Fall 2011
- Ph.D. Students Present at California Educational Research Association's (CERA) 90th Annual Conference
- Ph.D. student Nayssan Savarian
is one of six University of California, Irvine doctoral students who
have been awarded a 2011-2012 scholarship from the Chancellor's Club for
Excellence. Students are nominated for a Chancellor's Fellowship by
their Dean. Nomination criteria include academic excellence, a history
of accomplishments, and demonstrated leadership qualities. Fellowships
are awarded to the "brightest and best graduate students at UCI who also
show great promise as future leaders." Ms. Safavian, a fifth year Ph.D.
in Education student, is specializing in Learning, Cognition, and Development.
Her research interests include achievement motivation, adolescent
development, cross-cultural psychology, and learning through the Arts.
Her advisor is Assistant Professor AnneMarie Conley.
- Ph.D. student Adam Sheppard
presented his research at the Department's November 7 Brownbag: "The
Webs we Weave: Untangling the Design of After-School Programs." Summary:
Researchers have reported links between youth involvement
and individual, family, peer, and community factors that promote healthy
development, including psychological well-being, social development,
academic
orientation, and reduced risk behavior involvement. A consistent theme
within the literature
is the use of clearly
defined program goals accompanied by specific activities targeting those
goals.
In the preliminary analysis of a focus group of
after-school program directors describing the development of their
programs, the directors explained the links between activities and
outcomes to begin to untangle the design of after-school environments.
- Ph.D. student Binbin Zheng has received a competitive NSF
Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE)
Fellowship.
CADRE is a resource network that supports researchers and developers who
participate in DR K-12 projects on teaching and learning in the
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
Together with a small group of other CADRE Fellows, Ms. Zheng will
collaborate
throughout the year through Webinars and other events to advance
understanding
of innovations in STEM education and research, attend the annual PI
meeting of
the NSF Discovery Research K-12 program, and participate in a
culminating
activity at the meeting. Ms. Zheng is a third year doctoral student
specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology. Her research interests
focus on utilization of emerging technologies to facilitate teaching and
learning.
- Ph.D. student Lauren Shea presented with Dr.
Terry Shanahan (UCI Center for Educational Partnerships) at the California
Science Teachers' Association (CSTA) meeting held in Pasadena in October. The
title of her presentation was “The Perfect Context to Learn Language.“ Ms.
Shea also has authored two new articles with colleagues that were published in
November: (1) Sandholtz, J. & Shea, L. (2011). Predicting performance: A comparison of university
supervisors' predictions and teacher candidates' scores on a teaching
performance assessment. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(5); and (2) Shea, L., & Shanahan,
T. (2011). Student talk: Oral language development through science. Science and Children, 49(3). Ms. Shea is a fourth year Ph.D. in Education student specializing in Language, Literature, and Technology. Her research interests include professional development, language strategies, and technology implementation.
- "Integrative versus Instrumental Orientation Among Online Language Learners," by Ph.D. student Chin-Hsi Lin and Professor Mark Warschauer, was published in Liguagens e Diálogos. Abstract: What motivates online language
learners is not yet well understood. Drawing on data from an international
survey conducted among users of a major online site, this study explored the
motivational orientation of learners and its relationship to individual
background. The results suggest instrumental and integrative orientation for
English, Chinese, and Portuguese groups, and only instrumental orientation for
Spanish respondents. In addition, the results suggest that learner orientation
varies by age, gender, income, education, linguistic background, and target
language. This study confirms that the distinctions between instrumental and
integrative orientation are meaningful in online language learning and
applicable to other cultural contexts as well.
- Ph.D. student Tran Dang Keys has published in Contemporary Educational Psychology: "The Role of Goal Orientations for Adolescent Mathematics Achievement." Abstract: This study
examines the association between personal goal orientations and mathematics
achievement within the trichotomous goal framework. Participants comprised
~2000 7th and 8th grade White, Hispanic, and Vietnamese
students in a low-income urban school district in California. Regression
analysis with classroom fixed effects minimized biases arising from non-random
assignment of teachers and students to schools and classrooms. While all three
achievement goal orientations were correlated with mathematics achievement,
only a mastery goal orientation consistently predicted achievement when a full
set of prior achievement and demographic controls were included.
Performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations did not predict
achievement in the full model.
- Ph.D. students Nayssan Savarian and Arena Chang, with Stuart
Karabenick and Assistant Professor AnneMarie Conley, presented a poster at the
2011 American Psychological Association (APA) Annual Convention in Washington,
D.C. Their poster was titled: "Expectancies and Values in Mathematics
Teaching." Ms. Safavian is a fifth year doctoral student specializing in
Learning, Cognition, and Development. Ms. Chang, a second year doctoral
student, also is pursuing the Learning, Cognition, and Development
specialization.
Abstract
- Ph.D. student Binbin Zheng presented her research at the
Department's November 7 Brownbag: "Blogging to Learn: Participation and
Literacy Among Linguistically Diverse-Fifth Grade Students." Over the
previous year Ms. Zheng collected data and analyzed the participation and
interaction patterns of 37 fifth-grade students participating in
reading-writing online discussion activities in a linguistically-diverse
blogging environment. Her findings suggest that pedagogically sound use of
computer-mediated communication (CMC) in elementary classrooms could both
engage students and help upper elementary students become better writers. Ms.
