Research

My research examines the intersection of language and mathematics within the context of a rapidly growing school population of emerging bilingual students across the US. I examine two  interlinked areas of multimodal mathematics explanations by emerging bilingual students and preparing future mathematics teachers to work with these students in their classrooms. In the area of mathematical communication, I am interested in how emerging bilingual students go beyond verbal speech to draw on resources such as gestures, concrete materials, and drawings, to make meaning and justify their mathematical thinking. I draw on this research and research related to teacher beliefs to prepare future mathematics teachers to work with emerging bilingual students.

Recently, I have extended my research with preservice teachers to teaching mathematics for social justice, with a special focus on understanding systemic racism, through the statistical analysis of publicly available datasets.