5/2/16
Supporting Educators in
Applying Psychology and
Learning Sciences Research in
Classrooms
NCSM 2016, Oakland, CA
April 2016
Lisa Brown and Brian Newsom
Charles A. Dana Center
The University of Texas at Austin
1
Many students have difficulty
in school not because they are
incapable of performing
successfully, but because
they are incapable of
believing that they can
perform successfully.
–Pajares and Schunk, 2002
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5/2/16
Today’s discussion
As Mathematics Leaders…
!  Ideas—What can we learn from psychology and the
learning sciences?
!  Actions—What can we do with this information?
!  Resources—What resources support us in taking
action?
3
Introduction to the Charles A. Dana Center
What we do
•  Advance effective math and science education for all
students, from kindergarten to college
•  Provide innovative resources that promote student
engagement, motivation, and persistence in support of
academic achievement
•  Work alongside teachers, administrators, and
policymakers at the local, state, and national level to
support education systems that put students on a path
to success
4
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5/2/16
When students realize they can succeed
in mathematics, they are transformed—
you can see them raise their aspirations
for school and life.
–Uri Treisman, Executive Director
Charles A. Dana Center,
The University of Texas at Austin
1980s
1990s
2007
Emerging
Scholars Program
(ESP)
Charles A. Dana
Center
Academic Youth
Development
(AYD)
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5/2/16
Other research contributors
Robert Balfanz
Albert Bandura
Carol Dweck
School culture
Self-efficacy
Growth mindset
David Yeager
Barry Zimmerman
Social-cognitive
development
Self-regulation
Jacquelynne Eccles
Motivation
What do we mean by psychology and
the learning sciences?
Today we will discuss factors that are crucial to
learning, yet not tied to specific course content.
Sometimes referenced as…
!  Noncognitive skills
!  Social and Emotional
Learning (SEL) competencies
!  Character
!  Classroom culture
!
!
!
!
!
!
Mindset
Grit
Productive persistence
Self-regulation
Social awareness
Motivation
8
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5/2/16
Key concepts from psychology and
the learning sciences
•  Malleability of
intelligence (a learning
mindset)
•  Self-efficacy (self belief)
•  Effective effort
•  Culture of learning
(belonging to a
community of learners)
Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) SEL competencies
Social & Emotional Learning Core Competencies
SELFMANAGEMENT
SOCIAL
AWARENESS
SELFAWARENESS
•  Self
•  Others
•  Decision-making
Social &
Emotional
Learning RESPONSIBLE
DECISIONMAKING
RELATIONSHIP
SKILLS
10
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5/2/16
Why now?
11
Standards for Mathematical Practice
1.  Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2.  Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3.  Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of
others.
4.  Model with mathematics.
5.  Use appropriate tools strategically.
6.  Attend to precision.
7.  Look for and make use of structure.
8.  Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
12
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Common Core SMP 1: Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them.
Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to
themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry
points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints,
relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form
and meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather
than simply jumping into a solution attempt. They consider
analogous problems, and try special cases and simpler forms
of the original problem in order to gain insight into its solution.
They monitor and evaluate their progress and change course if
necessary…. They can understand the approaches of others to
solving complex problems and identify correspondences
between different approaches.
13
New standards, new opportunities
Mathematical
Content
Mathematical
Practices
Classroom culture and climate
14
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NCTM Principles to Actions (2014)
15
Principles to Actions: Mathematics Teaching Practices
1.  Establish mathematics goals to focus learning
2.  Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem
solving
3.  Use and connect mathematical representations
4.  Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse
5.  Pose purposeful questions
6.  Build procedural fluency from conceptual
understanding
7.  Support productive struggle in learning mathematics
8.  Elicit and use evidence of student thinking
NCTM. (2014). Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All.
Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, page 10.
16
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5/2/16
NCSM It's TIME:
Themes and Imperatives for Mathematics Education (2014)
17
NCSM It’s TIME: Leadership Framework
!
The three overarching themes for raising mathematics achievement are discussed in It’s TIME including:
• social justice – advocating for fair outcomes, basic rights, security and opportunities in school and
NCSM. (2014).
It's TIME: Themes
and Imperatives
for Mathematics
Education: A Leadership
society Mathematics
achievement
means equitable
outcomes
for all students.
Framework
Commonschools
Core Mathematics.
Solution
Treeend
Press.
