Our Research

Since the launch of SEERNet in fall 2021, we have worked to build the foundation for a network through which platform developers, researchers, and practitioners could engage around a shared vision for leveraging digital learning platforms (DLPs) as research infrastructure. This fall, we welcomed our first research team and just a few months later, an additional research team joined the network.

Funded through IES’ program Digital Learning Platforms to Enable Efficient Education Research Network, these research teams are poised to leverage SEERNet-affiliated DLPs for their respective studies.

Meet the Research Teams

Investigating the Impacts of Metacognitive Supports on Students’ Mathematics Knowledge and Motivation in MATHia

Kelley Durkin and Cristina Zapeda will explore the effects of evidence-based enhancements implemented during mathematics problem solving in UpGrade/MATHia on middle school students’ metacognitive skills, mathematics knowledge, and motivation.

Dr. Kelley Durkin is a Research Assistant Professor of Teaching & Learning and Psychology & Human Development at Vanderbilt University. In her work, she focuses on improving math instruction in pre-K through high school classrooms, evaluating educational programs, and understanding misconceptions. Throughout her research projects, she has used a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how learning changes over time and how to best support mathematics teaching and learning. Dr. Durkin received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Vanderbilt. She then completed postdoctoral fellowships in Mathematics Education at Harvard University and Cognition and Data Science at the University of Louisville.

Dr. Cristina Zepeda is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, where she directs the Advancing Learning Lab (ALL). In her research, Dr. Zepeda applies theories of cognition and motivation to educational practice and investigates how students regulate and adapt their learning processes. In particular, she examines how metacognition, motivation, and other instructional techniques can inform our understanding of learning and transfer with the goal of making education more equitable. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018, where she worked in the Learning Research and Development Center. Afterwards she completed her postdoctoral training in Education and Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Now I See It: Supporting Flexible Problem Solving in Mathematics through Perceptual Scaffolding in ASSISTments

Avery Closser and David Purpura will explore the impacts of perceptual cues in their study. Learn more about their project in this two-part blog series.

Dr. Avery Closser (PI) is a postdoctoral learning scientist in Human Development and Family Science and the Center for Early Learning at Purdue University. She studies how we can leverage the inherently embodied nature of learning to design and improve open-access instructional materials for educational technologies and classroom practice.

Dr. David Purpura (co-PI) is a professor of Human Development and Family Science in the College of Health and Human Sciences and is the Director of the Center for Early Learning, which is an interdisciplinary research, practice, and policy center at Purdue. He has over 100 publications on areas of early mathematics learning, school readiness, preschool interventions, language and literacy, and the home learning environment. He has been PI/co-PI on grants from foundation, state, and federal agencies. Much of his work currently focuses on designing and evaluating instructional tools that meet the needs of individual children and families and neatly fit into existing school and home activities.

We look forward to welcoming additional researchers to the network in the coming months. Stay tuned!