Meeting the Moment Educational innovators like Northwestern's Nichole Pinkard know that learning can and should happen everywhere-in school, out ...
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WINTER 2021 Meeting the Moment Educational innovators like Northwestern’s Nichole Pinkard know that learning can and should happen everywhere—in school, out of school, and online. Amid a pandemic, the imperative has never been more urgent.
S E S P WINTER 2021 VOL. 21, NO. 1 M E SSAG E F RO M T H E D E A N
Dean
David Figlio
Senior Associate Dean
Coleen T. Coleman (MS91)
Associate Dean
Kavita Kapadia Matsko (MS97), Teacher Education
DE AR FRIENDS,
Assistant Deans The COVID-19 pandemic has touched us
Jeanne M. Hughes, Research
all—but its health and economic bur-
Susan Olson, Student Affairs
Amy Pratt, Community Education Partnerships dens have not been borne equally. Black,
Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian people
Managing Editor
Julie Deardorff have been hit especially hard, exacer-
julie.deardorff@northwestern.edu bating inequities that these communi-
Publication Design, Editing, and Production
ties have endured for generations.
Office of Global Marketing and Communications Still, my message to you is one of hope
Illustration
and opportunity. From research and
Henry McGill course instruction to our social mission,
SESP has been rethinking and revamp-
Photography*
BlackCAT/Getty Images, Victoria Chukarov, ing our approach to meet the moment
6
Shane Collins, Steve Drey, Evanston Township High head-on.
School District 202, Movement Law Lab, Stephanie Our school is fortunate to support
Nikolas, Northwestern Athletics, Rawpixelimages/
research areas that focus on human
Dreamstime, Earl Richardson, Valentin Torres
development and learning modalities in when engaging with communities of Alumni often tell me, “I’d love to be
©2021 Northwestern University. All rights
A Learning Ecosystem’s Time to Shine an era of ubiquitous computing. Thus, color, whose expertise and agency are able to engage with current students.”
reserved. 2-21/17.7M/RM-HC-HM/2972
Pivoting in response to COVID-19, SESP’s community education partnerships we’ve been able to tap into vast in-house often ignored. In 2017 we started the Now you can. As of 2019–20, about 40
SESP is published for alumni, families, and friends
prove resilient and resourceful in ways impossible during normal times expertise on teaching both with and Office of Community Education Partner percent of our undergraduate courses
of the School of Education and Social Policy.
Diverse views are presented and do not necessarily without technology, inside as well as ships (OCEP) with this in mind. When are new—more timely, relevant, and
reflect the editor’s opinions or Northwestern outside of school spaces. When COVID- we work with others, the result is not responsive—thanks to a curriculum
University’s official policies. 19 sent us home, we staffed every remote only impactful service but also stronger overhaul; this is creating opportunities
SESP welcomes all reader input, including class with an IT professional. We research and teaching. for guest teachers and lecturers to share
story ideas, comments, class notes, corrections,
and address changes. 16 Zoomed in ways that spawned new ped-
agogies, more equitable classrooms, and
For instance, not long after the pan-
demic shuttered schools, Nichole Pinkard,
their experiences with our students.
Also revamped is the practicum, so
sespalums@northwestern.edu
847-467-3147
Breaking better discussions. faculty director for OCEP, debuted that our students now have access to
More Stories and Ways to Connect
the Cycle When their research agendas were STEAMville—an online platform that many more of the real-world settings
Izabel Olson (PhD14) upended, our faculty nimbly adapted enables deeply mutualistic and enrich- in which SESP alumni are succeeding.
sesp.northwestern.edu
facebook.com/sespnu methods and protocols and launched ing STEM and arts programming—to While I do not know all the ways
and her Salt & Light
twitter.com/sesp_nu new studies. It hasn’t been easy, but by reach any and all children but especially our graduates will go on to change lives
instagram.com/sesp_nu Coalition help breaking from the constructs of time those in underresourced communities for the better, I’m certain they will.
11
survivors and place, we found surprising gains— (see story starting on page 6). As students, faculty, staff, and alumni—
*All photos, except on page 1, were taken prior to of human such as working with 1,000 (instead of The OCEP-facilitated work of Pinkard the entire SESP family of change
the pandemic. Dreaming trafficking
100) study participants at once. and others is just the start. The litera- agents—we are more galvanized than
Our greatest challenges and opportu- cies SESP holds dear have prepared our ever to meet the challenges of today to
in 8 Bits start anew students to be especially successful at create a better tomorrow.
nities emerge as we consider our social
Professor Uri mission. I have long believed that uni- this time, and SESP graduates continue
ON THE COVER
Wilensky’s lifelong versities should be doing things with making a positive difference in our
An expert on learning ecosystems, associate
professor of learning sciences Nichole Pinkard quest to demystify communities more than for them, and organizations, our communities, and
(PhD98) developed a digital infrastructure that certainly never to them—and more so our world. David Figlio
computer modeling Orrington Lunt Professor and Dean
helps children and families find educational
programs and activities online and across their
communities.