• systemic thoughts and
actionsfor
– guiding
and leaders Bloomington,
in linking allIN:
actions
to the
goal
of raising student achievement in mathematics, and
• leadership – helping people envision, believe, understand, practice, receive feedback, and work
18
collaboratively while holding themselves accountable for ensuring steady progress toward
implementation of the leadership framework for Common Core mathematics.
The themes will evolve by implementing the ten imperatives in It’s TIME which are dependent upon the
expert knowledge development of the mathematics leader. The ten imperatives listed in Figure 1.1 are
non-negotiable. A mathematics leader must seek to discover and fulfill his or her leadership potential to
influence others using these themes and imperatives. The ten imperatives are organized into the three
categories listed below.
•
Imperatives for Knowledge: Mathematics Content, Pedagogical Content, and Mathematics
Curriculum
•
Imperatives for Instruction and Assessment: Instructional and Formative Assessment Practices,
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It’s TIME: Shifts in beliefs and attitudes
!  Goal: Educator beliefs and mindsets are research
informed (p. 12).
!  Action: Leaders must create the experiences and
opportunities for reflection that cause teachers to
examine their beliefs and how these beliefs align with
the expectations of new standards (p. 13).
NCSM. (2014). It's TIME: Themes and Imperatives for Mathematics Education: A Leadership
Framework for Common Core Mathematics. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
19
Key concepts from psychology and the
learning sciences
•  Malleability of
intelligence (a learning
mindset)
•  Self-efficacy (self belief)
•  Effective effort
•  Culture of learning
(belonging to a
community of learners)
10
5/2/16
Capability: Albert Bandura and Self-efficacy
Sources of Self-efficacy
•  Mastery experiences
•  Social persuasions
•  Vicarious experiences
•  Emotional and physiological
states
21
Carol Dweck and mindsets about intelligence
Distinguished professor of psychology
at Stanford University
More than 25 years of research into the
critical role of mindsets in business,
sports, and education—and for selfregulation and persistence
22
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5/2/16
Growth mindset
!  A growth mindset is the belief that you can consistently
develop your talents and abilities.
How can we promote this belief
among teachers and students?
23
Feedback and praise
Less of this…
•  Great job on
that quiz!
•  You’re so
smart.
•  You are a
really good at
this.
More of this…
•  I liked the effort you put in. What strategies
have you tried? What will you try next?
•  I’m glad you chose to work on one of the
harder problems—you’re going to learn a
lot.
•  You’re improving in…
•  I’m giving you this feedback because I
care about you.
•  What can you learn from these mistakes?
•  Confusion is a good sign that you are
building new pathways in your brain.
24
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Two cautions related to growth mindset
!  It’s not “You can do anything!”
!  It’s not just about effort.
25
Dweck’s latest recommendations
For teachers and leaders
!  Understand that we’re all a mixture of growth and fixed
mindsets
!  Explore and watch for your own fixed mindset
!  Focus on the learning process. Effort that leads to
learning and improvement is the ultimate goal.
!  Teach students basic information about how the brain
changes during learning.
!  Don’t use mindsets to label students (or yourself)
!  Treat mistakes and failures as beneficial for learning
26
13
5/2/16
Key concepts from psychology and the
learning sciences
•  Malleability of
intelligence (a learning
mindset)
•  Self-efficacy (self belief)
•  Effective effort
•  Culture of learning
(belonging to a
community of learners)
Our approach
Psychological
& neuroscience
research
Challenging
academic work
Learning &
problem-solving
strategies
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5/2/16
Demystify intelligence
29
Consider this class motto
Mistakes are…
!  Expected
!  Respected
!  Inspected
Observed and shared by Jo Boaler, Stanford University
https://www.youcubed.org
30
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5/2/16
What action can we take?
Explore and watch for your own fixed mindset
Praise effort: highlight process, strategies and progress
Connect effort to growth mindset
Model positive views: convey that confusion is signal of
learning and that mistakes are opportunities
!  Demystify intelligence
!
!
!
!
31
Key concepts from psychology and the
learning sciences
•  Malleability of
intelligence (a learning
mindset)
•  Self-efficacy (self belief)
•  Effective effort
•  Culture of learning
(belonging to a
community of learners)
16
5/2/16
Our approach
Psychological
& neuroscience
research
Challenging
academic work
Learning &
problem-solving
strategies
Effective effort
34
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5/2/16
Effective effort: Thinking about thinking
35
What action can we take?
