Dr. Jody Clarke-Midura
Associate Professor
Educational Background
Ed. D., Learning and Teaching, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Ma.
M.Ed., Technology in Education
B.A. Dual Concentration in English and Women’s Studies, Cum Laude, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Ma.
Biography
Jody’s research focuses on ways to foster inclusivity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) elementary education. She carries this out by (1) leveraging technology to help students connect with STEM content in meaningful ways and (2) exploring how we can measure students’ STEM learning in ways that centers their lived experiences.
Jody is looking for students from diverse backgrounds who are interested in exploring play, technology, and innovative approaches to assessment in elementary STEM.
Featured Work
Investigating Early Elementary Students' Computational Thinking Development in Integrated Mathematics-Coding Instruction (NSF DRK #2300357).
The purpose of this project is to empirically develop, test, and refine a Computational Thinking Learning Trajectory (CT LT) for grades 1-2.
Research on the Development of An Assessment to Measure Kindergarten Children's Abilities to Reason Computationally With Mathematical Problem-Solving Skills (NSF DRL #1842116).
This project operationalized a cognitive model of computational thinking for early childhood, developed curricular tasks and resources, and a performance assessment of computational thinking. The project’s findings have contributed to knowledge of how children use spatial thinking and math knowledge concurrently when they solve tasks that involve programming toy-agents to navigate in a 3D space (Shumway et al, 2023; Clarke-Midura et al, 2023). The findings have also contributed to the discourse on how dynamic models, in this case, the robot’s movement, make mathematics concepts, such as rotation on a point, or spatial concepts such as spatial orientation, more concrete for children (Shumway et al, 2023; Welch et al, 2022). Project Website.
Board Games and Coding
This project explored how unplugged activities and board games can be used to get youth interested in coding, girls in particular.
PEL - Playful Explorations Lab
Jody leads the Playful Explorations Lab, a research lab interested in playful learning and assessments in STEM classrooms. The lab is currently focusing on early childhood/primary school classrooms.