Pepperdine News and Events

GSEP Awarded $420,000 Grant from National Science Foundation

Dr. Eric Hamilton, Associate Dean of Education for Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology secured a $420,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research. With a success rate of around 10%, this grant is highly competitive.

Dr. Hamilton’s proposal seeks to carry out research and development by drawing students into an experience of co-designing mathematics media for peers in same or earlier courses, as collaborators with their teachers. It likewise focuses attention on imaginatively using digital media to make mathematical structure more cognitively accessible to learners. This project also incorporates a significant international component, with students collaborating with peers and students both in Mexico and Uganda.

“We expect teachers to have more locally contextualized resources instantaneously available to scaffold student learning, a greater sense of professional partnership with young adults, and more mental space and time for higher-order and imaginative effort in solving complex teaching challenges,” says Dr. Hamilton. “We expect student-tutors to become more effective communicators and mathematics users, and we expect those using the media to have a greater repertoire of immediately usable resources produced specifically for their learning.”