Small Research

Overview

<p>In keeping with the Spencer Foundation’s mission, this program aims to fund academic work that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived. <br>Historically, the work we have funded through these grants has spanned a range of topics and disciplines, including education, psychology, sociology, economics, history, and anthropology, and they employ a wide range of research methods. The following examples of recently funded small grants illustrate the diversity of what we support:<br>*an experimental study of how college students use visual representations in solving math problems<br>*a study exploring the process of racial and rural identity formation among African American high-school students who attend de facto segregated schools in the rural South<br>*a mixed-methods study focusing on the different types of knowledge novice and experienced teachers draw on in teaching for reading comprehension<br>Areas of research focus could be categorized as follows: (a) Field-Initiated; (b) The Relation between Education and Social Opportunity; (c) Teaching, Learning and Instructional Resources; (d) The New Civics; (e) Organizational Learning in Schools, School Systems, and Higher Education Systems; and (e) Purposes and Values of Education.</p>