Seeking Graduate Student Researcher

We are recruiting at least one graduate student at the master’s or PhD levels to work with us in the development of a mathematical mindsets and identities tool that will be used in a larger project that will explore students’ different pathways through middle and high school algebra (see text below). We have funding for up to 20 hours per week for Fall of 2022. The position begins September 1st. All work could be done remotely. If you are interested, please send a brief email and your CV to Susanne.Strachota@tufts.edu.

Developing and piloting a measure for mathematical mindsets and identities

The proposed work aims to develop and pilot a measure for identifying students’ mathematical mindsets and identities in 8th and 9th grade. Building on prior work on mathematical mindsets and identities we will develop, pilot, and refine a tool with the intention of using this tool in a larger, scaled-up version of our study in which we will examine how the compacted pathway (taking Algebra 1 in middle school) versus the regular pathway (taking Algebra 1 in high school) impact students on three dimensions: mindsets and identities, ability to generalize mathematical relationships, and performance in mathematics. The proposed study is one small slice of the larger, scaled-up study, for which we will apply for extramural funding, and which will result in direct recommendations to support school districts as they design algebra pathways for their students.

Each data collection cycle has two parts. First, we will administer the questionnaire as a written assessment with 2-3 classes of 8th and 9th grade students. Second, we will interview a representative subset of students from each class using the cognitive interview method to evaluate if the results of the written assessment align with what we learn about students’ mathematical mindsets and identities. Based on the outcome of the interviews, we will modify the assessment as needed.

We might conduct additional cycles of written assessments with all students and cognitive interviews with representative subsets of the students that took the written assessment. All data collection will be conducted remotely.

Presentation of Research Professor Zvi Bekerman

WHAT HAPPENS TO CHILDREN WHEN ADULTS FIND SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS THEY DO NOT HAVE

Prof. Zvi Bekerman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Tuesday April 19, 7-9 pm, light refreshments will be served

Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development,

105 College Ave, Medford, Curriculum Lab

Hosted by Prof. Marina Bers **

Prof. Bekerman will present the results of a long-term ethnographic study of the integrated bilingual Palestinian-Jewish schools in Israel that offer a new educational option to two groups of Israelis —Palestinians and Jews—who have been in conflict for the last one hundred years. Their goal is to create egalitarian bilingual multicultural environments to facilitate the growth of youth who can acknowledge and respect “others” while maintaining loyalty to their respective cultural traditions. The presentation reveals the complex school practices implemented while negotiating identity and culture in contexts of enduring conflict. We will explore the potential and limitations of peace education given the cultural resources, ethnic-religious affiliations, political beliefs, and historical narratives of the various interactants.

Zvi Bekerman teaches anthropology of education at the School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is a faculty member at the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem. He is also an Associate Fellow at The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for The Advancement of Peace. His main interests are in the study of cultural, ethnic and national identity, including identity processes and negotiation during intercultural encounters in formal/informal learning contexts. He is interested in how concepts such as culture and identity intersect with issues of social justice, intercultural and peace education, and citizenship education. His recent work has examined the intersection between civic and religious epistemologies in educational contexts. In addition to publishing in a variety of academic journals, Bekerman is the founding editor of the refereed journal Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education: An International Journal. Among his most recent books: Psychologized language in education: Denaturalizing a regime of truth, (2017); The Promise of Integrated and Multicultural Bilingual Education: Inclusive Palestinian-Arab and Jewish Schools in Israel (2016), Teaching Contested Narratives Identity, Memory and Reconciliation in Peace Education and Beyond. (2012) Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies (2013).

**This event is supported by the American Engagement Network (AEN).