Research Projects

Building Capacity in Computer Science Education and Near Peer Classroom Mentorship

This 3-year research-practice partnership aims to increase the number of high school computer science teachers by designing, evaluating, and iterating on a professional development model that uses culturally relevant pedagogy and integration into mathematics classrooms… Read more

Critical Withness Studies

In this project, we explore the ways in which disciplinary discourse in elementary classrooms can nurture learning and thriving, with particular focus on the experiences of minoritized children, and what this implies for teacher learning… Read more

Young Patients as Innovators

Young Patients as Innovators: Developing Pediatric Makerspaces to Enhance Chronically Ill Children’s STEM Learning, Self-Agency, and Identity is a two-year AISL Innovations in Development project. Led by Dr. Maria Olivares and Dr. dana dunwoody  of Boston University and Andrew Coy of Digital Harbor Foundation. The project will collaborate with young patients, their families, and hospital staff to design informal STEM learning experiences in pediatric settings… Read more

CRAFT Network

The Critical Relationality Alliance for STEM Education (CRAFT) Network aims to build capacity for research and knowledge on STEM-rich making through the development of nationally coordinated mechanisms to leverage combined efforts of a core group of scholars, practitioners, and an extended network of formal and informal education partners in urban and rural sites serving people from groups underrepresented in STEM… Read more

STEM Cascades

The STEM Cascades project seeks to understand the design of formal and informal learning environments that support STEM identity development and learning for predominantly African American and Latinx youth by orienting to youth as knowledgeable experts who ongoingly work to refine and rejuvenate their own pedagogical development… Read more

Re-Making STEM

Re-Making STEM is a professional development initiative where researchers and teachers examine how computational thinking, computational tools, and multiple ways of knowing come together in  collaboratively designed “making” curriculum to provide powerful opportunities for teacher and student learning… Read more

INSPIRE—Math

INSPIRE—Math affords simulated “practice spaces” for teachers, a monthly in-person teacher community of practice, and individualized coaching and feedback in teachers’ schools… Read more

STEMCees

The STEMCees project aims to create and understand learning environments for middle school youth that integrate computational making practices, interdisciplinary STEM learning, and cultural and expressive practices from hip-hop… Read more

Building Systems from Scratch

The Building Systems from Scratch project integrates systems and computational thinking into middle school learning about climate science by interweaving game design and climate science learning… Read more

Biogen STAR Network Evaluation

We are evaluating a project led by a team including the Lesley University STEAM Learning Lab, Science in Education, and the Center for Mathematics Achievement and other related university departments and programs… Read more

STEM Literacies in Making Spaces (STEMLiMS)

The STEMLiMS project examines how participants in makerspaces engage with STEM as they create and produce physical products of personal and social value. In their book, STEM Literacies in Makerspaces, PIs Tucker-Raymond and Gravel define and illustrate five key STEM literacies—identifying, organizing, and integrating information; creating and traversing representations; communicating with others for help and feedback during making; documenting processes; and communicating finished products—and demonstrate how these literacies intersect with making communities… Read more

artscience

In this collaborative design research project, we explore the potential of an artscience studio approach to learning for youth from historically minoritized communities who experience traditional school science as disengaged from larger personal and community concerns… Read more