Joan Duea taught at Price Laboratory School from 1965 through 1988. In addition to her duties as a classroom teacher she took major responsibility for curriculum development, textbook writing, policy development, university committee work, and assumed leadership for local, state and national organizations. She also published numerous articles in professional journals and was particularly involved in the national reform of mathematics and science teaching.

Her reach extended from the local classroom to Washington DC and New York City.  For example, in 1969, she started the Beginning Reading Conference that continues to be a major professional development activity for classroom teachers across the state of Iowa.

Joan's Vita provides a selected but more comprehensive record of her professional achievements. Joan reflected on her work with PBS in the development of the 3-2-1 Contact Program that took her to New York City on numerous occasions.  She asked, "Why was I chosen?  Because of the experiences I had at the Lab School.  I carried my students' voices with me and I was authentic!! THANK YOU FOR KEEPING ME REAL!!" 

Read more about Joan's memoirs of teaching at MPLS and her connections to everything from animals who visited the classroom to phone calls from PBS. 

​

• My Interview for the PLS Job

• Visitors Always Welcome

• It Was One Phone Call

• It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Pheasant

• One Long Beep or Three Short Beeps?

• An Assignment or a Lasting Experience

 

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS OF JOAN DUEA'S CAREER IN
TEACHER EDUCATION

 

• DEVELOPED THE BEGINNING READING CONFERENCE IN 1969--This activity continues to serve the professional needs of teachers across the state of Iowa and beyond. Read more...

​

• CONSULTED FOR THE 3-2-1 CONTACT TELEVISION SERIES FOR CHILDREN--Served as consultant for this Sesame Street Production in 1984 and again in 1987. Read more...

​

• PUBLISHED PROBLEM SOLVING NIFTIES--During the 1980s, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics made problem solving the focus of its agenda. Because of the scarcity of problem-solving materials for the elementary grades during that time, Joan Duea and Earl Ockenga developed a curriculum project to help meet the needs of students and teachers across the country.  Under the name PROJECT PLUS, Problem-Solving Nifties were written and field tested at MPLS prior to being marketed to schools from coast to coast. Read more...

​

• DEVELOPED ACTIVITIES FOR ACTIVE LEARNING AND TEACHING--Published an article titled "Estimate and Calculate" with Earl Ockenga in a book published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics that was also a forerunner of the National Mathematics Standards. April 1985.  Read more about Article--Mathematics Activities...

​

• WAS PROFILED IN "COMETS: CAREER ORIENTED MODULES TO EXPLORE TOPICS IN SCIENCE--Joan Duea, Science Teacher, Writer and Consultant. 1988. Read more about Comets...

​

• WROTE GRANTS MODELING MATH AND SCIENCE REFORM--In 1992, Dean Thomas J. Switzer and Dean Gerald W. Intemann wrote: "Your leadership, ideas, and hard work were instrumental in insuring both an excellent proposal and a significant role for UNI in carrying out this ambitious statewide project.  Read More About Modeling Math and Science Reform...

​

• WAS IDENTIFIED AS A UNI TOP-NOTCH FACULTY MEMBER--In 1993 Joan Duea was selected by members of the student body as one of the "top-notch faculty" at the University of Northern Iowa. Read More About Top-Notch Faculty...

​

• CONSULTED FOR A NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION GUIDE FOR THE NEW MATH STANDARDS--In 1994, "...the MATH News materials were offered for publication in the over 2000 newspapers that are members of the Newspapers Association of America."  Read More About Math News Project...

​

• SERVED AS A MEMBER OF THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES EDUCATION BOARD (MSEB)--Dr. Kenneth Hoffman of MIT wrote in 1996, "Joan Duea led the development of Counting on You from its inception to the public release, writing significant portions of it, critiquing drafts of the other reports, gaining consensus support of her committee members, and aligning its messages with those of the new national mathematics teaching standards."  Read More About Counting on You...

​

• CONTINUED THE LEGACY OF GREAT TEACHING--In 2000, Joan was pictured on the cover of the Northern Iowa Today along with such luminaries in UNI history as Joseph Fox, John L. Eiklor and Grace Ann Hovet. See the Northern Iowan Cover for 2000...