Frank Gardella

Dr. Gardella is a life-long mathematics educator, whose career encompasses teaching at the Junior High School level, supervising mathematics programs for school districts, K-12, and teaching mathematics education and mathematics courses at the college level.

In his teaching career, Dr. Gardella has taught Algebra and Geometry at the school level as well as mathematics from Pre-Calculus through Differential Equations at the college level. His teaching career began directly after receiving his Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Fordham College – Rose Hill. His initial teaching certification came through an MA in Secondary Education at Lehigh University. During his time as a classroom teacher, he also earned an MA in Pure Mathematics at Brooklyn College followed a Doctorate in Mathematics Education from Rutgers University. His supervision of mathematics programs followed with tenures in both urban and suburban settings.

Professor Gardella teaches mathematics methods courses in both the adolescent and childhood mathematics graduate and undergraduate programs as well as specialized courses in the Mathematics/Science Specialization program at the graduate level.

He has conducted workshops on topics on mathematics and its teaching to teachers in over half of the states in the United States as well as presentations in Puerto Rico, the Czech Republic and Canada. He has presented plenary talks on topics in both mathematics curriculum and teaching as well as leadership in mathematics education for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics and state mathematics organizations. He is a consultant in school mathematics for training teachers in mathematics and pedagogy and has conducted mathematics curriculum audits K-12 for many school districts.

Dr. Gardella is the co-author of four text books for the secondary level and was a co-author for an elementary text book series, all for Houghton Mifflin/McDougall Littell. He is the lead author for one of the secondary texts which is now in its 4th edition. His publications also include articles in the Mathematics Teacher and Arithmetic Teacher for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in WORD for the International Linguistics Association, the Texas Mathematics Teacher, the New York State Mathematics Teacher and the New Jersey Mathematics Teacher.

Dr. Gardella’s main research interests include the proper use of social language to develop students’ understanding of mathematical concepts and skills combined with laboratory/inquiry modes of instruction to develop mathematics before the formalism and technical language is utilized for communication. In part this work has been based on the impact of research on the brain’s acquisition and retention of knowledge which may allow for a sequencing of the mathematics curriculum to make pre-college mathematics accessible to all students, allowing them the option of studying college mathematics if they so desire.