Skip to main content
College of Public Service

Urban Education Faculty - Jacqueline Sack

Jacqueline Sack

Associate Professor

Office: C-430J
713-226-5584
sackj@uhd.edu

Scholarships

Curriculum Vitae

I taught middle and high school mathematics for 18 years, ten of which were in a Houston ISD middle school. In 2003, I left the classroom to become a curriculum writer, and later, to manage a high school mathematics lead teacher institute for Rice University for over 4 years, prior to taking on my current academic position at UHD. During that time, I engaged in doctoral studies, where I focused on how students develop geometric and visual understanding. My research interest in that area continues with a visualization project in a third grade classroom that meets weekly after school, now in its 8th year. Having been a successful mathematics educator for almost 30 years, I still aim to get to know my students' strengths and weaknesses, and to make their learning experiences personally meaningful, especially since they are becoming teachers. 

​University of Houston                               Ed.D.      Mathematics Education

Sam Houston State University                M.L.S       Library Science

Witwatersrand University, South Africa    B.Sc.      Chemistry

Witwatersrand University, South Africa​    B.Sc.      Chemistry, Mathematics

​

My research and academic interests focus on how learners best acquire geometric or visual concepts. I am also interested in how a teacher or instructor can deliberately enhance classroom climate by attending to specific aspects that must be in balance to maximize the potential for learning. 

​​

Sack, J., Quander, R., Redl, T., & Leveille, N. (2015). The community of practice among mathematics and mathematics education faculty members at an urban minority serving institution in the U. S. Innovative Higher Education. Available online at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10755-015-9340-9. doi:10.1007/s10755-015-9340-9

Sack, J. (2013). Development of a top-view numeric coding teaching-learning trajectory within an elementary grades 3-D visualization design research project. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 32(2), 183-196. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.03.031

Sack, J., & Vazquez, I. (2012). The Geocadabra Construction Box: Open source geometry interface within a 3D visualization program for elementary children. In Méndez-Vilas, A. (Ed.) Education in a technological world: communicating current and emerging research and technological efforts. Badajoz, Spain: Formatex Research Center, 505-512.

Sack, J. (2011). Fostering creative minds through problem solving in a 3-D visualization design research program. In Craig, C. J., & Deretchin, L. F. (Eds.). Cultivating Curious and Creative Minds: The Role of Teachers and Teacher Educators, Part II, Teacher Education Yearbook XIX, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 200-220. (Also published in Action and Teacher Education: The Journal of the Association of Teacher Educators, 32(5-6), December 2010, 200-220.)

Sack, J. & Vazquez, I. (2011). Development of a learning trajectory to conceptualize and represent volume using top-view coding. In Ubuz, B. (Ed.). Proceedings of the 35th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Ankara, Turkey, 4, 89-96.

​University of Houston-Downtown Teacher Quality Mathematics Leadership Project, February, 2012-April, 2014, funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Teacher Quality Program ($226,851): Principal Investigator/Director.

Recruiting and Preparing UHD Mathematics Majors for Houston-Area Classrooms: The UHD Noyce Mathematics Teacher Scholarship Program, August, 2011-July, 2016, funded by the National Science Foundation ($1,079,257); Co-Principal Investigator.

Transforming Mathematics Courses for Urban Pre-Service Teachers (TMC-UPT), September, 2010- May, 2011, funded by The College and Career Readiness Initiative:  Mathematics Faculty Collaborative, to support collaboration between UE faculty and CMS faculty who teach mathematics content courses for students entering the UE certification program ($10,000); Principal Investigator.


Pi Mu Epsilon National Honorary Mathematics Society, Texas Nu Chapter induction in recognition of superior achievement in the field of mathematics, April 30, 2013
University of Houston-Downtown Faculty Development Award, 2013 ($3,100)
Houston Council of Teachers of Mathematics Middle School Mathematics Teacher of the Year, 1996
Edyth May Sliffe Award (American Mathematics Competitions), 1998​

Last updated 4/13/2020 6:08 AM