Kehinde Jegede arrived at Illinois State in 2020 with a master’s degree and decades of teaching experience.

Jegede had taught in the city of Lagos in his native Nigeria since he was 16 years old, starting with nursery school and leading classes at every level through high school. Jegede moved to Texas in 2017 to attend graduate school and deepen his understanding of mathematics. He then joined Illinois State’s Ph.D. in mathematics education program to become a more knowledgeable teacher.

“After (the master’s), I was like, ‘OK, I need to know more about teaching. I want to become a better teacher.’ And so I did my research on the Internet, and I figured out ISU is the best place for me to go.”

Illinois State’s doctoral program has offered Jegede valuable experience in education theory and practice and research-based opportunities to bridge the two.

Theory

Jegede’s dive into theoretical work has come through his dissertation. He has been exploring the relationship between computational thinking in computer science and mathematical reasoning in mathematics education. The study involves students problem-solving using spreadsheets as a supporting tool.

“What that actually means is that students will engage in an activity that addresses both computational thinking and mathematical reasoning objectives with the aim of describing what computational thinking and mathematical reasoning practices the students engaged with,” Jegede said. “I also want to identify patterns that emerge. That means looking for similarities and differences that emerge as students reason in both fields.”

The idea of integrating computational thinking into math education is relatively new, Jegede said. There is an ongoing debate about whether high school students should be given math credit for passing computer science courses.Jegede is synthesizing different research articles on the subject in order to develop a new framework to describe how students use computational thinking and mathematical reasoning practices. “That will help us to see if students are actually engaging in problem-solving. Are they creating knowledge? And if they are creating knowledge, are they learning in both fields?”

Practice

Jegede has gained practical knowledge through the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMaST). Dr. Rebekka Darner, hired him in the summer of 2024 , when she was then CeMaST’s director, to revitalize the curriculum for Numberphiles, a summer math camp for middle school students.

To revise the curriculum, Jegede researched challenging, grade-appropriate topics and concepts, including those in geometry, probability, and sequences. He then designed fun, hands-on math problems and projects for the students.
“The (curriculum) contains both theory and different activities to enhance and develop conceptual understanding,” Jegede said.

It was a collaborative effort with Dr. Ashley Waring-Sparks, who was then CeMaST’s STEM program coordinator and is now the center’s interim director. Jegede worked with the Numberphiles facilitators to implement the curriculum and answer any questions they had during the camp.

“It was a good learning experience,” Jegede said. “I appreciate the work that the facilitators did. I saw how effective teamwork could be. I got to see more of how they came together to help the students through guided instruction.
“Also I saw how students could respond to programs like that. I saw individual students thinking and students working in groups to make sense of the concepts.”

Darner thought Jegede did such an excellent job with the curriculum that they began transforming his work into a manuscript for publication. That project is on hold while he completes his dissertation.

“What impresses me about Kehinde is his calmness, his willingness to have fun with math, and his patience,” Darner said.

Jegede hopes to apply the lessons he has learned through his research and by building the Numberphiles curriculum as a mathematics education professor one day.

“I learned how you can bring theory into reality,” Jegede said.