More than 140 faculty members and graduate students from the Michigan State University College of Education are scheduled to participate in the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association this year in San Francisco. The meeting runs from April 27 through May 1, 2013.
Researchers from all over the world converge at AERA to share and discuss research across numerous education disciplines. Many scholars also receive honors and awards for their work during the meeting.
This year, MSU professors are playing particularly visible roles at AERA. Kristen Renn, professor of Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education (HALE), is serving as program chair for the meeting and is the chair of several Presidential Sessions. Hannah Distinguished Professor Barbara Schneider will officially become president of AERA during the meeting. She receives the gavel from current AERA President William Tierney, a faculty member at University of Southern California, at the conclusion of his Presidential Address on April 29 (4:35-6:20 p.m., Hilton Union Square, Ballroom Level, Continental 4-6).
Visit www.aera.net to search the full program. Some sessions will be livestreamed this year to those who register. To join the conversation on Twitter, follow @AERA13, and use the official hashtag, #AERA13.
Here is an overview of other highlights.
Sessions and events:
- AERA’s first Ignite presentations, or short talks accompanied by automatically timed slides (15 seconds each, five minutes total), are being coordinated by Christine Greenhow, MSU assistant professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology. Greenhow, College of Education Dean Donald Heller, Punya Mishra, professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, and Mark Helmsing, an MSU doctoral student, are among 20 scholars scheduled to participate. Each will present perspectives on the topic of education and poverty (the meeting’s overall theme). Renn will serve as discussant. Use hashtag #AERAIgnite.
- Among the other innovative features this year, AERA Ed Talks will give education researchers an opportunity to share ideas in the popular TEDx-style format. Mishra will present one, Poverty of Imagination in Today’s Educational Climate: Transdisciplinary Creativity. The talk argues that we are undervaluing creativity that emerges when, scientists or mathematicians for example, have creative interests outside their core fields. That session is scheduled for 4:05-5:35 p.m. April 28 in the Hilton Union Square, Lobby Level, Plaza A. Use hashtag #AERATalks.
- The AERA Awards Luncheon is new this year and will honor recipients of the 14 existing association-wide awards and special citations. The MSU College of Education is co-sponsoring the event along with the USC Rossier School of Education. The Awards Lunch is set for 12:25-2:25 p.m. April 29 in the Hilton Union Square, Ballroom Level, Continental 4-6. The Presidential Address occurs separately this year (see above).
- Barbara Schneider is chair of a Presidential Session on Innovations in Data and Technology for Education Research, scheduled for 12:10-1:40 p.m. April 30 in the Hilton Union Square, Lobby Level – Plaza B.
- HALE Professor James Fairweather will present a report about the future of tenure based on the work of an AERA task force he chairs. The session, AERA Task Force on Evaluating Educational Research, Scholarship, and Teaching in Postsecondary Education: A Report, is scheduled for 10:35 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. April 28 at the Hilton Union Square, Continental 9.
- Associate professor of special education Claudia Pagliaro will present findings from a study of mathematics readiness in preschool-age deaf/hard of hearing children. Pagliaro and her colleague Karen Kritzer of Kent State University have developed an online intervention for parents to help their children become “math ready.” The session, The Math Gap: An Analysis of the Mathematics Performance of Young Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children, is scheduled for 8:15-9:45 a.m. May 1 in the Hilton Union Square, Sixth Level – Tower 3 Mason.
- Michelle Purdy, assistant professor of teacher education, is lead organizer of a Social Justice Action Committee session examining the intersections between education in poverty in Georgia, particularly Atlanta. Her paper with co-author Sheryl Jones Croft of Emory University considers how state politics have affected education opportunity for minority and low-income students throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. The session, Georgia On Our Minds: Contested Educational Dreams and the Promise of Social Justice, is scheduled for 2:00-3:30 p.m. April 30 in the Hilton Union Square, Yosemite A.
- Three former faculty members of the MSU College of Education, James T. Minor, Aaron Pallas and Frederick Erickson, have written responses to the meeting theme, Education and Poverty. All 15 such essays are available online, as well as interviews with the authors. Minor, now at the Southern Educational Foundation, has an essay titled “Poverty has an iPhone.” Pallas (read his response) is a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Erickson (read his response) is professor emeritus of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
Awards and honors:
- UPDATE: Christine Greenhow received the Early Career Award from AERA’s Division C, Learning and Instruction. The award recognizes an emerging scholar for an impressive academic record and contributions to educational research.
- UPDATE: Angela Calabrese Barton, professor of teacher education, received the Outstanding Book Award from AERA’s Division B, Curriculum Studies. She was honored with co-author Edna Tan for their book, Empowering Science and Mathematics Education in Urban Schools, published by University of Chicago Press.
- Madeline Mavrogordato, assistant professor of K-12 educational administration, will receive the Outstanding Dissertation Award from AERA’s Division L, which focuses on Educational Policy and Politics. Mavrogordato was selected for the dissertation she completed at Vanderbilt University. She will give a short talk and receive the honor during the Div. L Business Meeting, 6:15-7:45 p.m., April 28 in the Westin St. Francis, Mezzanine Level, Colonial.
- Kristen Bieda, assistant professor of mathematics education, received the Early Education Career Publication Award from the AERA Special Interest Group (SIG) for Research in Mathematics. Bieda was honored for her article, Enacting proof-related tasks in middle school mathematics: Challenges and opportunities, published in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. She received the award at an event of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics on April 15, 2013.
- Mark Helmsing, a doctoral student in the Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education (CITE) program, has been appointed to serve as the Div. B (Curriculum Studies) senior representative on the AERA Graduate Student Council. In addition, Carleen Carey, also a doctoral student in CITE, was named hospitality chair for the Graduate Student Council.