May 2026: Faculty scholarship and recognitions

From groundbreaking research to professional honors, faculty representing Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation advance ideas that shape teaching and learning. The listings below, drawn from the college's regular scholarship survey, highlight recent contributions. 

Ayesha S. Boyce, associate professor, and coauthors examine how evaluation practices can better reflect equity, culture, and context in educational and social systems.  The findings emphasize the need to center relational, culturally grounded, and context-sensitive practices in evaluation work.

Reference: Boyce, A. S., Phillips, G., II, & Bowman, N. R. (2026). Positionality as praxis: Embodiment, imagination, and liberation in evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10982140261426358

Pamela Hodges Kulinna, professor, Kahyun Nam, an MLFC alum, and coauthors examine compliance with Arizona’s statewide recess policy in public elementary schools over three years (2021–2023). Their findings show a decline in reported compliance over time, with fewer schools offering the mandated two daily recess periods in 2022 and 2023 compared to 2021. 

Reference: Kulinna, P. H., Wilson, K., Schulke, M., Nam, K., & Poulos, A. (2026). Compliance to a statewide recess policy and school recess practices in Arizona public elementary schools over three years (2021–2023). Journal of Physical Activity and Health. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/aop/article-10.1123-jpah.2025-0140/article-10.1123-jpah.2025-0140.xml 

Mi Yeon Lee, associate professor, and co-author Sheunghyun Yeo examine how preservice teachers develop fraction understanding through interaction with a dynamic digital tool.The study advances a sociocultural perspective emphasizing the role of tools and interactions in shaping mathematical thinking, and highlights the potential of thoughtfully designed digital environments to enhance teacher education in mathematics.

Reference: Lee, M. Y., & Yeo, S. (2026). Exploring preservice teachers’ problem-solving with FracTopia: A dynamic digital tool developed to support semiotic mediation in fraction learning. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10857-026-09746-1

Jeanne Powers, professor, and Lydia Ross, assistant professor, analyzed Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) neighborhood maps from the 1930s alongside school-level demographic data from 1990, 2000, and 2010 to investigate the long-term effects of redlining.. 

Reference: Powers, J. M., & Ross, L. (2026). The durable inequality of redlining: HOLC neighborhood ratings and contemporary school segregation in Oakland. Urban Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859261417323 

Frank Serafini, professor, recently published a book chapter examining how mythical characters are perceived and represented in multimodal picture books. Serafini draws on critical literacy theories, multimodality, and identity studies to explore how readers make meaning through visual and textual representations. 

Reference: Serafini, F. (2026). Semiotics, identities, and literacies: Thinking with The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek. In Language and literacy in transition: Reimagining Inclusion and Educational Futures in a Global Context. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-16904-4_2

MLFC faculty are invited to submit their scholarship through the faculty survey form.