|
by Princine
Lewis
Leona
Schauble’s
first
job
after
college
was
writing
computer
manuals
for
a software
company.
It was,
however,
her
second
job
–
writing
for
the
creators
of Sesame
Street
–
that
got
her
where
she
is today.
Rich
Lehrer
spent
his
early
career
years
teaching
high
school
science
and
serving
as a
school
psychologist.
It was
in Pittsburgh
that
the
paths
of the
two
crossed,
leading
to an
eight-year
collaboration
that
has
brought
them
this
fall
to Peabody
College
where,
as professors
in the
Department
of Teaching
and
Learning,
they
are
continuing
their
investigation
of ways
to improve
math
and
science
curriculums
for
elementary
students.
“My
job
at Children’s
Television
Workshop
and
Sesame
Street
was
how
I got
interested
in education
research,”
Schauble
said.
Because
she
worked
in the
research
department,
Schauble
often
served
as an
informal
translator
between
the
researchers
and
the
television
producers
and
writers
for
the
show.
“I’d
get
questions
from
the
television
writers
and
producers
like,
‘What
do you
mean
by divergent
thinking?’”
She
also
frequently
interviewed
children
to find
out
what
they
thought
of the
show.
“Being
a person
from
a large
family,
I thought
I understood
how
children
think
pretty
well;
however,
I realized
that
the
tools
I had
were
insufficient
to really
understand
how
children
were
learning
from
the
show.”
She
decided
to pursue
a master’s
degree
in developmental
psychology
at Columbia
University
while
continuing
to work
for
the
show.
Over
the
years
at Children’s
Television
Network,
she
served
as associate
director
of research
for
Sesame
Street
and
director
of research
and
development
for
Children’s
Computer
Workshop.
Eventually,
she
ended
up as
a research
scientist
at the
Learning
Research
and
Development
Center
at the
University
of Pittsburgh.
At about
the
same
time,
Lehrer
arrived
in Pittsburgh
on sabbatical
from
the
University
of Wisconsin
to spend
a year
as a
visiting
professor
at nearby
Carnegie
Mellon
University.
“Rich
came
over
to find
out
who
was
doing
interesting
work
at the
University
of Pittsburgh
and
someone
mentioned
me,”
Schauble
said.
The
following
year,
attracted
by the
University
of Wisconsin’s
reputation
in education
psychology,
Schauble
applied
for
and
received
an appointment
at Wisconsin’s
Department
of Educational
Psychology.
A year
later,
Lehrer
asked
Schauble
to take
a look
at some
data
where
children
were
learning
about
mathematics
and
science
by programming
robots.
In other
classes,
children
were
conducting
their
own
investigations
of ideas
in geometry.
Schauble
noticed:
“The
kids’
math
and
science
performance
was
incredible.
I thought,
‘Kids
should
not
be reasoning
that
way.’”
She
accompanied
Lehrer
to the
school
where
he was
conducting
these
studies
“to
find
out
how
this
was
happening,
and
I was
hooked.”
For
the
past
eight
years,
they
have
investigated
the
effects
of model-based
reasoning
—
the
relationship
between
ideas
and
evidence
—
on the
acquisition
of math
and
science
knowledge.
“We
want
to promote
and
understand
more
powerful
forms
of mathematics
and
science
education,
where
students
actively
make
sense
of these
disciplines,
rather
than
being
assigned
to do
problems
in their
textbook
with
no understanding
of why
they
are
doing
these
problems
or how
important
ideas
are
related,”
Lehrer
said.
Lehrer
and
Schauble
work
in partnership
with
teachers
to investigate
how
children’s
thinking
about
modeling
changes
over
prolonged
periods
of time:
years,
not
days
or weeks.
The
team’s
research
is unique
because
they
often
work
with
the
same
teachers
and
students
for
several
years.
Lehrer
has
worked
with
one
Wisconsin
school
district
for
18 years.
At Vanderbilt,
Deb
Lucas,
Lehrer’s
wife
and
one
of the
team’s
teacher-collaborators,
joins
them.
Lucas
was
a sixth-grade
teacher
who
developed
interdisciplinary
approaches
to the
teaching
of math,
science,
language
arts
and
social
studies.
Having
assisted
in the
development
and
use
of model-based
reasoning
curriculums
in the
classroom,
she
will
work
with
Lehrer,
Schauble
and
others
at Peabody
to develop
relationships
with
Tennessee’s
teachers.
Before
coming
to Peabody,
Lehrer
held
the
Sears-Bascom
Chair
in the
School
of Education
at the
University
of Wisconsin,
and
he served
as an
associate
director
of the
National
Center
for
Research
for
Improving
Student
Learning
and
Achievement
in Mathematics
and
Science.
He holds
doctoral
and
master’s
degrees
in educational
psychology
and
statistics
from
the
University
of New
York
at Albany,
and
a bachelor’s
degree
in biology
from
Rensselaer
Polytechnic
Institute.
Lehrer’s
interest
in education
began
with
teaching
high
school
chemistry,
biology
and
unified
science.
“I
initially
thought
of teaching
as an
interlude
before
going
on to
graduate
study
in biology,”
he said.
“But
by listening
to my
students,
I discovered
a much
more
interesting
problem—how
people
learn.”
Lehrer
continues
his
fundamental
commitment
to schooling
by working
with
teachers
and
schools
in Arizona,
Alaska,
and
Wisconsin
that
educate
populations
that
are
typically
neglected
or otherwise
underprivileged.
Schauble
was
also
a professor
in the
Department
of Educational
Psychology
at the
University
of Wisconsin
before
coming
to Peabody.
She
holds
doctoral
and
master’s
degrees
in developmental
and
educational
psychology
from
Columbia
University
in New
York
and
a bachelor’s
degree
in English
from
Bates
College
in Lewiston,
Maine.
Schauble
continues
her
involvement
with
Children’s
Television
Workshop
as a
consultant.
Posted
on 9/23,
2002
at 12:30
p.m.
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