!  Explore and watch for your own fixed mindset
!  Praise effort: highlight process, strategies, and
progress
!  Connect effective effort to growth mindset
!  Model positive views: convey that confusion is signal of
learning and that mistakes are opportunities
!  Demystify intelligence
!  Provide students with challenging tasks and support
them through struggle rather than around it
!  Explicitly model and teach strategies for persistence
and reflecting on learning
36
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5/2/16
Key concepts introduced in our programs
•  Malleability of
intelligence (a learning
mindset)
•  Self-efficacy (self belief)
•  Effective effort
•  Culture of learning
(belonging to a
community of learners)
New standards, new opportunities
Mathematical
Content
Mathematical
Practices
Classroom culture and climate
38
19
5/2/16
Our approach
Psychologic
al &
neuroscienc
e research
Challenging
academic
work
Learning &
problemsolving
strategies
Classroom culture and climate
Culture of learning
40
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5/2/16
Actions to support a growth mindset culture which
includes belonging and mutual accountability
!  Provide opportunities for collaboration and discourse
!  Encourage high, equitable levels of student
participation
!  Encourage a broad range of competencies/approaches
!  Promote cooperative learning and shared
accountability
!  Provide autonomy/choice in task, team, process
!  Model and monitor the climate for interactions among
students
41
What resources support us in taking action?
Dana Center Collaborations
!  Academic Youth Development and Intensified Algebra
•  www.agilemind.com
!  Learning and the Adolescent Mind
•  www.learningandtheadolescentmind.org
!  Inside Mathematics—social and emotional learning
and mathematics
•  www.insidemathematics.org — search for social and
emotional, or use this redirect http://goo.gl/MgYxzx
42
21
5/2/16
Key concepts introduced in the programs
•  Malleability of
intelligence (a learning
mindset)
•  Effective effort
•  Self-efficacy (self belief)
•  Culture of learning
(belonging to a
community of learners)
Our approach
Psychologic
al &
neuroscienc
e research
Challenging
academic
work
Learning &
problemsolving
strategies
Classroom culture and climate
22
5/2/16
Supporting successful transition through Algebra I:
Accelerating success with two pathways
45
AYD family of programs
Summer-Start
School-Year
Intensified Algebra
Educator
3-week summer
bootcamp experience
Advisory or support
period during the
school year
Extended time Algebra
intervention CCSS
course
15-hour blended PD
experience on powerful
research and practices
Prepares students for
success in Algebra I
Learn and apply
strategies in academic
classes
Students 1 to 3 years
behind in mathematics
Equips educators to
enhance student
achievement
Succeed in Algebra I in
one year
Student programs include 2.5 days in-person PD for teachers
and job-embedded PD for every day of program enactment.
23
5/2/16
Framework—Learning and the Adolescent Mind
!
!
!
!
Malleability of intelligence
Self-efficacy and motivation
Effective effort
Culture of learning
www.learningandtheadolescentmind.org
47
Other research contributors
Robert Balfanz
Albert Bandura
Carol Dweck
School culture
Self-efficacy
Growth mindset
David Yeager
Barry Zimmerman
Social-cognitive
development
Self-regulation
Jacquelynne Eccles
Motivation
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5/2/16
Resources — www.learningandtheadolescentmind.org
!  Professional development
!  Articles and collaborative study guides
!  Classroom tools
!  Video to teach students about the brain
!  Interactive problem solving puzzles
!  Problem solving and self-reflection tools
!  Further reading
49
Integrating Social and Emotional Learning and the
Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice
The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of
Texas at Austin
The Collaborative for Academic Social and
Emotional Learning
with support from the Noyce Foundation
50 50
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5/2/16
Rationale and need
•  The Common Core State Standards—especially in the
Standards for Mathematical Practice—demand deeper
and more generalizable learning.
•  Meanwhile, many education leaders are recognizing
the value of “noncognitive” factors and social and
emotional learning—and making that a priority.
•  If not addressed strategically, these developments can
become competing demands, further taxing teachers.
•  If integrated strategically, social and emotional learning
can serve as a catalyst for developing practices and an
environment that can support CCSS implementation.
