Category: Featured Research

Mathfinder Camp at the Dallas Zoo

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Students from throughout the Dallas area enjoyed exploring the lives of animals through the lens of mathematics. Mathfinder Camp was free to participants thanks to generous funding provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Thanksgiving week camp was a joint effort between SMU Simmons, talkSTEM, and the Dallas Zoo.

More than 60 children aged 8-12 attended the educational camp where they got the chance to explore an exciting new math app currently in development. The Mathfinder app, a collaborative effort between SMU Simmons and talkSTEM, is designed to make math fun while sparking curiosity and creativity and instilling a lifelong love for learning in children. The mobile app uses Augmented Reality (AR) technology for use on iPads. Students used the app to watch videos that showed them how to see math in the animals and habitats at the zoo. The AR feature allowed them to insert holograms over their camera feed to see new things in the zoo surroundings.

SMU’s Candace Walkington, Ph.D.is grateful for the collaborative effort in working for the common goal of fostering a love for math and science among children. She also appreciates the data gathered to help further the success of the app. ”It was amazing to see the kids at the zoo using their ‘math lens’ to look at the zoo exhibits and generate their own observations and questions. The kids also loved sharing their mathematical discoveries with each other, their instructors, and even their parents at home.”

Koshi Dhingra, founder of talkSTEM, said, “We were thrilled to partner with SMU and the Dallas Zoo that allowed us to bring this unique educational opportunity to young minds in our community. We believe the camp showed children that math is not only essential but also a fascinating lens through which they can view all the places they go, including the zoo!”

Simmons Dean Stephanie Knight is extremely pleased with all aspects of the Mathfinder camp. “There is nothing better than when our Simmons research is taken into the community to directly serve youngsters by heightening their interest and understanding of math, reading and technology. The fact that it is a collaborative effort with talkSTEM, and the Dallas Zoo makes it even more exceptional. I applaud Dr. Walkington and her team for this excellent work and look forward to the impact the app will have when completed.”

The Mathfinder team plans to run additional camps in the Spring and Summer of 2024. The Girl Scouts of North Texas will participate in that camp at the Dallas Arboretum. The team’s current set of studies is looking at the impact that AR tools in the Mathfinder app have on learning. The long-term goal is to create an app that could be used anywhere to ask and answer mathematical questions about the world around you.

Simmons Reinforces Commitment to Cutting-Edge Technology Enhanced Immersive Learning

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SMU has greatly strengthened its investment in Technology Enhanced Immersive Learning (TEIL) by adding three new professors to the existing group of TEIL researchers at the Simmons School of Education and Human Development. While Drs. Corey Brady, Prajakt Pande and Kelsey Schenck are all new faces at Simmons, they are already hard at work in their respective areas of research

Dr. Brady is an Associate Professor who specializes in Mathematics Education and the Learning Sciences. He studies mathematical and computational modeling to better understand and support the collective and embodied learning of classroom groups in innovative, immersive learning environments. He has been PI or co-PI on ten NSF projects totaling over $15 million, and he is a participant in the NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning. He and collaborators received the Outstanding Paper Award at the International Conference of Learning Sciences in both 2020 and 2023.

Dr. Pande is an Assistant Professor who specializes in the convergence of embodied cognition, technology-enhanced learning, and STEM education. His research focuses on developing and evaluating innovative technology interfaces such as immersive virtual reality (iVR), to facilitate embodied learning of scientific concepts and phenomena. He examines cognition and action such as bodily interaction with scientific models and representations using qualitative interviewing, interaction analysis, and eye-tracking techniques.

Dr. Schenck  is an Assistant Professor whose research deals with embodied cognition, spatial reasoning, and STEM education. She is interested in using a grounded and embodied frame to understand the influence of the cognitive and affective aspects of spatial reasoning on students’ STEM learning and in the design of interventions with immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. She also investigates the role of spatial ability and spatial anxiety in embodied mathematics, including geometry and proportional reasoning.

