Ernest Duncan was born in Clyde, New Zealand, and graduated from the University of Otago. As an educator, he rose from being an elementary and secondary school teacher to the position of inspector of schools in New Zealand Education Department. Duncan made a significant contribution to the introduction of the new mathematics curriculum in that country. He wrote textbooks that were extensively used in New Zealand primary schools and that were also published in the United States.
Among Duncan's many accomplishments was his twenty years as the senior author of Houghton Mifflin's successful elementary mathematics series, Modern School Mathematics: Structure and Use. The first edition was published in 1967, and the series continues to be revised regularly. It promoted a number of innovations in mathematics teaching, including an emphasis on the use of manipulatives to teach math concepts. For more than thirty years, many children have learned mathematics from the materials Duncan created. Many of his books were eventually translated into Spanish for use in schools in the United States and elsewhere.
In 1958, Duncan moved to North America as a university lecturer, and he received his doctorate from Columbia University. In 1961, he became headmaster of Newington College, Australia-an inner-city Sydney private boys school. He immediately proposed that the school be moved to a larger site in the northern suburbs but was met with resistance from the college council. Before the end of the academic year, he resigned and returned to the United States.
In 1962, Duncan became professor of mathematics at Rutgers University. At the time of his retirement in 1977, he was chairman of the department of curriculum and instruction in the Graduate School of Education. In 1982, he set aside a trust fund to endow annual awards for “excellent teachers of mathematics” in New Zealand and in the United States. He died of leukemia in a hospital in Morristown, New Jersey, on November 25, 1990.
Ernest R. Duncan is remembered for his drive to improve mathematics teaching and for his commitment to creating new approaches for teachers and students.
Most Recent Grant Recipient
Samuel Kifle Tsegai (pictured), Winona State University, Winona, Minnesota collaborating with John Czaplewksi, Winona State University
Samuel Tsegai is using grant funds to conduct action research project aimed at investigating how various representations (using area, linear, and set models) impact the initial fraction learning of grade 5 students, and what role various representations play in the development of fraction comparison, fraction estimation, and fraction equivalence. The study is expected to provide data on how students think and reason on their initial fraction learning using various representations. This data will contribute to shape future instructions on the teaching and learning of fractional number sense.