51 Social and Emotional Learning & Mathematics:
Project Overview
Complementary, not competing
Purpose: develop tools that use social and emotional
learning to promote effective instructional practices, and,
ultimately, deeper learning in mathematics
Common Core State Standards for Mathema0cs Instruc0on that promotes SEL & teaches the SMP Social and Emo0onal Learning competencies 52 26
5/2/16
Standards for Mathematical Practice and
Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
Standards for Mathematical Practice
1.  Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them.
2.  Reason abstractly and
quantitatively.
3.  Construct viable arguments and
critique the reasoning of others.
4.  Model with mathematics.
5.  Use appropriate tools strategically.
6.  Attend to precision.
7.  Look for and make use of structure.
8.  Look for and express regularity in
repeated reasoning.
Social and Emotional
Learning Competencies
•
•
•
•
•
Self awareness
Self management
Social awareness
Relationship skills
Responsible decisionmaking
53 Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) SEL competencies
Social & Emotional Learning Core Competencies
SELFMANAGEMENT
SOCIAL
AWARENESS
SELFAWARENESS
•  Self
•  Others
•  Decision-making
Social &
Emotional
Learning RESPONSIBLE
DECISIONMAKING
RELATIONSHIP
SKILLS
54
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5/2/16
Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
•
•
•
•
•
Self-awareness: The ability to accurately recognize one’s emotions and thoughts
and their influence on behavior. This includes accurately assessing one’s strengths
and limitations and possessing a well-grounded sense of confidence and optimism.
Self-management: The ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors
effectively in different situations. This includes managing stress, controlling
impulses, motivating oneself, and setting and working toward achieving personal
and academic goals.
Social awareness: The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others
from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for
behavior, and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
Relationship skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding
relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communicating
clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure,
negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking and offering help when needed.
Responsible decision making: The ability to make constructive and respectful
choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on consideration of
ethical standards, safety concerns, social norms, the realistic evaluation of
consequences of various actions, and the well-being of self and others.
55 56
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Main components of the SEL & mathematics project
Resources to support integration of SEL & SMP
Making the Case
Aimed at education leaders and policy makers; makes the
case for how SEL can help schools attain the standards of the
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
Describing an Ideal Classroom
Briefing document with video that shows what is possible;
describes how a math classroom can look and feel when SEL
is infused into math instruction and students exhibit SEL skills
Instructional Guides
Instructional tools that use selected MARS tasks to
demonstrate for teachers how they can embed SEL into math
instruction
57 Integrating SEL and CCSS SMP: Making the Case
page 17
Appendix B: Connecting the Standards for Mathematical Practice and
Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
The purpose of this appendix
to illustrateConnections
the connections between the Common Core State StanCCSS-SMP
andisSEL
dards for Mathematical Practice (CCSS-SMP) and social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies.
SMP 1 — Make sense of problems and persevere in
solving them.
Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to
themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for
entry points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints,
relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form
and meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather
than simply jumping into a solution attempt. They consider
analogous problems, and try special cases and simpler forms
of the original problem in order to gain insight into its solution.
They monitor and evaluate their progress and change course
if necessary. Older students might, depending on the context
of the problem, transform algebraic expressions or change
the viewing window on their graphing calculator to get the
information they need. Mathematically proficient students can
explain correspondences between equations, verbal descriptions,
tables, and graphs or draw diagrams of important features and
relationships, graph data, and search for regularity or trends.
Younger students might rely on using concrete objects or pictures
to help conceptualize and solve a problem. Mathematically
proficient students check their answers to problems using a
different method, and they continually ask themselves, “Does this
make sense?” They can understand the approaches of others to
solving complex problems and identify correspondences between
different approaches.
SMP 2 — Reason abstractly
and quantitatively.
Table 1. Connections between the CCSS-SMP and SEL competencies
Social and
Common Core State Standards
Emotional Learning
for Mathematical Practice
Competencies
Mathematically proficient students make sense of quantities
and their relationships in problem situations. They bring
two complementary abilities to bear on problems involving
quantitative relationships: the ability to decontextualize—to
abstract a given situation and represent it symbolically and
manipulate the representing symbols as if they have a life of
their own, without necessarily attending to their referents—and
the ability to contextualize, to pause as needed during the
manipulation process in order to probe into the referents
for the symbols involved. Quantitative reasoning entails habits
of creating a coherent representation of the problem at hand;
considering the units involved; attending to the meaning of
quantities, not just how to compute them; and knowing and
flexibly using different properties of operations and objects.