 

 

Texas Graduate Liberal Studies Symposium

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What happens when two intellectual powerhouses like SMU Simmons and Rice University join forces? The  answer is the Texas Graduate Liberal Studies Symposium featuring outstanding papers authored by impressive professors and graduate students from SMU, Rice, TCU, UT Dallas and many more.

You might ask why it’s important to hold an annual Liberal Studies symposium in Texas. The answer is because the meaningful exchange of ideas through the written and spoken word can open minds and broaden horizons at a time when we, perhaps more than ever before, need more understanding and engagement in our world. The symposium provides an opportunity for students and alumni from Texas graduate liberal studies programs to share their experiences and studies and continue to explore timeless and timely human questions within the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

All are invited to hear and learn from the research papers and creative works that will be presented during the day-long conference. Titles such as  Understanding and Addressing America’s Wealth Gap, I Can Be Your Fairy, Baby: A Proposal for (Re)writing the Veteran’s Journey through Fairytale-style Narratives, Unconscious Prejudice, and Avoiding Social Invisibility: The Impact of Illustrations on Resources to Teach Human Rights to Indigenous Peoples are sure to prompt thought provoking discussions.

If you want to be part of the day-long symposium you need to register at https://bit.ly/3q1jz13 where you can also view the schedule, list of presenters and topics.

 

 

 

SMU Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) at the Simmons School of Education & Human Development chosen to take part in study funded by the LEGO Foundation

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DALLAS (SMU) – SMU Simmons’ Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) will join Temple University in conducting a “Learning through Play” national study. The LEGO Foundation has awarded a $19.98 million grant to fund the longitudinal study. SMU’s Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) at Simmons will be the Dallas site lead for the national study and will receive $2.8 million over 5 years to conduct the work locally.

In partnership with Dallas Independent School District, a one-year pilot study is being implemented with Pre-K through 1st graders. CORE Executive Director, Dr. Annie Wright will serve as the Principal Investigator, with CORE Assistant Director Dylan Farmer and Dr. Toni Harrison-Kelly, Executive Director at the SMU Budd Center, serving as Co-PIs. The researchers will study how creating active, engaged, socially interactive classrooms can bring about deeper learning and joyful teaching.

A pilot study will take place in the 2023-2024 academic year with the full study beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. According to Wright, SMU CORE will coordinate all research activities for the project and will consult the national team on school partnerships, parent engagement and community engagement. “We are honored to be selected to be part of this important work; we believe it will strengthen our research-practice partnerships with Dallas ISD.” The study will hire a local research coordinator as well as coaches to work with the national Active Playful Learning team.

Leon Simmons Endowed Dean Stephanie Knight says, “SMU CORE’s involvement in this study speaks to the caliber of work being done by Annie Wright and her staff. Their reputation in education research and evaluation is well-earned. I know they will add valuable data to this equation that could ultimately lead to a way to re-imagine education in and out of the classroom.”

Wright adds, “Partnership projects like APL do not emerge overnight. The collaborative work with Dallas ISD to implement APL coaching stems from other ongoing collaborations, including the West Dallas STEM School, CORE’s long-term partnership with Dallas ISD’s Early Learning Department to observe classrooms using the CLASS™ tool for coaching and observation, and the Consortium on Educational Research and Improvement (CERI) between SMU and Dallas ISD have all laid important groundwork.”

The project is led by Temple University Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek who is a New York Times Bestselling author on Early Childhood Education. Six other universities from around the country including University of California Irvine and University of Virginia, will join SMU Simmons in conducting the study. SMU Simmons is the #1 ranked private graduate school of education in the southwest and in the top 50 among public and private graduate schools of education in the 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

 

Dominique Baker is Honored with a National Award for Excellence in Education Research for Work that Pays it Forward

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Dominique Baker, Associate Professor of Education Policy in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, has received the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Early Career Award for 2023. The honor was presented at an awards ceremony at the AERA National conference in Chicago on April 15, 2023.

The award honors an individual in the early stages of their career no later than 10 years after receipt of the doctoral degree, for outstanding study in the field of educational inquiry.

