Elham Kazemi
Geda and Phil Condit Professor in Math and Science Education
Research Areas
- Mathematics Education
- Teacher Learning & Professional Community
- School Improvement & Transformation
Professor Kazemi’s research focuses on how professional learning communities develop in racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse schools where teachers and leaders learn with and from their students. In collaboration with educators, she studies the work involved in eliciting and responding to children’s mathematical thinking and building joyful classrooms where children feel they are known and seen. This work involves collaborating with schools to tackle inequalities perpetuated through structural school-level practices and everyday classroom interactions, such as the use of ability grouping and assessments and how children are invited to participate in discussions. The ultimate goal of her work is to make schools places where children and educators thrive.
Professor Kazemi supports the College’s efforts to seed university-school-community collaborations to co-create joyful, meaningful and equitable learning experiences and resources for educators. This includes school and district-based “Learning Labs” to improve practice and build collaborative school communities; teacher-led EduDesign Labs; Partnerships for Early Learning, a collaboration designing story-based resources and professional learning experiences to build literacy and STEM skills and dispositions; and Teacher Education by Design, an online community and library of resources for teacher educators.
She is co-author of “Intentional Talk,” which provides educators guidance on how teachers can lead productive mathematical discussions, and co-editor of “Choral Counting and Counting Collections,” which describes rich instructional activities for developing PK-5 understanding of numbers at school and home.
In Depth
Watch Professor’s Kazemi’s EduTalk about how play can spur curiosity in students.
education.uw.edu/kazemi-edutalk
206-221-4793