Research

Marc Isseks, a doctoral student from the Department of Learning and Instruction, wrote the book “Forward Fast: Making Sense of Education in an Era of Rapid Change,” which documents the changes that have occurred over the past two decades regarding education and technology. “When I first started teaching, I was making exams on a machine that was cranked by hand,” Isseks said. “Now, I watch teachers airdrop packets of information into their students’ iPads and it is just unbelievable.”

Mathematical literacy is a necessity to be a functioning member of society. However, there are significant racial and gender gaps in math achievement in the United States. More than half of low socioeconomic status, Black and Hispanic students have demonstrated below average math skills, and women remain underrepresented in many STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.

Randy Yerrick, professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, and Andrew Olewnik, an adjunct assistant professor from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, have received a two-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help engineering students become better problem solvers. The grant also helps students connect their coursework and their professional preparation, and GSE will measure whether the project has lasting effects.

Sarah A. Robert, associate professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, is examining how addressing the double burden of malnutrition is impacting the workload of teachers in Dominican Republic classrooms. “Feeding students at school may address the double burden of malnutrition and, more often than not, create a double burden of teaching work,” said Robert.

Richard Lamb, associate professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, wants to measure the potential causal relationships between violent/aggressive behavior and video game play because these relationships are still under debate and not clearly understood. Lamb and his research team in the UB Neurocognition Science Laboratory are developing computational models to identify the underlying social health factors related to playing video games.

How can caterpillars help preschoolers develop coding skills and computational thinking? Fisher-Price and the Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center (ECRC) in the Graduate School of Education are working together to answer this question in preschool classrooms and children’s homes.

Sam Abramovich, assistant professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction and the Department of Library and Information Studies, in collaboration with the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, has been awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to develop reliable and valid ways to measure the learning and associated benefits of Makerspaces in libraries.

The Graduate School of Education, in collaboration with Buffalo Public Schools, will launch the UB Teacher Residency Program in summer 2019. The program has three goals for the initial urban teaching cohort: (1) increase the number of learner-ready teachers in the city of Buffalo; (2) diversify the pool of teachers in the city of Buffalo; and (3) increase the number of teachers who stay in the teaching profession in Western New York urban schools. The UB Teacher Residency Program was launched with the support of a Cullen Foundation grant and has since been awarded additional funding through a federal Teacher Quality Partnership grant.

Claire Cameron, associate professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, is partnering with the Community Action Organization of Western New York (CAO) to determine the existing school readiness assessment practices and supports across 32 CAO Head Start programs, which serve over 2,700 children in Erie and Niagara counties. The collaboration is part of the UB Graduate School of Education Faculty in Residence Program.

Ji-Won Son, associate professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, is partnering with the Christian Central Academy in Williamsville to develop and implement a history-infused mathematics curriculum in K–12 classrooms and analyze the effects of the curriculum. The collaboration is part of the UB Graduate School of Education Faculty in Residence Program, and is funded by a National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 7–12 Classroom Research Grant.