Diverse children's literature can support understandings of our world as culturally, linguistically, and socially rich. It can cultivate empathy and understanding, and open a dialogic space of possibilities. In this article, we examine how "purposefully selected" children's literature prepares needed conditions for dialogic space:…

Despite growing discussions of antiracist practices and policies in PK-20 schools, education tends to critique racist structures without providing solutions that bring into the conversation the lived experiences of Black students, families, and communities. While these critiques may be helpful, we suggest these critiques omit practices and…

Bandura's research on observational learning laid the foundation of role model research. Contemporary research shows role models support women and racial/ethnic minority students in STEM by buffering them from the deleterious effects of stereotype threats and boosting their self-efficacy. However, certain characteristics can make role models more…

In this article, I explore the impact of receiving mentorship into research and theory of the field that was guided by a social constructivist learning lens. I reflect on the ways that my conception of research and research agenda were framed subconsciously by early experiences investigating my secondary mathematics teaching practice under the…

In this article, we explore Terry Wood's participation in the Purdue Problem-Centered Mathematics Curriculum Project, along with the rich and enduring personal and professional friendships that she built with the classroom teachers who were so important to the project. We highlight connections between these working relationships and the research…

For Terry Wood, the personal and professional were seamlessly connected. In her "House with the Blue Door" graduate students and visiting scholars lived; people gathered for conversations and music; the community reflected and found connections between important ideas. This chapter sets the stage for the special issue by contextualizing…

In this article, I connect self-efficacy and social constructivism and how this shaped me as a researcher and academic, as well as how connections to my advisor, Dr. Terry Wood, gave me the self-efficacy to persevere during the personal and scholarly challenges of my doctoral program. I discuss, using Bandura's social cognitive sources of…

Decades of motivation research have yielded a set of Motivation Design Principles (MDPs) that can be leveraged to support the development of student motivation and engagement in the classroom. This article addresses the translation of these guiding principles to teacher professional learning and subsequently, classroom practice. Drawing from…

Mathematics educators often know the widespread nature of mathematics anxiety and may even be aware of the debilitating effect it can have on their students. Although educators may develop tricks or tools that seem to help, a comprehensive understanding of what students are experiencing and how the classroom environment can be adjusted to address…

This article discusses the role of student motivation and learning experiences in online course environments at the post- secondary level. We offer guidance for instructors to design online experiences that encourage students to learn actively, allowing them to persist at academic goals and get the most out of the material. In discussing relevant…

Despite over 30 years of educational research to the contrary, some educators continue to hold to classroom management theories along the lines of "don't smile until December," which pits consistency and control in the classroom against the kindness and caring that should also characterize the learning environment. We address the source…

In this article I introduce a framework that centers indigenous educational sovereignty in university-school partnerships. Developed from collaborative work with Indigenous Maya families who are migrants from Yucatan, Mexico, the framework operates from an understanding that Indigenous parents have knowledge that is important for their children to…

Transformative approaches are essential for teachers, researchers, and teacher educators to rethink their identities and roles and to position themselves as both collaborators with and learners from immigrant families and communities. In this article, we share how Transformational Theory and Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) creates…

University education partners have great potential to facilitate schools' moving from a school led traditional approach for family involvement to an asset based, empowerment approach to partnerships. On this journey, educators grapple with the cognitive dissonance of change as they engage their emerging multilingual families in the lives of their…

Family as Faculty (FAF) approaches originate from family-centered healthcare models and have been adapted in special education teacher education programs to positively influence and impact pre-service special education teachers' dispositional understandings of working and collaborating with parents/families. However, the majority of research…