Sarah Powell

Professional Title
Assistant Professor
Organization/Institution
About Me (Bio)
Sarah R. Powell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education. Powell is currently Principal Investigator (PI) of a four-year Institute of Education Sciences efficacy grant related to word problems and equation solving for third-grade students with mathematics difficulties. Powell is also PI of a five-year early numeracy and literacy read-alouds project funded by the T.L.L. Temple Foundation and co-PI of a National Science Foundation grant aimed at developing a science intervention for second-grade students with learning difficulties. Powell was a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow from 2014 to 2016, and she is currently a Faculty Fellow with the Greater Texas Foundation. Powell's research interests include developing and testing interventions for students with mathematics difficulties, with a special emphasis on peer tutoring, word-problem solving, mathematics writing, and the symbols and vocabulary within mathematics.
The University of Texas at Austin
06/01/2017

The purpose of this project is to design and empirically evaluate a second grade science program, Scientific Explorers, aimed at promoting an early foundation for learning science among all students, including students at risk for or with learning disabilities in reading and mathematics. To support students as they engage in scientific tasks associated with Earth's Systems, this project will engineer the Scientific Explorers program around a guided inquiry framework, and develop and empirically validate a science assessment that measures students' knowledge and application of core science concepts and practices related to Earth's Systems.