News

Michigan State University scholars are receiving two of the major awards this year from Division K of the American Education Research Association (AERA), which focuses on teaching and teacher education.

Early career

Higinio Dominguez, assistant professor of mathematics education in the MSU College of Education, will receive the Early Career Award this weekend during the Annual Meeting of AERA in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes an emerging scholar who is developing a significant line of research that addresses an issue of urgent concern in the field.

Dominguez’s work has become known for challenging systems of privilege and oppression in today’s math classrooms, especially those serving traditionally marginalized students. He developed the construct of “reciprocal noticing” to more accurately represent what happens in classrooms, and he is helping teachers, both new and practicing, re-imagine what children and teachers can do in schools serving “at risk” students.

In addition, Dominguez works in partnership with Lutheran Services of Lansing to support immigrant children from Central America and refugees from recent war-torn nations who have come to Lansing. Dominguez goes into schools around the city where he offers innovative mathematics lessons to children who are newcomers and often separated from their families.

“Dr. Dominguez’s work is an outstanding example of research and practice in education that are not only focused on relevant pedagogies and practices in teacher education, but on justice and equity as well,” said A. Lin Goodwin, vice president of Div. K and a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Best dissertation

Helen (Olena) Aydarova is receiving one of two Outstanding Dissertation Awards presented this year by AERA Div. K.

Aydarova earned her Ph.D. from the Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education (CITE) program at MSU in 2015 and now is a post-doctoral scholar at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

Aydarova’s dissertation, “Teacher Education Reform as Political Theater: Modernization Dramas in the Russian Federation,” focuses on the reform of teacher education in Russia in the global neoliberal context. It explores shifting and contested definitions of teacher education in the face of globally circulating notions of what constitutes “modern education” and a “qualified teacher.” She received funding to support her research with a prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship.

Professor Michael Sedlak was her advisor, and Lynn Paine was her dissertation director.