Several MST professors won grants in 2022 for their extremely innovative and important research. We’re proud of these accomplishments and want to share about these projects:

 

Paulo Blikstein (Communication, Media & Learning Technologies Design Program)

Professor Paulo Blikstein won a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2022 for his project “Seeing Science: Using Computer Vision to Explore the Scientific Principles Behind Everyday Objects.” This project seeks to give middle school students access to tools that will allow them to take pictures of their surroundings and see the science behind everyday objects. This will transform their homes and lived environments into engaging science learning spaces. Seeing Science is being directed in partnership with the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab and is an extension of Professor Blikstein’s work studying emancipatory learning technologies and democratizing powerful learning opportunities. 

 

Irina Lyublinskaya (Mathematics Education Program) 

Professor Irina Lyublinskaya won two grants in 2022. The first grant was awarded by the NSF to support her project “Promoting learning and interest in mathematics for urban Black and Latinx children through culturally relevant daily robot coding activities.” CMLTD Professor Sandra Okita is a Co-Principal Investigator on the project, along with Professor Marcelle Sealy (Brooklyn College), Professor Erica Walker (Teachers College Mathematics Education and University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), and Laura Hart (Vision and Education Media). Together, this team will generate new knowledge about whether and how urban Black and Latinx elementary school students can increase mathematics achievement by engaging in short culturally relevant robot coding activities. The findings from this study will inform researchers on how cultural relevance may be related to student’s mathematics learning, engagement, and interest in mathematics.

Professor Lyublinskaya also won a grant from the Bolashak Foundation to support the STEM Education Research and Practice program for Kazakhstan faculty. This program is currently supporting 8 STEM Visiting Scholars from Suleyman Demirel University in Almaty, Kazakhstan in residence at Teachers College for the 2022-23 academic year. Participants are engaging in a custom-made series of professional opportunities which focus on developing their capabilities in both effective teaching in their discipline and education research. The series combines intensive coursework, professional development, and networking with higher education professionals and doctoral students.

 

Jessica Riccio (Science Education Program)

Jessica Riccio won a grant for “Cross-site Research on Promoting Noticing for Equity and Equitable Science Teaching Practice through Video Analysis” from the NSF. This project involves a collaboration of science-teacher educators from partnering universities (the Collaborative) including Vanderbilt University, Texas State University - San Marcos, West Chester University, the University of Northern Iowa, Florida International University, and Kennesaw State University, who will work with partner high-need school districts. This project builds upon five years of work on behalf of the Collaborative in which the partners discussed, designed, and studied video analysis within science teacher preparation. It speaks to Dr. Riccio’s interest in developing equitable and effective science teaching practices. 

 

Lalitha Vasudevan (Communication, Media & Learning Technologies Design Program)

Professor Lalitha Vasudevan, Professor of Technology and Education, Vice Dean for Digital Innovation, and Managing Director of the Teachers College Digital Futures Institute (DFI), won a grant on behalf of the institute specifically dedicated to developing public scholarship. The grant was awarded by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), an organization which “mobilizes policy-relevant social and behavioral science for the public good” (https://www.ssrc.org/about-us/). DFI is currently home to several podcasts, video projects, and event series which are intended to engage the broader public in research being done at TC. This grant will support the institute and Professor Vasudevan in continuing to expand this work.