ArticleslgStudy

mathematics

Nerida Ellerton

Nerida Ellerton is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nerida Ellerton rather than just read about it. In short: Nerida Fay Ellerton (née Gersch, born 1942) is an Australian mathematics educator and historian of mathematics. She is professor of mathematics education at Illinois State University.

Key takeaways

  • Nerida Ellerton belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Nerida Ellerton to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Nerida Ellerton from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nerida Fay Ellerton (née Gersch, born 1942) is an Australian mathematics educator and historian of mathematics. She is professor of mathematics education at Illinois State University. As well as studying the present state of mathematics education, she and her husband McKenzie A. (Ken) Clements have researched the history of mathematics education, in the process discovering school worksheets in the Harvard Library that are among the oldest known writings of Abraham Lincoln.

Education and career Ellerton was born in 1942; her father was a schoolteacher in a small school in the Australian Outback. She completed a Ph.D. in physical and inorganic chemistry in 1966, at the University of Adelaide; her dissertation was The interaction of aminoacridines and aminobenzacridines with DNA. By the 1980s she worked in mathematics education at Deakin University. She was director of the National Center for Mathematics Education Research from 1992 to 1993, as professor of mathematics education at Edith Cowan University from 1993 to 1997, and as professor and dean of mathematics education at the University of Southern Queensland from 1997 to 2002. While at Edith Cowan University, she also served as editor of the Mathematics Education Research Journal. Her first husband died in 2001, and Ellerton moved to Illinois State University in 2002. In 2005, she married Clements, another Australian mathematics educator and long-term collaborator; he moved to Illinois State to join her.

Books Ellerton's books include:

School Mathematics: The Challenge to Change (edited with M. A. Ken Clements, UNSW Press, 1989) The National Curriculum Debacle (with M. A. Ken Clements, Meridian Press, 1994) Mathematics Education Research: Past, Present, and Future (with M. A. Ken Clements, UNESCO, 1996) Rewriting the History of School Mathematics in North America, 1607–1861: The Central Role of Cyphering Books (with M. A. Ken Clements, Springer, 2012) Abraham Lincoln’s Cyphering Book and Ten other Extraordinary Cyphering Books (with M. A. Ken Clements, Springer, 2014) Thomas Jefferson and his Decimals 1775–1810: Neglected Years in the History of U.S. School Mathematics (with M. A. Ken Clements, Springer, 2015) Mathematical Problem Posing: From Research to Effective Practice (edited with Florence Mihaela Singer and Jinfa Cai, Springer, 2015) Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, James Hodgson, and the Beginnings of Secondary School Mathematics: A History of the Royal Mathematical School Within Christ's Hospital, London 1673–1868 (with M. A. Ken Clements, Springer, 2017) Using Design Research and History to Tackle a Fundamental Problem with School Algebra (with M. A. Ken Clements and Sinan Kanbir, Springer, 2017)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nerida Ellerton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nerida Ellerton claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nerida Ellerton before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nerida Ellerton ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nerida Ellerton

In research
Nerida Ellerton appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Nerida Ellerton in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Nerida Ellerton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1942 births, 21st-century American historians, 21st-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Nerida Ellerton outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Nerida Ellerton” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Nerida Ellerton in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Nerida Ellerton means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Nerida Ellerton out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nerida Ellerton in simple terms?

Nerida Fay Ellerton (née Gersch, born 1942) is an Australian mathematics educator and historian of mathematics. She is professor of mathematics education at Illinois State University.

Why does Nerida Ellerton matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nerida Ellerton?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nerida Ellerton.

Tags

  • 1942 births
  • 21st-century American historians
  • 21st-century American mathematicians
  • 21st-century American women mathematicians
  • 21st-century Australian historians
  • 21st-century Australian mathematicians
  • 21st-century Australian women mathematicians
  • Academic staff of Deakin University
  • Academic staff of Edith Cowan University
  • Academic staff of the University of Southern Queensland
  • American historians of mathematics
  • American women historians

Keep exploring