Research Projects

2006 – Present: Introducing pre-service teachers to formative assessment: Improving assessment design and accountability in school mathematics through a network-based learning environment


2005 – Present: Distributed Learning and Collaboration

http://www.dlac-research.net


2004     BEE Project: Engineering Contexts and Concepts for Developing and Promoting Students’ Higher Level Learning

Principal Investigators:          Dr. Heidi Diefes-Dux, Purdue University 

Dr. Terry Wood, Purdue University

Dr. Richard Lesh, Purdue University

Dr. Judith Zawojewski, Illinois Institute of Technology                                

Supported by the National Science Foundation

 

The purpose of this project is to encourage collaboration between middle and high schools and freshmen engineers in order to prepare better and identify more students to become future engineers. In this project participants include faculty in the Schools of Engineering and Education at Purdue University, freshmen engineers, teaching assistants, research assistants, and middle and high school students and teachers.

My role in this project is as a Senior Research Assistant. Some of the responsibilities include coordinating workshops for middle and high school teachers, designing and promoting scenarios for collaboration between middle and high school teachers and students and faculty and students in education and engineering, budget planning and administration.

 

2001-2004 Design Experiments in Education Project

Principal Investigators:          Dr. Richard Lesh, Purdue University y

Dr. Eammon Kelly, George Mason University                                

Supported by the National Science Foundation

The purpose of this project has been to explicate a design experiment methodology that advances the overall goal of understanding and improving teaching and learning. This task will consume the three years of the grant (and likely will extend beyond it, in practice). The goal is no less than re-forming and informing the nature of how innovations in the sciences, their computational infrastructure, and their implementations in education should be constructed -- so as to be educative to scholars and practitioners. More information about this project can be found in the following website: http://gse.gmu.edu/research/de/

My participation in this project includes attendance to four conferences/workshops where design-based research was the main topic of discussion.

December 13-15, 2001           Santa Fe, NM, USA

March 14-17, 2002                 Santa Fe, NM, USA

January 9-12, 2003                 Santa Fe, NM, USA

September 11-14, 2003          San Diego, CA, USA

 

2003     International Statistics Literacy Project

Principal Investigator: Dr. Carol Joyce Blumberg, Winona State University

This is a project of the IASE (International Association for Statistical Education) which has the purpose to develop a website on resources to enhance the development of statistical literacy. The emphasis is on materials that can be obtained over the Internet or other means. These materials include: general resources on statistical literacy, resources for elementary and secondary school pre-service and in-service teachers to use in their classroom, resources for elementary and secondary school pre-service and in-service teachers to improve their own knowledge of and teaching of statistics and probability, resources related to government statistics offices, resources for mass media members to help them understand and report statistical ideas adequately, and others. This website can be accessed at: http://course1.winona.edu/cblumberg/islphome.htm

My role in this project was as a co-coordinator of two (of twenty) webpages for resources for Primary/Elementary School teachers to use in their classrooms and resources for Primary/Elementary School teachers to use to improve their knowledge of statistics and probability. The twenty webpages are overseen by a total of fifteen people from eight different countries.

 

2001-2003         German-USA Early Career Research Exchange:

Research on Learning Technologies and Technology-Supported Education

 

Supported by:        The National Science Foundation-NSF (USA), and

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft-DFG (Germany)

 

The purpose of this project is to provide a set of reciprocal opportunities for German and American early career researchers and their mentors to engage in international collaborative arrangements on specific research topics. In addition, two Conferences provide venues for building potentially long-lasting research networks, allowing the exchange of ideas, information, research, and related implications for policy related to learning technologies.

My participation in this project included attendance and presentation of my research during the two Conferences; and research exchanges between senior and early career researchers from different universities in Germany and the USA.

October 11-12, 2001 Tübingen, Germany

 

May 5-7, 2002         University of South Florida, David C. Anchin Center

St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

 

1999-2003 Case Studies for Kids

Principal Investigator: Dr. Richard Lesh, Purdue University

Supported by Lucent Technologies

 

The purpose of this project is for middle school teachers to collaborate with researchers in developing and implementing performance assessment activities, called case studies for kids or model-eliciting activities that focus on deeper and higher order understandings of ten “Big Math” Ideas (or foundational mathematical concepts) for each grade level. As part of the products that are developed include the model-eliciting activities, accompanying teaching materials, and respective design principles so that other teachers could create similar learning environments in their own classroom. More information on this project can be accessed on the following website: http://tcct.soe.purdue.edu/casestudies/

 

My participation in this project includes a variety of tasks that have evolved over time. Some of the main activities include: curricular and assessment design of performance-based activities (i.e., case studies for kids or model-eliciting activities), expert designer working with newer graduate students (apprentice model) to design performance-based activities, coordinator and facilitator of teacher development workshops, support to teachers in classroom settings in the implementation and use of performance-based activities, support to teachers in classroom settings through videoconferencing, design-based research and research design, piloting and revision of performance-based activities.