Angela Murphy Gardiner

Angela Murphy Gardiner is a senior researcher at TERC in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has worked there since 2011 in research and design roles. Before joining TERC, she was an elementary school educator, and her work focuses on early algebra, including students’ mathematical thinking about the equal sign, variable, functional thinking, and generalizing and justifying mathematical relationships.

She has contributed to multiple early-algebra research and curriculum projects, including Project LEAP and publications such as Does Early Algebra Matter? The Effectiveness of an Early Algebra Intervention in Grades 3 to 5 and A Learning Progression for Elementary Students’ Functional Thinking. She is also listed as an author of Early Algebraic Thinking in Action: A Teacher’s Guide for Grades K–5.