The National Academy of Education has selected Simmons Assistant Professor Candace Walkington for the distinguished 2014 Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. Funded by the Spencer Foundation, Walkington will receive a $55,000 award to support her research.
Her project consists of a classroom intervention in which students generate personalized connections between concepts they are learning in algebra and their out-of-school interests in topics like sports, video games, and social networking. Students will create their own “algebra stories” where they describe how linear relationships can approximate things they encounter in their everyday lives. She will look at the impact of the intervention on students’ classroom discussions and on learning of and interest in algebra.
The Academy created the fellowship program to encourage high-caliber researchers at the postdoctoral level to pursue research projects that may improve education in the U.S. and around the world.