The seeds for my career were sown by drawing a few straight lines with two different coloured crayons on a plain piece of paper in the JK/SK class at Bruce Public School in Toronto. Those mathemagical lines were the beginning of a zigzagged path that took me through myriad roles in mathematics education—teacher, LOGO pioneer, district coordinator, newspaper columnist, TV scriptwriter, children’s book author, professor, researcher and outreach enthusiast—as well as the shepherds that guided the journey along a lengthy and circuitous route that ends (for now) where it began. The gist of this retrospective will focus on mentors and moments…including being vilified in the press for daring to say, “Math should be fun.”

Bio: Lynda Colgan is Professor Emerita, Faculty of Education, Queen’s University as well as the Executive Director (Education and Development) for Science Rendezvous, a national organization that celebrates and showcases Canadian science and scientists. In addition to being the 2023 winner of The Fields Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award that recognizes innovation and excellence in Mathematics Education, the City of Kingston awarded her with its highest civic honour in 2023: The Distinguished Citizen Award for her work in public education and STEM outreach. Lynda previously received The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), individual award for science promotion as well as the National Mathematics Ambassador Award (now The Dr. Jonathan Borwein Mathematics Ambassador Award). She is currently leading four NSERC PromoScience projects and is always working on new proposals for funding to make it possible to carry on her long-established commitment to STEM outreach through creative avenues to engage students, parents, and educators in all sciences—but especially mathematics—at home and in the classroom. Her new book (in press), Beyond 1, 2, 3: Strengthening Early Mathematics Education in Canada, co-edited with Dr. Sandy Youmans, is a comprehensive collection providing an overview of important topics within the field of early childhood mathematics education in Canada. She is currently leading two NSERC PromoScience projects and two PromoScience Supplement initiatives that make it possible for her to carry on her long-established commitment to bring equity and diversity to STEM outreach and public education. Lynda’s work reflects her career as a researcher, deeply-rooted in years of experience as a classroom teacher, district-level coordinator, and pre-service and in-service instructor.