Baker’s research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of underrepresented minoritized students in higher education. She primarily investigates student financial aid, affirmative action, and policies that influence the ability to create an inclusive and equitable campus climate. She believes education policy can transform lives, but only if thoughtfully constructed based on evidence that includes the experiences of those directly impacted.

Baker says she is honored to receive the award. “Working within community to imagine a better world, and to find the evidence for the best pathways to improve our society is one of the privileges of my life.” She went on to say, “I will never have enough words to say how grateful I am so I will keep trying to show it by paying forward the support I’ve received.”

Simmons Dean, Stephanie Knight, says, “We are extremely proud of Dominique for her work that makes a meaningful difference in the lives of students and educators. This national award is very well-deserved.”

Baker joined SMU (Southern Methodist University) in 2016. Her research has been published in a variety of journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, and Teachers College Record. Her work and expertise have also been highlighted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed, amongst others.

NSF Noyce Track 4 Grant Award to Jeanna Wieselmann Makes Examination of Integrated STEM Instruction Possible

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Assistant Professor Jeanna Weiselmann, Ph.D., Department of Teaching and Learning

Assistant Professor Jeanna Wieselmann, Ph.D., heads up a collaborative research team investigating how elementary teachers integrate their instruction of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  The project, Research on Integrated STEM Self-Efficacy (RISE), will examine the STEM integration of 700 elementary teachers who experienced ten different teacher preparation programs across the U.S.

According to Wieselmann, quality integrated STEM instruction requires teachers to attend to the unique aspects of each discipline while also bringing them together in authentic learning opportunities for students, and this can be challenging. The aim is to support the national need to develop and retain highly effective elementary school teachers.

“Elementary teachers are often expected to teach integrated STEM, but teacher preparation programs have been slow to incorporate experiences that prepare teachers for this type of instruction, instead of focusing on mathematics and science as completely separate disciplines. ” she says. “Our project will explore how we can better support early-career elementary teachers to build their confidence and effectiveness in teaching integrated STEM lessons, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of instruction students experience.”

Wieselmann, a faculty member in Simmons’ Department of Teaching and Learning, is the principal investigator of the project’s National Science Foundation Noyce Track 4 research grant (DUE-2151045) totaling $1.3 million. Additional principal investigators include Deepika Menon, Ph.D. (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), Sarah Haines, Ph.D. (Towson University), and Sumreen Asim. Ph.D. (Indiana University Southeast).

 

 

 

NAEd/Spencer Foundation Awards Dominique Baker Postdoctoral and Dissertation Fellowship

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Dominique J. Baker, PhD, Department of Education Policy and Leadership

DALLAS (SMU) –Dominique J. Baker, a nationally recognized expert on education policy in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development, was one of the recipients of the 2022 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowships.

 

Baker and 24 other pre-tenure scholars will receive a $70,000 award to further their research in areas addressing critical national and international issues in education. The award provides funding for fellows to focus on research and attend professional development retreats.

 

With this award, Baker will explore the links between race, racism, and how student loan policies are covered in the media. She will be analyzing more than 90,000 newspaper articles from eight outlets to determine how often, if at all, news media outlets use words or phrases that convey ideas about race and racism when writing about student loans.

 

She’ll use SMU’s high-performance computing cluster to do the research.

 

Earlier this year, the Russell Sage Foundation, in partnership with the Economic Mobility and Opportunity program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also awarded Baker a $30,000 grant to look into the same issue.

 

Her research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of minoritized students in higher education. She primarily investigates student financial aid, affirmative action and admissions policies, and policies that influence the ability to create an inclusive and equitable campus climate. Baker is the 2021 recipient of the Association for Education Finance & Policy’s Early Career Award and the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Excellence in Public Policy Award.

