Stacy Wahl (interview); Creator: Wahl, Stacy ; Interviewer(s): Joe Oppedisano and Anabela Marques; Interview location: Wahl's home in Ridgefield, CT; Running time: 75 min., Apr 23, 1991

Coverage: 1960s-1991
Topics discussed : (tape 1;side A): Starting at Western; was helping the students in her son's class w/ their reading skills; was asked by Dr. Braun if she would do the same the teacher at Western; Orthotectracidecahedran model; was asked by the head of biology department if she could make one; didn't know what it was until her son showed her a picture of it; used a piece of cheese as her rough draft; traced it and ended up w/ five different models; had her students make these models using cardboard, wood, and plastic; Math classes; aspects of how to teach Intro to Calculus; Models; developed several models to help students better understand math; suggested all students use them before taking a test; Controversy over the "toys"; was told she was a concept teacher, not a math educator; she wouldn't use the word "methods" in her teaching to avoid it; Changes at WestConn; friendly w/ Dr. Haas as a motherly figure; atmosphere isn't the warm and friendly one it once was; size has had a role in this; teacher training was the role school had but now it is almost a bad to say that phrase; Former students; Rewards of teaching; go beyond a paycheck; Training teachers; didn't supervise in the classroom; felt students should pass an arithmetic test (later state implemented it); Her book; got idea from a student while teaching in Colorado; "Counting Petals" was the name of it; came out in 1976 in paperback; many bookstores didn't carry it because it was published by non; profit group and bookstores couldn't charge 40% profit; her book won an award; book was meant to help in teaching children math; Her husband, John; he was a PhD physicist; met him in Iowa; married and had children; while he was working at getting his PhD, she taught at University of Iowa; Teaching was her passion; Patens; both her and husband had patens on their projects; Quality of teaching at WestConn; quality depends on the individual; teachers at WestConn care about students; Students evaluation; Dr. Janick came out on top of the student evaluation; most evaluation ranked non; PhD teachers higher (tape 1;side B): Background; her and husband taught first wave of returning GIs; goal was to get a generation of math lovers and not haters; Recognition for her models; went to Georgia to display her models; has gone various places to talk about her models; Full professorship; was first woman to receive full; professorship w/out terminal degree (PhD); Science institute; in 1963, got to teach at a Nation Science Institute; Teaching methods; would have students look for a pattern in order to better understand math; felt making a game out of math made learning much more easier; brought her own grandchildren in once to a classroom and had them make models using marshmallows and toothpicks; WestConn memories; liked her time there; was angry they never had a couch for female faculty to rest in lounge; Quonset Hut; Elementary school teachers and foreign language; had a meeting where discussed whether elementary teachers should know a foreign language (she felt it was necessary); Dr. Rosenberg; he was a history teacher before she came; both went to Columbia University; he taught her niece Algebra; wrote about history of WestConn; Competition w/ her siblings; she was youngest of ten children; tried to match what they all did, including getting a paten; Course to get a patent; her and husband went to see a lawyer about getting a patent for one of her models; she kept getting turned down for a patent in the beginning; encouraged to appeal and turn to educators for help; told someone else had the patent, but when she contacted one of these two, he said it was different; Students; get her creativity results in the classroom; Textbooks; doesn't like ordering textbooks, but she is required to do so; Basic Studies students in beginning couldn't afford to textbook; Life before teaching; she was a dishwasher before she got into teaching; her husband was a plumber's helper (tape 2;side A): Class size; her concepts class had about 48 students; "Dot Movie"; spent about eleven hours making a four minute movie; she used it for demonstration for both math and music majors; Basic Studies class; once had a class where most class were football players; the class was so bad it almost made her quit because of their attitude; Her Family; husband was a brilliant man; one son was a math scholar, other was a finalist; daughter is a computer programmer who went into Peace Corps and learn several foreign languages; accomplishments of her children; her mother only got to the 6th grade, but had a lot of creativity; Writing her memoirs; going to write and publish herself; wanted to write a record of the family for her grandchildren; stories about her family and memorable stories