Culturally responsive and sustaining mathematics education in NY
I am conducting a survey and interview study of public K-5 classroom teachers in New York to learn more about elementary school teachers’ perceptions and experiences of culturally responsive and sustaining education (CRSE), including in teaching elementary mathematics. An important part of the study design is to understand the experiences and opinions of teachers across New York state (upstate, Hudson Valley, Long Island, and NYC).
I am no longer accepting study participants. Here is one publication that has come out from the study so far, with more to come in the future:
Pai, G. (2025). Elementary teachers’ experiences of implementing culturally responsive and inclusive education in New York state. Education Sciences, 15(1), 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010089
This project has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at the City University of New York (CUNY). I am grateful for the PSC CUNY Research Award program for supporting this project.
Developing elementary pre-service teachers’ ability to implement high-quality mathematics instruction through computational thinking
In collaboration with Dr. Michael Perrone (co-PI), this study explores the application of computational thinking as a framework of strategies that can: 1) help teacher candidates attend to their students’ mathematical practices in their field placements, and 2) help their students solve complex mathematics problems. Drawing on field placement artifacts (e.g. lesson plans, observations, reflections), surveys, and interviews, we investigate how a cohort of pre-service teachers explicitly and/or implicitly apply computational thinking to their lesson planning and mathematics instruction, particularly to help elementary learners achieve the standards for mathematical practice. Furthermore, we study how integrating CT practices in their mathematics instruction enables or constrains pre-service teachers from enacting culturally responsive and sustaining education.
This project has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at the City University of New York (CUNY). I am grateful for the CUNY Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) Research Award program for supporting this project.
