Teo Paoletti

Associate Professor

Dr. Teo Paoletti is an associate professor specializing in mathematics education in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. The primary goal of his research agenda is to explore student understanding of mathematical ideas at various levels (e.g., middle school through post-secondary). He leverages design-based methods to explore ways in which students can leverage reasoning about relationships between quantities to construct and reason about critical mathematics concepts. His recent work entails designing task sequences that leverage various dynamic mathematical software (e.g., GeoGebra, Desmos, GSP) to support middle-school students developing meanings for various function classes, graphs, and inequalities.

Dr. Paoletti’s research has been supported by the Spencer Foundation. He has published articles in numerous journals including Educational Studies in Mathematics, The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, and For the Learning of Mathematics. He is an editorial board member for The Journal of Mathematical Behavior.

Prior to receiving his doctorate at the University of Georgia, Dr. Paoletti was a middle and high school mathematics teacher at a public school in New Jersey. He taught classes ranging from 7th grade mathematics through AP Calculus BC.

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Mathematics Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2015
• M.S., Mathematics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 2010
• B.A, Mathematics with 6-12 Mathematics Teacher Certification, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, 2007

Professional Experience

• Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Delaware, 2023–present
• Assistant Professor, School of Education, University of Delaware, 2020–2023
• Assistant Professor, Mathematical Sciences, Montclair State University, 2015–2020
• Middle and High School Mathematics Teacher, Moorestown School District, Moorestown, NJ, 2008–2011

Recent Grants

• Paoletti, T. (PI). Developing Middle-School Students’ Understandings of Coordinate Systems (Mid-CoS). Spencer Foundation, 2017–present. ($50,000)
• Murray, E. (PI), Golnabi, A. (co-PI), and Paoletti, T. (Consultant). Adjunct Mathematics Instructor Resources and Support: Improving Undergraduate Precalculus Teaching and Learning Experience. National Science Foundation, 2016–present. ($300,000)

Recent Professional Awards

• Honorable Mention for Best Paper Award, Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, 2016. For Moore, K. C., Stevens, I. E., Paoletti, T., & Hobson, N. L. F. (2016). Graphing habits: “I just don’t like that”. In T. Fukawa-Connelly, N. Infante, M. Wawro, & S. Brown (Eds.), Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (pp. 16–30). Pittsburgh, PA: West Virginia University.
• AMTE STaR Fellow (Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Service, Teaching, and Research in Mathematics Education), The Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, 2016