Kara Suzuka

Professional Title
Assistant Research Scientist
Organization/Institution
About Me (Bio)
Kara Suzuka is a researcher at the University of Michigan School of Education. Her work centers on the development of resources for the study and improvement of teaching and teacher education, including the ways in which records of practice and technology can be used as tools for systematic inquiry and professional learning.

She is co-principal investigator for the mod4 materials development project and the Dev-TE@M project. Both projects create educational materials for use with elementary teachers, focused on helping teachers develop their mathematical knowledge and skills for teaching. She is also co-director the Elementary Mathematics Laboratory, a summer mathematics program that offers local schoolchildren an opportunity to learn mathematics and that also provides an opportunity for professional educators and researchers with diverse expertise to work together to solve complex problems of learning and teaching. Finally, she is the projects director for the digital archive at the Brandon Center for the Study of Education Practice. The Brandon Center's collections feature classroom records of practice that are available for research, education, and materials development.

Her PhD in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy is from Michigan State University.
University of Michigan (UM), University of Denver (DU)
09/01/2011

This project designs materials and an accompanying support system to enable the development of expertise in the teaching of mathematics at the elementary level. The project has four main components: online professional development modules; practice-based assessments; resources for facilitators; and web-based technologies to deliver module content to diverse settings. Three modules are being developed and focus on fractions, reasoning and explanation, and geometry. Each module is organized into ten 1.5 hour sessions.

University of Michigan (UM)
08/01/2005

This project is designed to build resources for helping teachers learn mathematical content in ways usable for the work of teaching. Two practice-centered packages will be developed for use in the professional education of K-8 teachers of mathematics. The packages will be usable by the existing range of teacher developers. Each package will comprise selections of records of practice and resources for their use with teachers.

BSCS
08/01/2009

This project will develop video-case modules for use in pre-service teacher preparation programs. Modules will target specific grade bands (K-3, 4-5, 6-8) and address standards-based content domains, to help future teachers deepen their content knowledge, pedagogic skills and ability to analyze student thinking. The cases will illustrate reform classroom practices and more traditional instruction, include interviews with teachers and students, and incorporate a set of analytic tasks that promote users' critical observations of the cases.