Framing and revising a hypothetical learning trajectory for area measurement.. Annual Research PreSession. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Meeting. (2013)
Teachers' Noticing of Children's Understanding of Linear Measurement. Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Annual Conference. (2013)
The Longitudinal Development of Children’s Conceptions of Spatial Measurement. Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society. Jean Piaget Society. (2013)
The effects of learning trajectory based professional development on teachers' noticing. North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. (2013)

Grants & Contracts

Learning Trajectories to Support the Growth of Measurement Knowledge: Pre-K through Middle School. National Science Foundation: Discovery Research K-12. Federal. (2014)
Mathematical Concept Development through Measurement for teachers of Grades 1 through 5. Illinois Mathematics and Science Partnerships Program. (2012)
Formative Assessment Improving Teachers' Instructional Practices. Mathematics and Science Partnerships (Illinois State Board of Education). Illinois State University.
Illinois Mathematics and Science Partnerships Program- Mathematical Concept Development through Measurement for teachers of Grades 1 through 5 stage II. Department of Education. State.
Illinois Mathematics and Science Partnerships Program-Mathematical Concept Development through Measurement for teachers of Grades 1 through 5. Department of Education. State.