Molly Bullock

Program: CTE (PhD): Learning Sciences and Technology Design
Admission Year: 2011

What were you doing before coming to Stanford GSE?
Prior to coming to Stanford GSE, I worked as an educator in both a large urban district and a small charter school environment. In addition to teaching fifth grade and eighth grade mathematics, I also had the opportunity to coach teachers on mathematics instruction, use of data to inform instruction, and meaningful integration of technology into the curriculum.

What are your research interests?
My research interests include the integration of Design Thinking into K-12 education, particularly the emerging utility of the design process relative to the Common Core State Standards in Language Arts and Mathematics. I am also interested in the role of technology in K-12 mathematics instruction, particularly the affordances of interactive technologies and what makes them similar and different from current non-digital classroom practices and interventions.

What are your academic/career goals post-GSE?
While it is impossible to know for sure what the future holds, I am currently interested in pursuing academic research as a post-doc and eventually as a professor. Additionally, I am interested in applying my experiences at Stanford GSE in conjunction with my experiences as an educator to become involved in more direct work linking schools and K-12 curriculum to cutting edge technologies in order to promote meaningful learning experiences for underprivileged students.

Why did you choose to come to Stanford?
I chose Stanford for a couple of reasons. First, my research interests were extremely well aligned with a member of the faculty who I hoped to work with. In retrospect, this was a great indicator that this was the correct program for me. Prior to honing in on an advisor, I had selected Stanford after comparing their work in Learning Sciences and Technology Design to the work of other scholars at my schools of interest. Stanford was the most progressive and innovative on this front. As I read through faculty bios on the website, the current research of many faculty members resonated strongly with my experiences as an educator and I knew that Stanford was my top choice!