Marian Small

Former Dean of Education at the University of New Brunswick

Marian Small is the former dean of education at the University of New Brunswick. She speaks regularly about asking better questions in K–12 mathematics.

She has been an author on many mathematics text series at both the elementary and the secondary levels. She has served on the author team for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Navigation series (pre-K–2), as the NCTM representative on the Mathcounts question writing committee for middle school mathematics competitions throughout the United States, and as a member of the editorial panel for the NCTM 2011 yearbook on motivation and disposition.

Dr. Small is probably best known for her books Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Mathematics Instruction and More Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Secondary Mathematics Instruction (with Amy Lin). Eyes on Math: A Visual Approach to Teaching Math Concepts was published in 2013, as was Uncomplicating Fractions to Meet Common Core Standards in Math, K–7. In 2014, she authored Uncomplicating Algebra to Meet Common Core Standards in Math, K–8. She is also author of the first and second editions of a text for university pre-service teachers and practicing teachers, Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students: K–8, as well as the professional resources Big Ideas from Dr. Small: Grades 4–8; Big Ideas from Dr. Small: Grades K–3; and Leaps and Bounds toward Math Understanding: Grades 3–4, Grades 5–6, and Grades 7–8, all published by Nelson Education Ltd.

She led the research resulting in the creation of maps describing student mathematical development in each of the five NCTM mathematical strands for the K–8 levels and has created the associated professional development program, PRIME.