My guest today is Dr. Phil Vahey, the Director of Applied Learning Sciences at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, or HMH. Prior to this role, he was the director of mathematics learning environments at SRI International’s Center for Learning Technologies. There he researched the use of dynamic technologies to help students learn difficult math concepts for over 20 years. If you've ever taught preschool children, you might be familiar with early math with Gracie and friends, or early science with Miko and Nora. Phil had a hand in creating both of these curricula and apps designed to support early mathematics and science learning.

Here are two key things that emerge in this conversation that I think are worth paying close attention to. First, Phil talks about how he made his decision to go directly to a research institute out of graduate school. Second, we discuss the different ways we can think about “making an impact” as a learning scientist. We also discuss the challenges that arise when you work in interdisciplinary teams – even when you, a priori, seem to have shared goals and language about the problems you want to address. We get to hear about the messy “behind the scenes” problem solving that is necessarily a part of what it means to work on hard problems, and talk about the design tradeoffs you make as a result alleviating those tensions.  This is a particularly fascinating conversation for those of you who are interested in educational technologies and pursuing a career outside of academia.

As always, email us with your comments and questions. The source materials will be linked in the episode description. Our email is HumansLSpod@gmail.com.

Works Discussed

Vahey, P. J., Reider, D., Orr, J., Lewis Presser, A., & Dominguez, X. (2018). The Evidence Based Curriculum Design Framework: Leveraging Diverse Perspectives in the Design Process. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 9(1), 135–148. https://doi.org/10.14434/ijdl.v9i1.23080  

Vahey, P., Knudsen, J., Rafanan, K., & Lara-Meloy, T. (2013). Curricular Activity Systems Supporting the Use of Dynamic Representations to Foster Students’ Deep Understanding of Mathematics. In C. Mouza & N. Lavigne (Eds.), Emerging Technologies for the Classroom: A Learning Sciences Perspective (pp. 15–30). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4696-5_2   

Zahner, W., Velazquez, G., Moschkovich, J., Vahey, P., & Lara-Meloy, T. (2012). Mathematics teaching practices with technology that support conceptual understanding for Latino/a students. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 31(4), 431–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2012.06.002