Be aware of their
strengths and what
they know
Self-awareness
Resist impulses
and regulate their
thoughts and
behaviors
Self-management
Manage their
time and energy
toward a goal while
appraising their
work
Self-management
Take on others’
perspectives
Social awareness
58
Self-regulate
and think
metacognitively
Self-management
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SMP–SEL Instructional Guides for MARS tasks
Designed to . . .
!  Connect the CCSS for Mathematical Practice and the
social and emotional learning competencies.
!  Align to individual MARS tasks appropriate for Algebra I
students.
!  Support instruction through integrated components:
!  Ways to monitor the social and emotional learning
competencies required by the Standards for
Mathematical Practice
!  Descriptions of behaviors to look for and listen for during
teaching and learning
!  Facilitation suggestions to support and encourage
student engagement in, and use of, both SMP and SEL
59 Typical Lesson Flow
Step 1: Launch the task
Step 2: Promote initial collaboration
Step 3: Monitor progress
Step 4: Share and discuss solutions and strategies
60 30
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Connecting the CCSS for Mathematical Practice and
the Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
!  As students seek to understand one another’s approaches,
they identify correspondences between different
approaches, and work together toward a solution (Make
sense of problems and persevere in solving them). As
student pairs share their approaches to the task, they assist
one another in making sense of quantities and their
relationships in the problem (Reason abstractly and
quantitatively).
!  As students together engage with these practices, they will
apply social awareness in taking the perspective of their
partner, and key relationship skills such as active listening
and respectful rebuttal.
61
Assessing Social and Emotional Learning
When students apply Self-Management, they
!  Seek help from peers or teachers as needed.
!  Use organizational strategies as needed.
!  Organize thoughts and information on paper, such as
relevant rules from memory or clues found in the problem.
When students apply Relationship Skills, they
!  Ask clarifying questions.
!  Actively listen to their peers.
!  Communicate clearly and effectively.
!  Negotiate conflict appropriately.
!  Are comfortable seeking help when it is needed.
62
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Facilitation Suggestions
!  To allow students to practice self management, do not intervene too quickly in
student work; use these questions as needed only if students are stuck:
!  As the size of the arrangement increases by 1, what happens to the number
of tables?
!  How does the size number (size 1, size 2, etc.) relate to the number of
tables?
!  If you know the size number, can you tell me the number of tables?
!  Ask individual students to summarize their progress so far.
!  As students prepare their arguments, encourage them to anticipate the
feedback/questions they are likely to receive and how they will respond.
!  If you observe conflict, support students’ attempts to work through it with
questions such as:
!  Will each of you explain your perspective on why you think you and your
partner are stuck?
!  Has either of you asked for help? What help do you think you need as a
team to solve this problem?
63
Observable behaviors—examples
What are students doing and saying?
What are teachers doing and saying?
•  Seek help from peers or teachers as
needed
•  Organize thoughts or information on
their paper
•  Demonstrate confidence that they
can work through their frustration
•  Disagree respectfully by showing they
understand others’ perspectives and
by asking follow-up questions
•  Negotiate conflict appropriately
•  Ask students to restate the problem in
their own words
•  Ask students to explain how this task
relates to previous work
•  Ask students to explain partner’s
reasoning
•  Provide examples of effective
communication—e.g., begin rebuttal
statements with a restatement of
partner’s viewpoint
•  Remind students that frustration is
normal and OK
64
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5/2/16
www.insidemathematics.com
65
What resources support us in taking action?
Dana Center collaborations
!  Academic Youth Development and Intensified Algebra
•  www.agilemind.com
!  Learning and the Adolescent Mind
•  www.learningandtheadolescentmind.org
!  Inside Mathematics—social and emotional learning
and mathematics
•  www.insidemathematics.org — search for social and
emotional, or use this redirect http://goo.gl/MgYxzx
Fellow travelers
!  YouCubed — Jo Boaler
•  www.youcubed.org
66
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Contact Information
Lisa Brown
lisabrown@austin.utexas.edu
@utdcLisa
Brian Newsom
bnewsom@austin.utexas.edu
@utdcBrian
www.utdanacenter.org
www.casel.org
www.insidemathematics.org
67
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48th Annual Conference • April 11-13, 2016
BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING MATHEMATICS:
Leveraging Education Innovation and Research to Inspire and Engage
34