Expanding Mathematical Futures Through Multimedia Storytelling

2023 - 2025

Despite evidence that shows Black students' positive attitudes towards math at young ages, many of these students become less interested in math due to both the pedagogy and content to which they are exposed, as well as the dominant meta-narrative of a limited conception of their ability and interest as learners. This project seeks to broaden the mathematical imagination and aspirations of Black and other underserved mathematics students in both in-school and out-of-school environments.

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Addressing historic and systemic racial inequities: Coeur d?Alene land-based STEM education

2022 - 2025

Improving diversity in STEM fields is key to addressing the critical and complex issues faced by society in the 21st century. Research shows that only 17% of American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) students continue their education after high school versus 60% of the U.S. population. AIAN communities experience some of the greatest educational disparities of any racial/ethnic group in STEM subjects and overall academic achievement in both K12 and post-secondary education. Despite natural resources and environmental careers?

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Place-based Learning, STEM Identity Work and Identity Play with Storytelling Technologies

2023 - 2026

As young people experience challenging climate events and become aware of their systemic nature, they may feel powerless to shape the future and uncertain about STEM-based solutions. To address these challenges, this project focuses on the potential of place-based learning, field science, and digital storytelling to nurture diverse middle school youths’ environmental agency, STEM career knowledge, and STEM identities.

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Critical Data Stories: Co-Designing Remixing Tools with Teachers to Support Critical Data Literacy with Middle School Youth

2023 - 2026

Youth are avid creators and consumers of data-related claims through their participation on social media sites, in which they view, produce, and share content. They remix content, building off one another?s videos, gifs, and memes to represent and discuss topics they care about. However, participation on these same platforms can result in echo chambers, misinformation, and proliferation of perspectives that are detached from real-world experience.

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Engaging Underrepresented Populations in Environmental Action through Mentoring, Geospatial Technology and Digital Media Storytelling

2022 - 2026

This project seeks to address several challenges simultaneously: there is a need to improve the diversity of learners and workers in environmentally-focused STEAM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) careers and educational programs, a need to broaden participation in community environmental action, and a need to train future environmentally-focused STEAM workers in effective science communication.

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A Networked Improvement Community Approach to School-wide Transformation, Teacher Agency, and Minoritized Students’ Climate Science Learning and Belonging

2021 - 2025

Incorporating urgent issues of social and environmental justice into environmental science teaching can harness youth’s real-world interests and improve their engagement, learning, sense of belonging, and career interests. This may be especially true for students who are directly experiencing the intertwined burdens of structural racism and environmental injustice. This project will adapt and extend successful Solar Suitcase curricula that explicitly link technology learning experiences to environmental science and social purpose.

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Design and Pitch Challenges in STEM: Merging Entrepreneurship and Mathematics Learning

2021 - 2024

To compete in a continually changing and increasingly technology-focused career landscape, students will need a deep, conceptual, and applied understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Yet, many students, especially students from underrepresented populations, perceive  STEM to be disconnected from their interests and career aspirations. New curricular approaches are needed, especially in mathematics, that increase students’ career interest and engagement in STEM, while also supporting the learning of rich and targeted STEM content.

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Collaborative Research: Minoritized Youth Computer Science Learning, Belonging and Career Interest: Coding and Creating with Beats

2021 - 2025

Computer science knowledge and skills are essential in the digital world. Despite progress in the availability of computer science (CS) coursework in secondary school settings, a number of student groups remain substantially underrepresented in computing. This project aims to broaden youth participation in computing by focusing on innovative technology experiences centered around coding-based music. The project will engage Black, Latinx, and female youth during the critical middle school years when many students decide whether future opportunities in CS merit consideration.

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Middle School Teacher and Student's Experiences with Artificial Intelligence via Computational Cameras

2020 - 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology applied to images and video is transforming society with broad applications to many social and economic sectors. To develop a citizenry that will participate in this technological revolution, it is essential to develop learning experiences for K-12 learners on the foundations of AI literacy in order to adequately prepare the workforce of the future. Supporting the teaching of AI concepts in the K-12 curriculum requires integrating knowledge from multiple disciplines.

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