My work is grounded in collaborative partnerships with teachers, schools, families, and communities. Across research, outreach, and professional learning initiatives, I seek to support equitable, child-centered, and inquiry-based approaches to teaching that connect learning to children's experiences and the issues that are important to them and their communities.
A significant part of my work involves developing and leading externally funded projects that support educational innovation and teacher learning. Over the past decade, I have led or contributed to more than twenty grant-funded initiatives, including multiple projects supported by the National Science Foundation.
One of my current research projects, Connecting Mathematics to the Real World, is a collaboration between Ohio University and Portland State University. This project explores how elementary teachers design and enact mathematics teaching that connects mathematical ideas to real-world contexts and issues that are meaningful to children and communities.
Working alongside classroom teachers as co-researchers, I went back into the elementary classroom to examine instructional practices, task design, classroom community, and student engagement. Current work focuses on developing and refining a framework for connecting mathematics to real-world issues and creating Records of Practice that support teacher learning.
My scholarship includes journal articles, book chapters, professional resources, and books for both educators and children.
Recent publications include:
Early Elementary Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Address Social Justice: Grades PreK–2 (with Jennifer Ward, Maria del Rosario Zavala, Tonya Bartell, and contributing authors), which provides classroom-ready lessons that support young children in exploring issues of fairness, equity, and justice through mathematics.
Three nonfiction children's books co-authored with Matt Felton-Koestler that introduce youth and families to important mathematical ideas through engaging real-world contexts.
Building Community to Center Equity and Justice in Mathematics Teacher Education (with Eva Thanheiser), an edited volume that highlights how mathematics teacher educators work to build and sustain communities that support equitable and justice-oriented teaching practices.
For a complete list of publications, presentations, grants, and scholarly activities, please see my curriculum vitae.