B.Sc., M.Sc., PhD
Instructor, Vice Chair Academic
School of Business
Faculty of Business and Professional Studies
604.986.1911 ext. 3486
Cedar Building, room CE312
shivagoltabaghi@capilanou.ca
Education
PhD, Mathematics Education, Simon Fraser University, 2012.
M.Sc., Mathematics, Concordia University, 2007.
B.Sc., Mathematics, Islamic Azad University, 1997.
Bio
Shiva Gol Tabaghi (PhD, Simon Fraser University, 2012) is a mathematician whose taught a variety of mathematics courses to diverse populations of students with different interests and backgrounds.
Her secondary and post-secondary teaching experiences have motivated her to build her research interests and to contribute to pedagogical ideas in mathematics education. Her doctoral study investigates dynamic representations of concepts in Linear Algebra. Her research contributes a valuable perspective on teaching and learning Linear Algebra in particular, and on the use of dynamic computerized environments in teaching and learning mathematics in general.
She was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, one of the highest possible awards for a doctoral student.
Shiva co-authored an article in one of the most prestigious journals in Mathematics Education, Educational Studies in Mathematics.
In my classes, I try to represent mathematical ideas in an engaging way. I'm not concerned so much with procedures and facts but with reasoning about relationships, becoming precise with definitions and seeking examples and counter-examples.
I like to act as a facilitator to enable my students to develop an increasingly sophisticated way of communicating mathematical ideas. Rote memorization of mathematical facts and formula, repetitive drills and procedural exercises are unhelpful.
Learning through actively thinking about ideas to understand relations among ideas and to connect new ideas to existing ones is the process that I use and value in my classes.
My research interests focus on how interactions with digital tools mediate learning trajectories. I see the presence of digital technologies as a strong motivation for the continued investigation into what mathematical knowledge is valued in the elementary, secondary and even post-secondary mathematics curriculum, and how this knowledge relates to the needs of students in accordance with the BC Mathematics Curriculum movement.
One of my research plans, in addition to further studying the impact of digital technologies on students' learning, is to study teachers' pedagogical approaches to teaching in technology-integrated math classrooms.
Gol Tabaghi, S. How dragging changes students' awareness: developing meanings for eigenvector and eigenvalue . Submitted to the Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 14(3), pp. 223-237, 2014.
Gol Tabaghi, S. and Sinclair, N. Exploring dynamic diagrams of eigenvectors: the emergence of dynamic-synthetic-geometric thinking. Submitted to the Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 2013.
Sinclair, N. and Gol Tabaghi, S. Drawing space: mathematicians' kinetic conceptions of eigenvectors. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 74(3), pp. 223-240, 2010.
Gol Tabaghi, S. Dynamic geometric representation of eigenvectors. Proceedings of the Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Conference, Portland, OR, 2012.
Gol Tabaghi, S. and Sinclair, N. Student diagramming motion: a discursive analysis of visual images. Proceedings of the 35th Conference of the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Ankara, Turkey, 2011.
Gol Tabaghi, S. Student understanding of eigenvectors in a DGE: Analysing shifts of attention and instrumental Genesis. Proceedings of the Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Conference, Portland, OR, 2011.
Gol Tabaghi, S. and Sinclair, N. Shifts of attention in DGE in learning eigen theory. Proceedings of the 34th Conference of the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2010.
Gol Tabaghi, S. The use of DGS to support students? concept image formation of linear transformation. Proceedings of the 32nd annual conference of the Psychology of Mathematics Education-North America. Columbus, Ohio, 2010.
Gol Tabaghi, S., Mamolo, A., and Sinclair, N. The effect of DGS on students? conception of slope. Proceedings of the 31st annual conference of the Psychology of Mathematics Education-North America. Atlanta, Georgia, 2009.
Sinclair, N., and Gol Tabaghi, S. Beyond Static Imagery: How Mathematicians Think About Concepts Dynamically. Proceedings of the 33rd Conference of the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Thessaloniki, Greece, 2009.
Graduate Scholarship, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 2011.
Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2010.
President's Research Stipend, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 2010.
Graduate Fellowship, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 2009.
Nick Herscovics Scholarship, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Concordia University, 2006.