Marilyn Meinhardt Burns (born April 11, 1941)^[1] is a mathematics educator and the author of over a dozen children's books on mathematics.^[1]

Career and recognition

Burns is a 1958 graduate of the Wellington C. Mepham High School in The Bellmores, New York.^[2] After receiving a B.A. from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, and teaching in elementary and middle schools in Syracuse, Burns founded Math Solutions, an educational resource provider, in 1984.^[3] Burns pursued graduate studies at Syracuse University, San Francisco State University, and the University of California at Berkeley.^[2]

In 1975, the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council cited Burns's book The I Hate Mathematics! Book in "outstanding science books for children".^[1]

In 1991, the Bank Street College of Education in New York awarded Burns an honorary doctoral degree.^[4]

In 1995 the Mepham High School Alumni Association listed Burns in their Hall of Fame.^[2]

In 1996, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics honored Burns with the Ross Taylor/Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award "for her influence on mathematics education".^[5]

In 1997, the Association for Women in Mathematics honored Burns, "a mathematics educator with enormous scope and influence", with the Louise Hay Award for Contributions to Mathematics Education.^[3]

In 2010, the Association of Educational Publishers inducted Burns into the Educational Publishing Hall of Fame.^[6]

In 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Math Solutions a $2.2 million grant "to fund the development of a Web-based diagnostic tool that will help middle school teachers assess students' computational and problem-solving skills".^[7] The end product of this grant was Math Reasoning Inventory, an assessment tool developed by Burns in collaboration with K–12 teachers, which is available without cost to teachers and administrators.^[8]

Selected books

• Burns, Marilyn (July 30, 1975). The I Hate Mathematics! Book. Martha Weston, illustrator. Boston, MA: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0316117418.^[9]
• Burns, Marilyn (2020). Welcome to Math Class: A Collection of Marilyn's Favorite Lessons, Grades K-6. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-1935099529.
• Burns, Marilyn (25 March 2015). About Teaching Mathematics: A K-4 Resource (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-1935099321.^[10]
• Burns, Marilyn (April 30, 1982). Math for Smarty Pants. Martha Weston, illustrator. Boston, MA: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-11739-0.