Hollylynne Lee

Bio

Dr. Lee has been at NC State since 2000. Her research interests include teaching and learning of probability, statistics, and data science, especially incorporating technology use and designing technology environments that facilitate students’ learning. She situates her work in educational design in order to provide the best learning opportunities for students in K-12, her university students, and educators around the world that engage with her in online professional development.

Research Description

January 1, 2024, Dr. Lee was named a Distinguished University Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Education in the STEM Education department at NC State University. She is also a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. Her research expertise focues on teaching and learning of probability, statistics, and data science in grades 4-14. She is an expert on the design and use of technology tools to facilitate students’ learning of mathematics and statistics, as well as preparing preservice and inservice teachers to teach statistics and data science (e.g., ESTEEM, and InSTEP), and use technology in mathematics (e.g., PTMT). In the past decade she has managed over 7 million in funding from IES and NSF to support her research through the Hub for Innovation and Research in Statistics Education at the Friday Institute. She collaborates with a strong team of researchers and graduate students at the Friday Institute, as well as faculty, researchers, and technological designers at organizations such as RTI International, Research Matters Inc, University of Georgia, Eastern Michigan University, University of Southern Indiana, Middle Tennessee State University, UNC Charlotte, and Concord Consortium. Hollylynne Lee served as an RTI University Scholar in 2018-2019. Her current work includes developing and implementing online professional development to assist teachers in preparing to teach statistics and data science. See Amplifying Statistics and Data Science in Classrooms and Instepwithdata.org.

Dr. Lee was appointed to the planning committee for the National Academies convening on Foundations of Data Science for Students in K-12, held in Washington, DC September 13-14, 2022. At the convening she led a panel on issues in teacher education for K-12 data science.

Hear from Dr. Lee

• In a 2023 episode of the Professors Talk Pedagogy series at Baylor University, Dr. Lee discusses her approach to educational design.
• In episode 2203 in the MathEd podcast series, Dr. Lee discusses her team’s research related to trends in classroom teaching in the context of AP Statistics, March 2022
• Listen to a recent podcast on Teaching Math Teaching where Dr. Lee discusses her designs in teacher education and the importance of data science education, December 2021.
• Watch a brief video as part of the Ask an Expert series in the College of Education where Hollylynne discusses the importance for K-12 students to develop data literacy, September 2021.
• Watch a virtual presentation in 2023 on Investigating the Real World: Experiences in Data Science at the Institute for Educational Sciences’ Virtual Mathematics conference.

International Service and Impact

International Association of Statistics Education

• 13th Satellite conference, 2025. Invited program committee member. The committee writes the call for papers, reviews proposals, choses invited papers and organizes sessions. Conference to be held in Munster, Germany. October 2025.

International Conference on Teaching Statistics

• 10th Conference, 2018. Co-leader of Topic area Technology and Multimedia in Statistics Education. Wrote call for papers, reviewed proposals, chose invited papers and organized sessions. Conference held in Kyoto, Japan. July 2018. 
• 9th Conference., 2014 Served as invited organizer of papers for one session under the topic of Probability in Teaching Statistics. Conference held July 2014 in Flagstaff, AZ.

International Congress on Mathematical Education

• 15th Congress, 2024. Invited to serve as a lead team member for the Topic Study Group focused on Mathematics and Integrative STEM Education. Conference held July 2024 in Sydney, Australia. Co-authored TSG description and focus, reviewed and selected papers, and organized sessions.
• 13th Congress, 2016. Invited to serve as a lead team member for the Topic Study Group focused on Probability. Conference held July 2016 in Hamburg, Germany. Co-authored TSG description and focus, reviewed and selected papers, and organized sessions.

Recent Courses Taught

• ST 101 Introductory Statistics for Elementary and Middle Grades Teachers
• EMS 573 Design of Tools and Learning Environments in STEM Education
• EMS 480/580 Teaching and Learning Mathematics with Technology
• EMS/ST 519 Teaching and Learning Statistical Thinking
• EMS 770 Foundations in Mathematics Education Research

Recent Honors and Awards

• 2024 the PTMT project was awarded the Innovators Award by the NC Council of Teachers of Mathematics for its pioneering and long lasting impact on the education of math teachers in NC and beyond.
• 2023 awarded the William D Warde Statistics Education award, from the Mu Sigma Rho statistics honorary society
• 2022 nominated and served on planning committee for the National Academies of Sciences workshop on Foundations of Data Science for K-12 Students.
• 2022 awarded the national-level Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University
• 2021 named a finalist for the national-level Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University
• 2020 awarded UNC Board of Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
• 2020 named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association
• 2018 named an RTI University Scholar
• 2014 NC State Alumnae Association Outstanding Teacher Award
• 2013 named an NC State University Scholar
• 2012 received National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellowship for Mathematics Education for best research paper at Association of Mathematics Teacher Education conference

Publications

• How Teachers Envision Using Data Visualization Discussion Tasks in Classroom Instruction , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (2025)
• Data Moves as a Focusing Lens for Learning to Teach with CODAP , COMPUTERS IN THE SCHOOLS (2024)
• Examining Teachers' Professional Learning in an Online Asynchronous System: Personalized Supports for Growth and Engagement in Learning to Teach Statistics and Data Science , EDUCATION SCIENCES (2024)
• Interview with Hollylynne Stohl Lee , JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION (2024)
• Making Sense of Data Visualizations: A Toolkit for Supporting Student Discussions , Statistics Teacher (2024)
• The Viability of Topic Modeling to Identify Participant Motivations for Enrolling in Online Professional Development , Online Learning (2024)
• Preparing secondary prospective mathematics teachers to teach with technology , Reflection on Past, Present and Future: Paving the Way for the Future of Mathematics Teacher Education (AMTE Professional Series) (2023)
• Validating a concept inventory for measuring students' probabilistic reasoning: The case of reasoning within the context of a raffle , JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL BEHAVIOR (2023)
• Visualizing qualitative data: unpacking the complexities and nuances of technology-supported learning processes , Educational technology research and development (2023)
• A Look into the AP Statistics Classroom: Who Teaches It and What Aspects of Statistics Do They Emphasize? , CHANCE (2022)