Message from the Dean 1 | School News 2 | Alumni News 20 | As Told To 25 Above: Dean David Figlio (left) and Evanston Township High School superintendent Eric Witherspoon 1
receive a shipment of 50,000 masks donated by SESP advisory board member Qiyong Chen.
S C H O O L N E WS
Thank You, Jan Schmidt!
When Jan Schmidt recently retired from the Lurie Children’s has hired more than
Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital 20 students from the internship pro-
of Chicago, the thank-you cards poured in. gram, including Hannah Davison
As one of SESP’s longest-serving and most (BS19), a professional soccer player
beloved practicum supervisors, Schmidt was for the Chicago Red Stars who works
a mentor, leader, teacher, and friend to dozens at the hospital in the off-season.
of Northwestern students. Davison, now a part-time milieu
A clinical educator for more than three therapist on the unit, hadn’t planned Student Films Explore Race,
decades, Schmidt welcomed interns to work on pursuing a career in child psychia- Power, Technology
in the hospital’s psychiatric department, try. But experiencing Schmidt’s phi-
which cares for children with emotional and losophy in action opened her eyes to a Three documentary films by high school students examining
behavioral disorders, learning differences, “new side of medicine and the impor- the ethical and social impact of police surveillance technol-
and other challenges. Well known for her posi- tance of kindness,” she says. ogies premiered last spring in an online event organized by
tivity and compassion, Schmidt taught stu- The 63-year-old Schmidt, an avid SESP and the Block Museum of Art.
dents how to confidently navigate an often water-skier, basketball player, and The student filmmakers participated in the Young People’s
stressful clinical setting. musician, lived on a couple acres with Race, Power, and Technology project, an after-school STEM
“They’re all trying to figure out what they her dogs near Lake Geneva, Wiscon MSLOC Students Partner with program directed and codesigned by assistant professor
of learning sciences Sepehr Vakil and supported by Vakil’s
want to do. I took enough time to say, ‘Hey,
what do you really want to do?’” Schmidt says.
sin, and would commute to the city.
Just before the pandemic hit, she left
Peking University National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award.
“I tried to foster an environment that would the Midwest to rejoin her family in The Master’s in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) program The program was developed in partnership with Evanston
allow them to explore, practice, question, California and help care for her received a $3,000 international classroom partnering grant to deepen the Township High School, Family Matters, Endangered Peace,
and learn not only about the work but about 89-year-old mother. global experience for Northwestern students. and the Lucy Parsons Lab and involved Northwestern
themselves.” “Not a day goes by that I don’t think The award, from the Office of the Vice President for International Rela undergraduates as well as the high schoolers and commu-
A native Californian who made her career in Jan Schmidt (right) with Hannah Davison of someone or miss something from tions and the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, allowed MSLOC faculty to nity members. Raphael Nash, an independent producer and
Chicago after attending Mundelein College and my work at Lurie Children’s,” Schmidt collaborate with faculty at Peking University, a partner institution of director and adjunct faculty member at DePaul University,
Northeastern Illinois University, Schmidt began working with says. “We had good camaraderie, great professional rapport, and a Northwestern, to enhance the course Leading Global Change. and SESP learning sciences doctoral student Jessica
Northwestern students in the mid-1990s. Over the years, friendly, caring environment. But it was time to return home.” “The call for leaders with the perspectives and capabilities to address Marshall were among the program’s other key contributors.
global challenges has never been stronger,” says MSLOC associate direc-
tor Diane Knoepke, who assisted with the cross-school partnership.
