EDMA 610 Faculty Interview Response: Dr. Oloff-Lewis by Ben Seipel

Adriana Peck

2025-10-28 23:44:01 UTC

Thank you Dr. Oloff-Lewis for your time and your insight! I find it interesting that you find designing studies to be your favorite part...I could not be more in disagreement! As I continue to learn and start thinking/developing my own, I feel that I am finding new tedious things to consider. It is stressful! I appreciate your thoughts on how the field of educational research is still so young. It makes me feel like there are countless opportunities for young educational researchers and makes me excited for the future of education!

Steph Roman

2025-10-29 03:13:55 UTC

Thank you Dr. Oloff-Lewis for sharing your own perspectives on educational research, they are appreciated as I learn and dive more into the topic. My main takeaway from the interview is the advice for creating a research question: Focus on a question that you can answer in a timely manner. It seems obvious enough, but sometimes when you're thinking about all these questions and topics that you're intrigued by, you can lose sense of whether or not you can answer the question within a year or whether there even is enough data or research that support you in answering that question.

Julie McCarthy

2025-10-31 20:35:30 UTC

Thank you, Dr Oloff-Lewis, for unpacking your journey with us! I really enjoyed hearing about your journey from studying mathematically gifted students to focusing on preservice math and science teacher education. I also appreciated your advice about keeping research questions focused and submitting IRB early, as it’s a reminder to stay realistic and intentional in our work.

Julianna Jackson

2025-11-03 03:46:07 UTC

The discussion highlights important aspects of educational research, particularly the use of an emergent perspective that integrates both cognitive and social factors influencing learning. The focus on designing studies that are purposeful, manageable, and aligned with clear research questions emphasizes the importance of methodological precision. Additionally, the reflection on the challenges of qualitative data analysis offers a realistic view of the research process, recognizing the time and effort required for coding and thematic development. The advice to narrow research questions and plan ahead for IRB approval underscores practical strategies for conducting effective and efficient studies in education.

Savannah Anderson

2025-11-03 05:30:15 UTC

Thank you Dr. Oloff-Lewis for your insight. Out of curiosity, what did your study find when you researched cognitive growth and its correlation with math?

I really like how you stated to ask questions that can be answered. I believe this is something I have been struggling with because although I have many passions when it comes to education, narrowing a focus that has an achievable goal is something that is harder than it seems. But, it is a good reminder for researchers.

Brittany Hester

2025-11-03 22:45:32 UTC

Thank you so much, Dr. Olaff-Lewis. I really appreciated your insight on the research process. I especially liked your advice about asking a focused question that you can answer in a timely manner. This really reminds me to narrow my thoughts down because, as a new researcher, it sometimes feels like we need to be answering big questions, which isn't always feasible during our time in the program.

Griselda Rivera

2025-11-04 03:27:11 UTC

It’s inspiring to hear how Dr. Olaf Lewis integrates both cognitive and social perspectives in her research. It highlights the complexity of understanding student learning in context. I also appreciate her practical advice for new researchers on asking focused answerable questions and planning for IRB approval, which is crucial for conducting studies.

Lidia Leal

2025-11-04 05:50:56 UTC

Thank you Dr. Oloff-Lewis for all your insights. It was interesting to hear about your thoughts on research and how it is still so young. It's incredible that after so many years of researching education, there is still so much more to learn and research.

You mention a good point about qualitative data how it can get tedious! I never thought about it in that way but it makes sense!

I also like that you advise to keep our question focused enough so that we can answer it in a reasonable time frame.

Fatimah Khan

2025-11-06 03:24:01 UTC

I found Dr. Oloff-Lewis's interview to be filled with great information. For example, she talked about how she did her research experience, how she worked on an NSF grant that funded her education, which looked into elementary school, math classrooms, and integrating cognitive instructions. Dr. Oloff-Lewis was in charge of the professional development, data collection/analysis, and the overall results. We can see here that Dr. Oloff-Lewis is a hard-working person. The advice that Dr. Oloff-Lewis gave was that she mentioned not to ask questions that you can't answer in a timely manner, and to make sure you can actually answer your question. The next piece of advice that Dr. Oloff-Lewis mentioned was to get your IRB in early and to think it through because it is a large part of the process.

KH

2025-11-07 05:58:56 UTC

Thank you Dr. Oloff-Lewis for your insights and time!

I like how you looked at a variety of data from different schools , backgrounds etc.. to study how student math learning was impacted. I appreciate how honest you were with realistic constraints when doing research like how you explained that gifted educaation isn't easily studied here at Chico and location+ resources can play a big part in what type of research and how it is being conducted. I would like to learn more about your research done between your time here in Chico and PhD, specifically what went into creating/developing and implementing professional development programs.

Alondra Plancarte

2025-11-08 03:34:46 UTC

Dr. Oloff-Lewis,

Thank you for sharing your research and for your advice. I appreciate you saying to not ask questions that you can’t answer in a timely manner. Keeping our questions focused is a learned skill that I see myself working on right now. I ask really big questions and it has been quite the learning experience trying to narrow it down. Thankfully, we have professors and the resources to guide us through this learning process. I hope to learn more about you and your research, thank you again!

-Alondra Plancarte

Cristina Pucci

2025-11-08 07:24:21 UTC

Thank you, Dr. Oloff-Lewis for sharing your knowledge and perspective around your research. I love that you are focused on how students learn individually in their context, such as how pieces of their background/culture/experiences shape their learning and education.

Kyle Auxier

2025-11-08 15:09:35 UTC

I appreciated how Dr. Lewis explained the emergent perspective, which blends individual cognitive development with the social context of learning. It was interesting to hear how she applies this framework to both her past and current research. I also found her shift toward studying pre-service teacher education insightful, as it highlights the importance of preparing future educators in math and science. Her advice about keeping research questions focused and manageable, as well as submitting the IRB early, was practical and valuable for anyone beginning research.

Sue Kelly

2025-11-08 15:15:33 UTC

Thank you for your advice and insight into your perspective on reserach. I specifically appreciate your advice on asking a focused question that you can answer in a year. I find myself struggling with making sure that I am doing just that!

Briando Contreras

2025-11-11 04:22:12 UTC

Hello Dr. Oloff-Lewis, thank you for sharing your insights on research. Your dissertation is looking at mathematically gifted students and the kinds of impact that have helped/not helped at their math proficiency. The focus was to see what type of outside factors can have on an individual's academic success. I can see that your current research shows how you implement it in your position here at the university. It is good to look at pre-service teacher education and how we can support math and science in acquiring their secondary education credential. Due to the location here in Chico, you had to move away from gifted education and use more mixed methods in your research. The advice you gave had me think critically as a new researcher because it is important to keep a question focused enough that you can actually answer that question. Well done.

Mitch Barker

2025-11-17 17:13:51 UTC

Thank you for your helpful insight! I really appreciated your insight on designing studies and the fact that they should be feasible and manageable with a clear research question. The research question should be focused and sturctured to make the study feasible to be finished in a year. Again, I really appreciate your insight!

Sharon Lewis

2025-12-18 08:41:16 UTC

Dr. Oloff-Lewis,

Thank you for taking the time to do the faculty interview. I appreciated your honesty on qualitative data. I feel similarly about quantitative data. I have a love-hate relationship with math. I know it is valuable, but I carry the trauma of struggling with geometry when I was in high school. I will keep in mind your advice in regard to the research question. Don't ask a question that you won't have time to collect proper data for and make sure you are asking the correct question.