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SELECTED RESEARCH PROJECTS

2005-2006: Co-Principal Investigator on grant funded by the Linguistic Minority Research Institute (LMRI). This study investigated the impact of authoring hypermedia projects on the science vocabulary development of Spanish speaking, ESL 6th and 7th grade students.

1998-2003:  Statistical Consultant. Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence (CREDE) Project, University of California Davis. Principal Investigator Dr. Patricia Gandara. This study examined how adolescents from different ethnic groups form their expectations about schooling and their post-secondary aspirations during the four years of high school, with a focus on how peers and families help to shape these attitudes and aspirations.

2000-2002. Co-Principal Investigator on a Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers for Using Technology (PT3) grant. A three-year U.S. Department of Education Grant. The purpose of the grant was to develop and design professional development activities, though which teams of teachers and faculty jointly developed technology-enhanced, curriculum, for use in both k-12 classrooms and methods courses.

2001-2002. Co-Researcher on a project titled Meeting the Challenge of Diversity: A Professional Development Model for Teacher Educators. I collaborated on the design, implementation and evaluation of a professional development program for teacher education faculty at a California State University campus.  The program was designed to prepare faculty to offer the new courses developed for its Senate Bill 2042 credential programs with particular emphasis on standards related to English learners, special populations, and technology.  Results of the evaluation were presented in an article published in Teacher Education Quarterly (O’Hara & Pritchard, 2008).

 

2001-2001. Co-Principal Investigator on an Intel Teach to the Future grant. The focus of the grant was to design and deliver a professional development model to help faculty increase their knowledge and use of instructional technology tools.

1999-2001. Evaluation Specialist for the Return of the Salmon Project, Funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Principal Investigator, Joyce Gutstein. I helped to design, implement and evaluate a professional development model for middle school teachers and informal educators. The focus on the professional development activities was the design and implementation of an environmental based, integrated curriculum, with a Putah-Creek bio region focus.

1996-2000. Evaluation Specialist for Project WRITE, funded by the Texaco Foundation. Principal Investigator, Maureen McMahon. As part of a research team I documented the design and implementation of a science-based, integrated curriculum at a rural upper elementary school. I gathered both qualitative and quantitative data and analyzed the data with different foci.

1996-1998. Research Assistant. Puente Project, Language Minority Research Institute (LMRI) University of California, Davis. Principal Investigator Dr. Patricia Gandara. Over the course of two years I have provided statistical support for the Puente project. I analyzed quantitative data gathered about students as they progress through ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades.

Summer 1997.  Research Assistant. Nexus Project, UCOP, California. I completed a qualitative study of a technology workshop for in-service teachers.

1996-1997.  Research Assistant. Arbor, University of California, Davis. Worked with faculty members from numerous departments on campus to design studies to assess and evaluate the use of instructional technology at UC Davis.