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THE
FIELDS INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
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The
Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award
Recognizing Innovation and Excellence in Mathematics
Education
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The
Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award
recognizes an educator in Canada who has demonstrated innovation
and excellence in promoting mathematics education at the elementary,
secondary, college or university level. This annual award
will be administered by the Fields Institute for Research
in Mathematical Sciences and comprises a $5000 prize and inscription
of the winner’s name on a plaque to be installed at the Fields
Institute recognizing the recipients.
Candidates for the award will have shown an enthusiasm for
enhancing the learning environment and displaying novel ideas,
methods or devices for teaching mathematics. They will also
have supporting evidence of providing an opportunity for students
to achieve, observe, and experience mathematics in a thoughtful
and significant way.
Creative leadership is also an important factor. Candidates
must have served as a role model for other teachers and had
an inspirational influence on students and/or colleagues.
This may have been displayed through meaningful classroom
teaching, directing mathematical forums, encouraging rational
and critical discussions while using accurate data to support
one’s position, fostering teamwork, writing effectual curriculum
support materials, contributing to mathematics education journals,
or being involved as an organizer or speaker at mathematics
education meetings or conferences.
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CALL
FOR NOMINATIONS
Candidates for the award may nominate themselves or be nominated
by others. A complete nomination packages consists of:
- A
nomination letter of no more than 1000 words demonstrating
alignment with The Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award
- A
recent curriculum vitae
- Three
(3) letters from arm’s length referees
Nominations
for the 2013 Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award must be received
electronically by the Fields Institute by December 1, 2012.
Send to deputydirector(at)fields.utoronto.ca
** Nominations for the Margaret Sinclair Award will be kept
under consideration for two additional years following the
initial submission.**
Announcement of the recipient will be made in February, 2013
and the award will be presented at the Fields Institute Annual
General Meeting. Within
six (6) months of accepting this award, the winner is expected
to present a talk at the Fields Institute.
The
judges for the 2013 competition are Michele Cooper (Holy Cross
Catholic School, ON), Frédéric Gourdeau (Université Laval,
QC) and Elaine Simmt (University of Alberta, AB).
Organizing
Committee: Matheus Grasselli, Gila Hanna, Franke James,
Donna Kotsopoulos (chair), Dragana Martinovic, Larry Sinclair,
Walter Whiteley
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ABOUT
MARGARET SINCLAIR
Margaret
Sinclair passed away on her 62nd birthday, February 21, 2012 after
a brave struggle with a rare form of cancer. Until then she was
a tenured professor in the Faculty of Education, Graduate Program
in Education, York University.
A
vibrant, creative and versatile woman, Margaret followed a rather
untraditional path to her impressive accomplishments in life. After
graduating high school with a 99% average she began studying economics
as a scholarship student at the University of Toronto, but after
one year she left to join the work force. Margaret had met Larry
Sinclair in Grade 7 and in 1968, when she was 18, they were married.
In 1969 she attended Toronto Teacher's College, and after graduation
began teaching at the elementary level. Between then and 1974 she
also completed five courses by correspondence at the University
of Toronto.
By
1975, when Margaret and Larry had two children, she decided to stay
home full-time to care for them and then the three more they had
by 1982. During that time Margaret also decided to pursue a bachelor’s
degree in mathematics by correspondence from the University of Waterloo.
Excelling in that effort, she completed her undergraduate degree
in 1988 and began teaching mathematics at the secondary level. Over
the next several years Margaret combined full-time work with further
part-time studies. In 1995 she earned a masters degree in the Mathematics
for Teachers program from York University. Then in 2001, at age
51, after six years of studies, while still a mathematics department
head and then a vice-principal, Margaret completed her PhD, receiving
her doctorate in education through O.I.SE. In July of that year,
she began her new career at York University where she worked as
Associate Professor of Education and co-director of the York-Seneca
Institute for Mathematics, Science and Technology.
Although
she was driven by mathematics, Margaret’s passion was learning and
sharing her knowledge and expertise with others through teaching,
research and writing. She loved educating prospective teachers,
using innovative ways to inspire them and their students. As a contributing
author of curriculum materials and textbooks, she also strongly
advocated presenting mathematics as an important component of everyday
life, incorporating whenever she could practical applications of
the mathematics involved in such things as designing and building
stairs and calculating the numbers of squares of shingles needed
for a roofing project. As well, much of her research involved exploring
ways to help learners – teachers and students alike – visualize
mathematics concepts.
Margaret
balanced her life as wife, mother, student and teacher with precision
and extraordinary energy. Her greatest attribute was her unselfishness
with her time and talents, and her willingness to share these with
family, friends and even strangers. She was always ready, willing
and able to get involved, offer advice, and be there for people.
And her talents went far beyond academia. She loved cooking, knitting,
genealogy, ballroom dancing, golfing, gardening, furniture refinishing
and renovating.
Margaret
Sinclair was inducted as a Fellow of the Fields Institute for Research
in Mathematical Sciences at its annual general meeting on June 27,
2012, the first time the Institute had ever posthumously recognized
an individual’s outstanding contributions. On the same evening,
Margaret's loving husband, Larry, their family and friends were
proud to announce the creation of the The Margaret Sinclair Memorial
Award Recognizing Innovation and Excellence in Mathematics
Education.
