The SESAME Colloquium

We'll have no meeting on 8/27.

Examining Student Internal Motivators and Ways For Improving Competency in an Accelerated Statistics Course

Jonathan Pedroza (JP)

Berkeley School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

With interest in data science growing, there is an influx of students pursuing data science programs from diverse academic backgrounds. This diversity attracts students with varying levels of mathematics and statistics competencies, which requires instructors to adapt courses to be equitable for all students. While external factors, like teacher and school resources, directly impact student mathematics achievement, my focus will be on what instructors can do once students arrive in their classrooms. This focus includes investigating changes in students’ internal motivators and discussing potential changes that instructors can implement for courses to reduce the mathematics and statistics competency gap.

In this talk, I will talk about findings from surveys shared with students on self-efficacy and motivations at three points in an accelerated summer semester, design changes to make statistics courses more equitable, findings on some of the equitable components of the course, and a tool for instructors interested in implementing some of the components covered in the course. Lastly, I’ll discuss some of the lessons learned about incorporating surveys into the classroom and implementing a hybrid grading approach.

About the speaker

Jonathan A. Pedroza (JP) is a postdoctoral scholar in data science education in the School of Education at UC Berkeley. JP’s research interests include developing methods for early identification of struggling students in college courses, and utilizing alternative course design and grading practices. 

BRACEing for Liberation: The Black Resistance and Care in Education Model

Devin T. White

Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

Abstract

In this talk, I will discuss the development of the Black Resistance and Care in Education (BRACE) model, a recursive theoretical framework that theorizes care labor as a strategy of resistance. The BRACE model is explicitly adapted from Margaret Beale Spencer’s Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST), which centers culturally grounded, identity-driven responses to risk and resilience among Black youth and families (Spencer, 1995, 2006). Drawing on this lineage, BRACE reorients analysis toward the recursive and co-constitutive nature of care and resistance in the lives of Black individuals in education.

Built from the findings of three qualitative studies, BRACE reveals that care and resistance function not as opposites but as interwoven strategies in response to institutionalized anti-Blackness. The BRACE model thus serves as both a reflection of participants lived realities and a theoretical offering for guiding future research, institutional transformation, and culturally responsive praxis.

About the speaker

Devin T. White was born in Oakland, California, and raised on the same block as the Melrose Branch of the Oakland Public Library. Currently, Dr. White is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Empowered Learning and Development with Technology (CELDTECH) in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

At CELDTECH, Dr. White supports the research of Dr. Brendesha Tynes in the development and piloting of CRITmetic, a digital media literacy and mental health platform designed with and for adolescents to cope with online racial discrimination and misinformation. Ultimately, Dr. White is committed to amplifying the voices of Black STEMmers K-20.

Technology and Youth Mental Health: Bringing the Evidence Together

Shaun Liverpool

Health Research Institute, Edge Hill University, UK

Abstract

Digital technologies are increasingly positioned as part of the solution to the growing mental health needs of children and young people. From apps and online therapy to virtual reality, games, and emerging artificial intelligence tools, the possibilities are expanding rapidly. But what does the evidence actually tell us about whether these technologies improve young people’s mental health, who benefits from them, and under what circumstances?

In this talk, I will bring together findings from research on digital mental health interventions for children and young people, drawing particularly on evidence syntheses alongside examples of different technologies and approaches. I will explore what we currently know about their effectiveness, acceptability, engagement, and potential to increase access to mental health support. I will also consider where the evidence is less certain, including questions around longer-term outcomes, safety, cost-effectiveness, implementation, and whether digital approaches are reaching young people who experience the greatest barriers to traditional mental health services.

The talk will argue that the key question is no longer simply whether technology can support youth mental health, but how we ensure that it does so in ways that are effective, safe, equitable, and responsive to young people’s lives. I will conclude by highlighting priorities for the next generation of research, including greater involvement of young people in designing technologies, more attention to marginalised and underserved populations, and a shift from evaluating individual digital tools towards understanding how technology can be meaningfully integrated within wider systems of mental health support.

About the speaker

Dr Liverpool was born in Trinidad and Tobago. He started his Psychology studies at the University of the West Indies in Barbados before moving to the UK for postgraduate studies. Currently, Dr Liverpool is an Associate Professor at the Health Research Institute at Edge Hill University and an Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University. Dr Liverpool holds leadership roles within the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing and teaches on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health programmes.

** Let's reconnect, meet new people, exchange ideas, and think about the future! **

SESAME and Friends Fall Welcome Event

Thursday, September 24, 2026, 12:00–1:30 pm

PATIO outside Berkeley Way West

Please join us for introductions, an icebreaker, connections, and pizza and beverages

We look forward to seeing you there!

