Theodore Chao (he/him/his) is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

Professor Chao uses video, photovoice, and technology to engage children, teachers, and community members in telling and sharing their mathematics stories so we can all recognize our mathematical power.

1. He actively works to help remove our blinders about what mathematics is and how it is taught, helping teachers and students see that another way of knowing and understanding mathematics is possible beyond their own school experiences.

2. He believes in collecting multiple opportunities for connection, delving into the ways all our mathematics stories and lives intersect with each other. 

3. His scholarship and teaching revolve around radical love, the belief that the only path to freedom is through the very hard and necessary step of loving each other and ourselves.

4. He sees competition, especially in mathematics learning, as problematic, stealing opportunities for joy that come from collaborative mathematical thinking.

These core values guide Professor Chao’s scholarship, teaching, and service towards a humanizing, loving, and decolonizing vision of mathematics and STEM Education.

Professor Chao has published in journals such as Mathematics Teacher Educator; Race, Ethnicity, and Education; and Investigations into Mathematics Learning, presented at conferences such as the American Educational Research Association, the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, and the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction.

Currently, he is a Fulbright Scholar, exploring the use of digital storytelling to unpack community mathematics stories in Vietnam and Indonesia. He is also a Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded CAREER research grant, Digital Mathematics Storytelling.

For the 2022-23 academic year, Dr. Chao will be joining University of California, Los Angeles Mathematics Project at Center X as a visiting researcher.

Read his writing, watch his media, and learn more about what he’s doing now. For in-depth detail about Dr. Chao’s work, please see his curriculum vitae.