Dana Miller-Cotto, Ph.D.
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I am an educational psychologist who aims to understand the cognitive and affective mechanisms that underlie mathematics learning and instruction. My research interests span cognitive development, math education, and learning science using longitudinal, experimental, and meta-analytic techniques. I'm particularly interested in identifying opportunities that promote learning in math and the cognitive processes that facilitate learning. Specifically:
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I am a currently Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Delaware in the School of Education and Human Development collaborating with Dr. Nancy Jordan on a project aiming to understand individual differences in how students understand and learn fractions. Before joining the University of Delaware, I was a Research Scientist for the EF+Math Program fiscally sponsored by NewSchools Venture Fund with a partial appointment at the Neuroscape Research Center.
Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) and the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh collaborating with Dr. Chris Schunn. In this role I collaborated on a large scale course re-design of Micro and Macro Economics, two courses that rely heavily on mathematical knowledge, by designing an intervention aimed at reducing performance gaps between Black and Latinx and their White and Asian peers while improving performance for all students enrolled.
I earned my Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Temple University under the advisement of Dr. James Byrnes. I contributed to developing the Opportunity-Propensity Model which seeks to explain academic achievement when considering students' classroom opportunities and the assets they bring to their learning environments (e.g. prior knowledge, working memory, identities). This model informs how I design classroom interventions that promote mathematics knowledge and executive functioning skills when considering children's backgrounds and experiences.
Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) and the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh collaborating with Dr. Chris Schunn. In this role I collaborated on a large scale course re-design of Micro and Macro Economics, two courses that rely heavily on mathematical knowledge, by designing an intervention aimed at reducing performance gaps between Black and Latinx and their White and Asian peers while improving performance for all students enrolled.
I earned my Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Temple University under the advisement of Dr. James Byrnes. I contributed to developing the Opportunity-Propensity Model which seeks to explain academic achievement when considering students' classroom opportunities and the assets they bring to their learning environments (e.g. prior knowledge, working memory, identities). This model informs how I design classroom interventions that promote mathematics knowledge and executive functioning skills when considering children's backgrounds and experiences.
"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops".
