Recent Research
Past Research
The Nature of Teaching and Learning in a Philosophical Ethics Seminar at a Career Technical High School
Philosophy should not exist as an elite discourse reserved for a privileged few, but instead represents an opportunity for all to critically examine and ponder some of life’s most complex and important issues—if it is taught in socially conscious and culturally relevant ways, and more inclusively offered to students from all backgrounds and academic paths. This year-long case study of a small ethics class held as a non-credit, voluntary option for students in a Midwestern career-technical high school suggests that these students were not only enthusiastic about and academically capable of exploring philosophical topics, but, importantly, were able to construct new ways of seeing their everyday experiences through a philosophical lens.
Hope and Disappointment in a High School Dual-Credit Philosophy Class
A qualitative case study examining the way high school juniors and seniors in a college-credit introductory philosophy course taught at their school engaged with philosophy, and how it carried over into other parts of their studies and daily lives. Through observations and interviews, findings were that although students privately expressed desiring and expecting an enlightening experience, they were disappointed by the traditional course structure and content that made this feel like any other class.
Student Agency and Voice in the Jewish Court of All Time Simulation Experience
An educational action research study examining how one online classroom-based simulation game offers middle school students the opportunity to strengthen their agency and voice. The Jewish Court of All Time (JCAT) is a web-mediated simulation designed for middle school classrooms where students take on roles of various characters throughout the world, history and literature to address an imaginary court case. JCAT is meant to develop students'
skills in writing, critical thinking, perspective-taking, historical empathy, and communication, as well as subject literacy in social, historical and cultural contexts. Findings suggested that students also constructed knowledge of democratic ideals, and were able to exercise their agency and voice specifically, both in the online environment and in accompanying classroom activities.
Character Choice and Student Engagement in the Jewish Court of All Time Role-Play Simulation
This study explores the relationship between character selection and student engagement in the Jewish Court of All Time (JCAT), a contemporary and historical online role-playing simulation. As participant-observers in JCAT, we detected a dynamic connection between students’ level of engagement and the characters they played and sought to better understand this phenomenon. The findings sought to augment the implementation of future JCAT simulations, as well as to inform research and practice of role-play simulations that involve assuming character personas. We found that students expressed a multi-layered framework of elements around knowledge, action, and connection to self through relatability, immersion, agency and voice, which make up student engagement as a whole. When these needs are met, they are most engaged through the resulting embodiment of their characters.
Research
Relational-Cultural Theory and Compassion in Teacher Education
CEHD Undergraduate Student Research Initiative
Conceptual paper and practitioner and collaborative inquiry exploring compassionate policies and practices in social justice teacher education using relational-cultural theory as a frame, aimed to contribute to the practical literature on social-justice oriented teacher preparation.
Understanding the Nature of TAMU Teacher Preparation for Diverse Classrooms
CEHD Undergraduate Research Experience/TAMU Undergraduate Research Scholars
Collaborative action research with an undergraduate research team exploring multicultural education, particularly its potential to influence future teachers toward equitable practices in diverse classrooms. These student researchers want to better understand our teacher preparation in relation to diverse and underserved pK–12 students. The team is using critical race theory as a lens to examine the intersections of policies and practices at TAMU in teacher education recruitment, program acceptance and induction, curriculum and professional preparation, support systems, and other factors that can influence both diversifying our student body and preparing all teachers we send into the field to enact culturally sustaining and equitable practices. After this first cycle of data collection, students plan to use their findings to inform another cycle of participatory evaluation with other TAMU education students and stakeholders.
Project SOAR / USTAR+ program
A research initiative designed to inform school and district improvement in Spring ISD, a district in the greater Houston area. Through the Urban Student Teacher Advanced Residency with Innovative Features program (USTAR+), the project takes a next-generation approach to pre-service teacher education and induction, in-service teacher education, and mentor and lead teacher development through a field-based equity and urban research program. The critical concern with Project SOAR is building the district’s capacity to systematically support purposeful student engagement, methodical curriculum development, and impactful teaching. Encompasses several studies—for example: interrogating the unusually high teacher turnover rate; the influence of teacher empathy on student achievement; characteristics of successful teachers of African American male high school students.
Critically Compassionate Intellectualism in Pre-Service Teacher Education
Classroom-based, practitioner and participatory action research inquiries in which I study my own work and student responses in the classroom in order to improve the courses I teach and my teaching practice using the particular framework of critically compassionate intellectualism, which consists of critical pedagogy, authentic caring, and social justice centered curriculum (Cammarota & Romero, 2006). Honoring the roots of CCI within a social justice project for Latinx students, I have extended it to study how CCI can empower future educators from all backgrounds, particularly those who will teach in racially and culturally diverse communities, to be change agents for their students.
Shared Power, Risk-Taking and Innovation: Participatory Action Research in Jewish Educational Leadership
This study examines applications of the Group Level Assessment/Understanding process, an innovative participatory action research methodology undertaken in the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute (MTEI), and the creation of an MTEI interpretive community to deeply analyze the collected data. Participants adapted the process in their home communities to address community-identified dilemmas, tensions, and problems. The common themes that emerged in the GLA/GLU applications included shared power, risk-taking, and methodological innovation.
