Alan H. Schoenfeld
· Dist. Prof. of the Graduate SchoolUniversity of California, Berkeley · Education
Active 1973–2025
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About
Alan H. Schoenfeld is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, holding the Elizabeth and Edward Conner Chair in the School of Education and serving as an Affiliated Professor in the Mathematics Department. His research focuses on thinking, learning, teaching, assessment, and the nature of powerful learning environments. Schoenfeld has authored, edited, or co-edited twenty-four books and more than three hundred articles on these topics, with notable works including 'Mathematical Problem Solving' and 'How We Think,' which explore mathematical thinking and human decision-making in education. His contributions to mathematics education and educational research have been recognized through numerous awards and honors, including the Klein Medal from the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction, the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education award, and the Mary P. Dolciani award from the Mathematical Association of America. Schoenfeld has held leadership roles such as President of the American Educational Research Association and vice President of the National Academy of Education. His work emphasizes creating and sustaining ambitious and equitable instruction, exemplified by his development of the Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU) Framework, which describes five dimensions of learning environments aimed at fostering knowledgeable, resourceful, and agentive thinkers and problem solvers. He has led initiatives to implement…
Research topics
- Computer Science
- Sociology
- Management science
- Engineering ethics
- Engineering
- Mathematics education
- Artificial Intelligence
- Psychology
- Social Science
- Political Science
Selected publications
On Computational Thinking and STEM Education
Journal for STEM Education Research · 2020 · 185 citations
Mathematical practices, in theory and practice
ZDM · 2020 · 46 citations
1st authorCorrespondingZDM · 2020 · 39 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingAbstract This paper builds on a range of traditions in educational research and design to argue, with empirical evidence, that constructing powerful instructional materials and approaches that work at scale requires a grounding in theory and a commitment to engineering practice, including rapid prototyping and multiple development cycles. Specifically, we claim that improving practice within a reasonable timescale requires replicable materials that integrate: (1) grounding in robust aspects of t…
2023-01-01 · 18 citations
book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Whether one can claim to have a theory of teaching depends on what one takes to constitute teaching and what one means by theory. This chapter characterizes both. Given those characterizations, I claim that we already have a theory of teaching, which specifies that teachers’ in-the-moment classroom decisions can be modeled by attending to three major factors: the resources at the teachers’ disposal (both their knowledge and material resources), their orientations (beliefs, preferences,…
Mathematics Teaching On Target
2023-04-04 · 8 citations
book1st authorCorrespondingMathematics Teaching On Target is a guidebook for improving mathematics teaching, based on the Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU) Framework and its five dimensions – The Mathematics, Cognitive Demand, Equitable Access, Agency, Ownership, and Identity, and Formative Assessment. You’ll be guided to refine your classroom activities across the five TRU dimensions, and your students will become more knowledgeable and resourceful thinkers and problem solvers. Each chapter in Mathematics Teaching…
Recent grants
NSF · $493k · 2009–2013
NSF · $792k · 2015–2020
Frequent coauthors
- 18 shared
Heather Fink
- 15 shared
Sandra Zuñiga-Ruiz
- 14 shared
Hugh Burkhardt
- 11 shared
Anna Weltman
- 11 shared
Alyssa Sayavedra
- 9 shared
Alan H. Sloane
- 6 shared
Brantina Chirinda
University of Johannesburg
- 6 shared
Ed Dubinsky
Labs
Awards & honors
- Klein Medal, International Commission on Mathematics Instruc…
- AERA's Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education…
- Mary P. Dolciani award, Mathematical Association of America
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