Introduction
Leone Minna Burton (1936–2007) was a professor of education in mathematics and science at the University of Birmingham.
Education
She attended the University of London studying education with a focus on teaching mathematics. She began teaching at the secondary level but disliked the educational structure and methods of the day and moved to teaching at the primary level to have a greater opportunity to change teaching structure. She received a postgraduate certificate in education in 1966 and an academic diploma in education in 1968, both from the University of London. In 1967 she obtained a post as a mathematical education specialist at Battersea College of Education, which is dedicated to teacher preparation. She received her PHD from the Institute of Education in 1980.
Career
Her research has included what is now termed the field of ethnomathematics which examines how mathematics is related to the culture in which it is developed,
She has been visiting professor at institutions in Asia. For 1984-1988 she was international convenor for the International Organization of Women and Mathematics Education. She founded the monograph series International Perspective on Mathematics Education with the Greenwood Publishing group in 2001 which published three monographs between 2002-2006. This monograph series was subsequently renamed International Perspectives on Mathematics Education: Cognition, Equity and Society in honor of her pioneering work on equity and gender issues in mathematics education, edited by Bharath Sriraman and Donna Ford, and published by Information Age Publishing.
Family
She married in 1966 and had a son in 1968.