The American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) 2022 Annual Meeting recently wrapped up after being offered both in person in San Diego and virtually.
And once again, scholars from across the UW–Madison School of Education were well represented at this major event, which ran April 21-26. In all, more than 125 faculty, staff, and students from the School presented at the conference.
Scholars from the School discussed topics ranging from the joy of teaching and the role of curiosity in learning outcomes, to examining the history of Black educators and rethinking “learning loss” in the wake of the pandemic.
One highlight in San Diego took place on Sunday night, April 24, when about 200 faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends joined us for the School’s annual AERA Reception, which was held at the Hard Rock Hotel. (Take a look at some of the wonderful images captured at this major event by School photographer Sarah Maughan.)
In addition to delivering presentations, engaging during roundtable discussions, and taking part in poster sessions, scholars from the School of Education were also honored and recognized for their contributions to the field of education research.
For example:
• Aydin Bal, a professor with the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education, was a recipient of an Early Career Award from AERA’s Cultural Historical Research special interest group (SIG). The award recognizes an education researcher’s scholarly contributions to research grounded in cultural-historical, sociocultural, and activity theoretic approaches.
Bal’s work focuses on the interplay among culture, learning, and mental health across local and global education systems. He examines social justice issues in education, and has developed the Culturally Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports framework and Learning Lab methodology, in which local stakeholders (students, families, educators, policymakers, and community representatives) — especially those from historically marginalized communities — collectively design and implement culturally responsive behavioral support systems.
• Khadejah Ray, a PhD student with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, was awarded a Minority Dissertation Fellowship from the American Educational Research Association.
This one-year research fellowship includes $25,000 to support Ray’s dissertation research — which will explore how Black doctoral students are socialized into the academic, cultural, and social norms within social science disciplines. She will then present on the results of this work at the 2023 AERA Annual Meeting. The award also provides networking and professional development opportunities.
• And a book from Julia Eklund Koza — ” ‘Destined to Fail:’ Carl Seashore’s World of Eugenics, Psychology, Education, and Music.“ — was selected as the winner of the Outstanding Book Award for 2021 by AERA’s Curriculum Studies division. Koza is a professor emerita in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and with the Mead Witter School of Music.
Her widely published research primarily focuses on equity issues in education, music, and music education. Her book dives into the relationship between eugenics and prominent U.S. psychologist and educator Carl Seashore’s views on ability, race, and gender. Koza concludes that Seashore promoted eugenics and its companion, euthenics, because he was a true believer, and she discusses the longstanding silence surrounding Seashore’s participation in eugenics.
AERA and its more than 25,000 members from around the world form an interdisciplinary research association that’s devoted to the scientific study of education and learning.
The School of Education hopes to see everyone again next spring in Chicago for AERA 2023, which will run from April 13 to 16.