Zheng is a third year doctoral student specializing in Language, Literacy, and
Technology. Her research interests focus on utilization of emerging
technologies to facilitate teaching and learning. Presentation Abstract
- Fifth year Ph.D. student Nayssan Safavian
has been sharpening her academic skills and expanding her credentials
serving as a graduate student reviewer for two national level
educational organizations. For the 2012 Society for Research on
Adolescence (SRA) Biennial Meeting Ms. Safavian is serving as a graduate student reviewer under the sponsorship of Assistant Professor AnneMarie Conley.
Also under the sponsorship of Dr. Conley, Ms. Safavian served as the
graduate student reviewer for the 2011 American Psychological
Association (APA) Division 15 Doctoral Student Research Seminar. Ms. Safavian is pursuing her doctoral degree with a specialization in Learning, Cognition, and Development.
Her research interests include achievement motivation, adolescent
development, cross-cultural psychology, and learning through the arts.
- Ph.D. student Chin-Hsi Lin (first author) and Associate Professor Penelope Collins (second author) have been notified that Reading & Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal will be publishing their paper "The Effects of L1 and Orthographic Regularity and Consistency in Naming
Chinese Characters." Mr. Lin is a fifth year doctoral student specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology.
His research interests include computer-mediated communication, Chinese
learning, and reading development of Chinese language learners. While a
doctoral student, Mr. Lin has published three books and four conference
proceedings. Dr. Collins' research interests include cognition and
learning, linguistic diversity, learning disabilities, phonology, and
reading. Abstract
- Ph.D. student Dan Flynn will
be making his third presentation of his poster research, "Freshman
Engineering Project Participation and Achievement
in Core Engineering Coursework: A Pilot Study," this time to the the
National Forum of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching,
and Learning (CIRTL)
in Madison, Wisconsin, October 9-10. The 2011 forum theme is "Teaching,
Learning, and Research: Preparation of the Nation's Future Faculty."
CIRTL is a NSF Center for learning and teaching in higher education. Mr.
Flynn is a third year doctoral student specializing in Educational Policy and Social Context. His research interests include higher education, engineering pedagogy, STEM education, and program evaluation and development. Abstract of Poster Presentation
- Ph.D. student Huy Chung is presenting at the Conference of the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE)
in San Diego October 13-15. The 2011 conference theme is "Reconnecting
Student Voice with Teacher Education in a Globalized Society." Mr.
Chung's presentation is entitled "A Literacy for Teaching: Theories as
Sponsors of Teaching." Abstract: It is important to critically consider what pre-service
teachers are reading and writing in their teacher education programs, a
literacy for teaching if you will. Using responses from the assessment
portfolio of 32 pre-service English language arts teachers, I applied
content analysis on the different theories and theorists they cite to analyze
their teaching practices. Results indicate that the candidates cite a
narrow set of theories and theorists, indicating a need to expand their
understanding of teaching.
- Ph.D. students Tara Barnhart and Huy Chung and Assistant Professor Elizabeth van Es are presenting at the Conference of the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE)
in San Diego, October 13-15: "Learning to Learn from Teaching Across
the Disciplines." Abstract: In this session, we describe our efforts to
create and study a video-based course that focuses on helping
pre-service
teachers develop practices for learning from teaching. We present: (1) a
framework to guide pre-service teachers’ analysis of classroom
lessons and its research base, (2) an example of video-based activities
to
develop pre-service teachers' attention to student thinking, and (3)
research findings
indicating the impact that participation in the course had on secondary
math,
science, and English Language Arts pre-service teachers’ ability to
notice,
analyze, and reflect on their own practice.
- Ph.D. students Sonja Lind and Alejandra Albarrán were selected as 2011 Graduate Interconnect Peer Mentors
representing the Department of Education. The UC Irvine Graduate
InterConnect (GIC)
program supports
the successful transition of new international graduate students to the
UCI
campus and Irvine communities. The Peer Mentor program, an integral
component
of InterConnect, consists of a team of current graduate students who
provide
information, guidance, and a support network to their incoming peers.
Both Ms. Lind and Ms. Albarrán are fourth year Ph.D. in Education
students.
- The Teachers of Tomorrow (TOT) Club held their first meeting of Fall
Quarter on September 26th. With an attendance of 28 undergraduates
interested in education, club officers led the group in a series of
ice-breakers and introduced the themes for coming meetings. October 10
will feature Teach for America. October 24 will present field
experience/volunteer opportunities with THINK Together and KidWorks.
Misty Mountain Education House is the theme for November 7. The annual
Thanksgiving potluck will be held on November 21. Club officers for 2011-2012 are
President Carol Tsai, Treasurer Natasha Zubair, Secretary James Kim, and Publicity Jason Cao.
TOT meetings are open to all
undergraduates who would like to know more about education.
- Multiple Subject Cohort B November Newsletter
- Multiple Subject Cohort B October Newsletter
- Single Subject Credential Students Initiate Holiday Food Drive to Support Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County
- Multiple Subject Credential Students Organize "Heart for Hunger" Food Drive to Benefit Orange County Rescue Mission
Past Years
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