Michelle Wilkerson, SESAME Chair

Lloyd Goldwasser, Lecturer

RSVP to sesame@berkeley.edu

A's For All + Computer-Based Testing = Mastery Learning

STEM Ed Panel 1 (Dan Garcia and Armando Fox)

Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

Research on Mastery Learning (dating to Bloom's work in 1968) shows that by giving students multiple opportunities to practice and demonstrate mastery, including “second-chance” exams and flexible assessment deadlines, we can narrow equity gaps and raise the performance of all students. In principle, this means anyone willing to work for an A should be able to achieve it (“A’s For All”), without lowering standards. But actually implementing this at scale requires the judicious application of technology and automation to manage flexible deadlines and multiple-chance assessments at scale, and to evaluate which policies actually achieve the goals of mastery learning.

We’ll discuss key milestones and lessons learned from putting Mastery Learning into practice at UC Berkeley, including:

• Bootstrapping a Computer-Based Testing Facility from one course with 230 students in 2023 to over 16 courses serving over 5,500 students in 2026, both to deliver exams economically at scale (allowing second-chance retakes) and to improve the academic integrity of assessments in the AI era [1]
• Numerous policy experiments, both successful and less so, around eliminating curved grading, flexible deadlines, clobber exams, and second-chance exams in large computer science courses [2]

References

1. Armando Fox. 2026. Bootstrapping a Computer-Based Testing Facility Using Shared Lab Space. In Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Virtual Global Computing Education Conference V.1 (SIGCSE Virtual 2026), November 12–15, 2026.
2. Dan Garcia, Armando Fox, Solomon Russell, Edwin Ambrosio, Neal Terrell, Mariana Silva, Matthew West, Craig Zilles, and Fuzail Shakir. 2023. A's for All (As Time and Interest Allow). In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (SIGCSE 2023). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1042–1048. https://doi-org.libproxy.berkeley.edu/10.1145/3545945.3569847

About the speakers

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Exploring Teacher Sensemaking in a Critically Conscious Computer Science Course

Brendan Henrique

Berkeley School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

In this talk, I discuss how teachers grapple with and make sense of the sociopolitical implications of computing. Drawing on a critically conscious computer science (CS) course that I designed and taught for seven pre-service teachers in the final summer of a credential program, I examine how teachers' ideological stances toward computing are rearticulated when applied to CS. The course wove texts from Science and Technology Studies directly into Python instruction rather than partitioning ethics into separate coursework.

Analyzing weekly reflections, lesson plans, unit plans, and teaching philosophy statements, I find that criticality appears in pieces. Several dimensions of critique surfaced across teachers' work, but their scope and meaning shifted between documents submitted on the same day—and at times within a single assignment. Commitments to social justice that were cultivated in teacher’s general credential coursework did not transfer linearly into Computer Science. I trace two contrasting cases in detail and discuss implications for both teacher education programs and learning sciences research on the role of ideology in learning.

About the speaker

Brendan Henrique is a PhD candidate in Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Education, where he is advised by Michelle Wilkerson. His research examines computer science education when computing is framed sociopolitically, with teachers and teacher educators as the primary site of that work. Before beginning his doctoral studies, he taught seventh and eighth grade science in West Contra Costa Unified School District.

What Teachers Learn from Each Other: Skill-Specific Peer Effects among New Hires

Justine Weng

Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

Prior research has documented the importance of on-the-job learning for teacher development, especially among early-career teachers. Coworkers are one potentially important source of learning. While instruction generally happens in isolated classrooms, teachers often interact with colleagues outside of them, creating opportunities for teachers to learn from each other. In this study, I investigate how the effectiveness of grade-level colleagues shapes the effectiveness of newly hired teachers, using administrative data on 3rd-8th grade students and teachers in North Carolina from 2006 to 2022. Because effective teachers may sort to the same schools, I compare new hires assigned to different grade-level teams within the same school and year. I measure teacher effectiveness with value-added along multiple dimensions: students' math and reading scores and their attendance, discipline, and grade progression.

When a new hire's colleagues are one standard deviation more effective at raising math scores, the new hire's own students gain 0.042 standard deviations in math scores, comparable to the improvement from an additional year of early-career experience. Students of new hires whose colleagues are more effective at improving student behavior have lower rates of absences, suspensions, and grade retention. Notably, the effects are skill-specific: colleagues who are strong in math instruction do not improve new hires' behavioral outcomes, and colleagues who are strong in behavioral outcomes do not improve new hires’ math scores. Similarly, students of new hires with effective colleagues in math do not have higher reading scores, and vice versa. These findings suggest that teachers learn specific skills from their colleagues, and that assigning teachers to grade-level teams based on their colleagues' strengths could provide a low-cost tool to support teacher development.

