Dr. Flavio Azevedo is an Associate Professor in Simmon’s Teaching and Learning Department. His research is grounded in the learning and cognitive sciences and is organized into three intersecting strands—the nature of STEM interests and interest-driven participation, learning out of schools, and foundations of cognition and learning in STEM disciplines.  Broadly, the construct of interests refers to the diverse ways people engage in any given activity, so that pedagogies for interest development can be powerful pedagogies of inclusion.

Dr. Xiaodan Hu is an associate professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership at the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development. Her research focuses on postsecondary finance and policy on college access and success, with a focus on educational equity in community colleges. She has designed and led or co-led funded research projects from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Dual Enrollment Research Fund. She has also published in numerous prestigious journals.

Dr. Jiun-Yu (Jerry) Wu is a Professor in Teaching and Learning. His research is at the intersection of digital learning and computational methods, including Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Generative AI, and Social Network Analysis (SNA). Through this transdisciplinary approach, Dr. Wu analyzes vast amounts of multimodal data to uncover significant insights, thereby supporting evidence-based decision-making that bridges theory and practice.

New Graphic Short Story Depicts Research to Help Educators Better Address the Needs of Homeless Students

Researchers in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development are offering districts and schools a resource to support students experiencing homelessness – particularly with the difficult task of identifying and serving these students, who often fly under the radar.

Dr. Alexandra Pavlakis and Dr. Meredith Richards, associate professors in the Education Policy and Leadership department in Simmons, as well as Dr. J. Kessa Roberts, assistant professor at Utah State University, conducted research that pushes back on stereotypes about homelessness. They received funding from the Spencer Foundation to disseminate their research on student homelessness in an innovative way. They collaborated with professional cartoonists and created a 16-page full color graphic short story, titled Uprooted.

Uprooted shows how students may experience homelessness in diverse ways and highlights the importance of educators in identifying and supporting these students. Read the full story and how to get a free downloadable copy of Uprooted.

Simmons Research Shines Enigma Mobile Literacy Game

Focused on improving literacy skills, the SMU Simmons Enigma literacy game is a mobile application that helps learners improve their reading skills when played an average of 60 minutes per week over eight weeks. The customized version of the game was developed by SMU researcher, Dr. Anthony Cuevas, with player options for middle and elementary school students.

It was piloted at the Dr. Elba and Domingo Garcia West Dallas STEM School initially with middle school students in an afterschool program during Fall 2023. The Enigma research resulted with positive feedback from students and increases in some literacy measures. At the request of the school, the Enigma project has been extended to include elementary students in first and second grade. Teachers report students involved in the project have shown improvement in their literacy skills and grades. Read the full story.