Ann Elizabeth Fennema (née Hammer; April 8, 1928 – December 20, 2021) was an American educator specializing in the teaching of mathematics.
In 1962 Kathryn Clarenbach (a founder of NOW) sent out a questionnaire inquiring of unemployed or underemployed wives of university professors who were interested in a career.
Fennema recognized the importance of a good foundation in mathematics was critical for all students leading to her interest in math education.
One outgrowth of this was a questionnaire, the "Fennema-Sherman Scales" to enable researchers to gather data on the attitudes of young women towards mathematics, and the results from different sites compared.
The Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) philosophy is detailed in Children's Mathematics which she co-authored with Thomas Carpenter, Megan Loef Franke, Linda Levi, and Susan Empson.