About the speaker

Justine Weng is a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley. As a former classroom teacher, her research interests are primarily in education, with an emphasis on teacher labor markets and policies that improve educational opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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John Louis-Strakes Lopez

Abstract

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About the speaker

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Researching and Designing Learning Environments: Aesthetic and institutional perspectives on STEM education

Connie Svabo, Dorte Moeskær Larsen, Maiken Westen Holm Svendsen, Katrine Bergkvist Borch, Katrine von Bornemann Hjelmborg, Gabriele Characiejiene, and Gitte Miller Balslev

STEM Education Research Center, Section for Learning, Experience, and Design, University of Southern Denmark

Abstract

Learning takes place through relations among bodies, materials, spaces, technologies, professional practices, and institutions. In this integrated colloquium, seven researchers from the STEM Education Research Center - FNUG and the Learning, Experience, and Design section at the University of Southern Denmark present a shared approach to researching and designing these relations as epistemic environments. The presentation connects work across mathematics education, science education, learning-environment design, and institutional change.

• Opening and shared frame: Connie Svabo introduces epistemic environments / learning environments as a way to examine how environments mediate attention, participation, experience, and knowing. Dorte Moeskær Larsen situates this approach within inquiry-based and interdisciplinary STEM education and the research-based transformation of university science education.
• Two focused cases then show how the approach works in practice: Katrine Bergkvist Borch explores aesthetics, care, and nature-based learning environments in science education; and Gabriele Characiejiene and Gitte Miller Balslev present insights from collaborative development of STEM education activities for schools, that are based on industry contexts.
• Synthesis and discussion: connections across embodiment, pedagogy, curriculum, and institutional change. Together, the cases move across scales, from embodied participation and classroom practice to curriculum structures and institutional development.

The colloquium invites discussion of methods for studying and designing learning environments without separating cognition from their material, social, and organisational conditions.

About the speakers

Connie Svabo. Professor of STEM Education and Science Communication, founder of FNUG, Head of Learning, Experience, and Design, and SDU Principal Investigator for the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for University Science Education (USE). Her research focuses on epistemic environments, spatial and curatorial design, mediation, and situated practices of knowing.

Dorte Moeskær Larsen. Associate Professor of mathematics education, current Director of FNUG, and Head of Mathematics Learning Lab. Her work addresses mathematical reasoning, inquiry-based and interdisciplinary STEM education, educator development, teaching materials, and the implementation of research in school and university settings.

Maiken Westen Holm Svendsen. Assistant Professor in mathematics education and physics education. Her work examines assessment as a performative and knowledge-producing practice and explores how broader approaches to evaluation can support more inclusive ways of recognising students’ mathematical work.

Katrine Bergkvist Borch. Assistant Professor working across formal and informal science-learning environments. Her research brings together aesthetics, care, participation, and nature-based learning through design-oriented and experimental approaches.

Katrine von Bornemann Hjelmborg. PhD fellow researching alignment between the teaching assistant, instructor, students and course content in university mathematics, with particular attention to teaching assistants, teacher roles, and learning environments.

Gabriele Characiejiene. PhD fellow with a research focus on bridging stakeholder perspectives in STEM education and navigation of purposes of school in the face of high need for STEM specialists. Her inquiry directions include questions of meaning in STEM education, ecosystems that enable teacher agency, and educational innovation.

Gitte Miller Balslev. Associate Professor in STEM education innovation and co-director of FNUG. Her work addresses educational change through national reforms, educational leadership in reform realization, collaborative innovation, and educational ecosystems from a network perspective.

Institutional context

FNUG and the Learning, Experience, and Design section. FNUG has grown from three to more than thirty people in five years. The environment combines learning sciences and science education with design research, human-computer interaction, Science and Technology Studies, aesthetics, and embodied cognition.

University Science Education. FNUG hosts SDU’s satellite of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for University Science Education (USE), a five-year national initiative funded with up to DKK 125 million, approximately USD 20 million. The centre supports research, faculty development, course and curriculum transformation, and stronger capacity for discipline-based education research.

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Weiying Li

Berkeley School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

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About the speaker

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STEM Ed Panel 2 (Josh Grossman and others TBA)

University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

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Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois

Abstract

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About the speaker

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From Ordinality to Linearity: Rethinking How We Estimate Numbers

Clarissa Thompson

University of Notre Dame, Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) and Center for Educational Research and Action (Era)

Abstract

About the speaker