Vishakha Parvate

Professional Title
Research and Project Manager
About Me (Bio)
I knew at the age of six that I wanted to teach Math - not because I was good at it (though in a conventional sense I was and have been - "good at Math") - but because I couldn't fathom why some of my most intelligent friends claimed they were no good at it. This basic conundrum of a perceived lack of Math expertise among smart, hard working folks is at the heart of my motivation for working in the area of Technology in Math classrooms. Disillusionment with the meaninglessness of all the symbol manipulation that consisted the bulk of my undergraduate major in mathematics, was mitigated by the exciting mathematical patterns that programming brought during graduate studies in Computer Science. This dual educational background and a lifelong passion for changing the teaching and learning of Mathematics to be meaningful and exciting means that creating and researching dynamic mathematics technologies was the natural career path for me. At various points in time, I have taught Computer Science, programmed in Java and C++, and for the last five years have been focusing on interaction design, user testing, professional development and project management of a dynamic mathematics software called Fathom at KCP Technologies. Currently, I am the Research and Project Manager for the Data Games project which is leveraging video game data as a springboard for Math activities.
University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst)
09/01/2009

This project is developing software and curriculum materials in which data generated by students playing computer games form the raw material for mathematics classroom activities. Students play a short video game, analyze the game data, conjecture improved strategies, and test their strategies in another round of the game.