 

For more on her research, see the following:

 

CORE partners with the Walton Family Foundation on Fellowship for Evaluators in Philanthropy

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CORE is engaged with the Walton Family Foundation to launch The Advancing Evaluation in Philanthropy Fellowship program to help support the next generation of evaluators working in philanthropy. The two-year-long fellowships will focus on developing professionals of color and utilizing more culturally responsive evaluation designs. With the support of the Walton Family Foundation, CORE will be able to help Fellows gain rigorous and real-world experience in research and evaluation in philanthropy.   Read more here.

Dominique Baker Receives Grant to Examine If Media Coverage of Student Debt Impacts the Narrative

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DALLAS (SMU) – Dominique J. Baker, a nationally recognized expert on education policy in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development, has received an emerging scholars pipeline grant to explore the links between race, racism, and how student loan policies are covered in media.

The $30,000 grant is from the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF), in partnership with the Economic Mobility and Opportunity program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Using SMU’s high performance computing cluster, Baker will analyze more than 90,000 newspaper articles from eight outlets to determine how often, if at all, news media outlets use words or phrases that convey ideas about race and racism when writing about student loans. She will explore both what the articles communicated and how words and phrases were used within the articles.

Words matter, Baker said, because “media discourse on student loans, including the way that race, racism, and student loans intersect in the framing of the issue, plays a significant role in the public and policy actors’ understanding of student loans’ challenges and potential solutions.”

“Focusing on policy communication through the media will help to ensure that the public and policy actors do not rely on decontextualized and race-neutral understandings of student loan debt,” she said.

Americans owe a record-breaking $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Multiple studies, including research done by Baker, have shown that black college students are especially hard hit by student debt, in part because they are more likely to take on higher amounts of debt while earning less than their peers. Reasons for that are many, including labor market discrimination and inequities in students’ and families’ ability to afford college due to centuries of deliberate policymaking decisions in the United States, Baker said.

Baker was one of 23 professors who received the RSF-Gates Pipeline Grant, which is designed to support early- and mid-career tenure-track scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences and to promote diversity broadly, including racial, ethnic, gender, disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity.

 

Ketterlin Geller’s $8M Grant from Dept. of Education Is the Largest Single-Year Research Award at SMU

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DALLAS (SMU) – Renowned mathematics researcher Leanne Ketterlin Geller, Texas Instruments Endowed Chair in Education in the Simmons School of Education and Human Development, has been awarded the largest single-year research award in SMU history.

The nearly $8 million research award from the U.S. Department of Education will allow her team to adapt for use through grade 8 a program originally developed for fourth-graders. The intervention is aimed at helping better prepare students for high school algebra – the “make-or-break” prerequisite for higher math studies that students need for college and/or STEM careers.

The grant will support randomized controlled trials across two states among students in grades 4-8 to determine the effectiveness of a program called “Fraction Face-Off.” The trials will measure success among a diverse group of students experiencing math difficulties across urban, suburban and rural geographies, and will include comparisons between in-person and virtual training of interventionists.

“Many students experience difficulty with fractions in elementary school and then continue to have difficulty as they move through middle school,” said Ketterlin Geller. “When they start algebra, this difficulty becomes increasingly problematic because proficiency in fractions is highly related to algebraic readiness.”

Fraction Face-Off has shown evidence of effectiveness at Grade 4. But Ketterlin Geller points out that the original studies were done with smaller samples in one geographic region of the country.

“We seek to extend this original research with much larger diverse populations in two different states,” she said. “We will then test the effectiveness of this intervention for students in upper elementary and middle schools who need more intensive instructional support to be ready for algebra.”

Ketterlin Geller is director of Research in Mathematics Education in the Simmons School. Her research is informed by her previous experience in K-12 education, having taught high school science in public schools and trained as a K-12 administrator. If the research team is able to demonstrate effectiveness with a larger, more diverse group, Ketterlin Geller said, she hopes usage of the program will expand and student outcomes will improve.

Ketterlin Geller and SMU will take the lead in working with investigators from the American Institute for Research, University of Texas – Austin and University of Missouri. The $7.99 million award for research over a five-year period will be processed this fiscal year.