Leading Global Change explores how to design and deploy organizational
Pandemic doesn’ t Hinder the Nurturing of Young Talent, Inventive Teaching change plans in contexts that involve people and teams of diverse back-
grounds and that straddle international boundaries. Through discovery
A leader in distance learning for more than helped make her a stronger, more reflective “CTD teachers and students spend hours interviews and other data-gathering components of the course, MSLOC
30 years, SESP’s Center for Talent educator. exploring a single topic from many angles.” students connected with executive MBA students at Peking University’s
Development expanded its online “What’s brilliant and different about CTD’s CTD’s online classes during the pandemic Guanghua Management School.
curriculum in response to specialized programs is that they’re provide self-directed learning opportunities “Our students conducted country-level cultural analyses, participated
the pandemic, helping so focused,” says Ali, who taught and help students build communication skills, in cross-cultural virtual collaborations, and delved into global case stud-
both teachers and aca- CTD’s Math, Puzzles, and she says. Students make live presentations ies,” says Lina Deng, co-instructor for the course. “These learning activi-
demically talented Games class and led its new at the end of the class, and prerecorded pre- ties draw out the teamwork challenges and tensions typically experienced
pre-K through high Global Leadership Inten sentations filmed at home often involve the among people from Western and Eastern cultures.”
school students sive, a weeklong course whole family. Toward the end of the course, students created hypothetical but viable The student films examined aspects of surveillance tech-
discover surpris- for grades four through “The need to go online actually ended up plans for change in a multinational organization. After watching the Netflix nology: facial-recognition systems, gang databases in
ing benefits six focusing on recy- being incredible. I felt I became much more documentary American Factory, they used case materials to develop a Chicago and Evanston, and the use of social media by US
inside a virtual cling, climate change, intentional as a teacher,” she says, “and the global change plan for the Ohio-based, Chinese-owned manufacturer fea- Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
classroom. and other global kids were having fun.” tured in the film, Fuyao Glass America. The students’ efforts demonstrated a key point of Vakil’s
For CTD issues. The Global Leadership Intensive was espe- Jeff Liu, the automotive glass company’s president and CEO, attended work designing STEM education programs—that young
instructor Nishat During the regular cially well received because it gives students the final class presentations, offering feedback on and high praise for the people have strong political identities or, as Vakil says,
Ali, a fourth-grade academic year, students the chance to use their voices and develop students’ work. “All the teams did a fantastic job,” he said during the class. “the part of themselves that deals with issues of right and
teacher at Chicago’s spend only limited time confidence. As Ali says, “It builds their self- “We need young, talented people like this.” wrong and equality and social justice.”
Ogden International each day on a range of sub- esteem and tells them that one person can
School, the experience jects; in contrast, Ali says, make a difference.” —Ross Middleton
2 SESP WIN T ER 2021 3
S C H O O L N E WS
IN BRIEF From Rural Ireland to the
Pinnacle of Academe
First-of-Its-Kind Dual
Master’s Program to
Emma Adam, the Edwina S. Tarry Professor of Human Develop
ment and Social Policy, was selected as a fellow of the Associa Professor James Spillane was one of eight North Debut in 2021
tion for Psychological Science for her outstanding research, western faculty members elected to the presti- Leaders and leaders-to-be from both sides of the
teaching, and service contributions to the science of psychology. gious American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Pacific will learn how to forge deep and mutualis-
Emma Adam
She was also named president-elect of the International Society 2020. He joins SESP’s other AAAS members: tic partnerships through an innovative applied
of Psychoneuroendocrinology. Larry Hedges, the Board of Trustees Professor of economics and social policy dual master’s pro-
Statistics; Carol Lee, professor emerita of learn- gram offered by SESP and The Chinese University
Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, the Frances Willard Professor of ing sciences and education; and Doug Medin, of Hong Kong’s Department of Economics.
Human Development and Social Policy, returned full time to the professor emeritus of education and psychology. The rigorous 17-month program is the first to
SESP faculty after stepping down as Northwestern’s first vice Spillane, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Pro address important policy questions through a
provost for academics. fessor in Learning and Organizational Change, is transpacific lens, says SESP dean David Figlio.
one of the world’s top thinkers on school leader- Students will learn technical and practical skills
Lindsay Chase-Lansdale Professor Cynthia Coburn won Northwestern’s Ver Steeg Distin ship issues, change within organizations, and to evaluate policies and programs in Chinese and
guished Research Fellowship for her work on improving relation- policy implementation at the state, school, and US contexts.
ships between education researchers and schools. classroom levels. Known for his collaborative “We’re building a new generation of decision-
Professor Mesmin Destin won the Outstanding Early Career
work and ability to bridge disciplines, he studies
how leaders build education systems and make
Work on Equity and Excellence Expands makers who will feel confident and comfortable
in multiple contexts, which will lead to better
Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. decisions. The Northwestern-Evanston Education Research Alliance (NEERA) received
organizations, better policies, and better lives,”
a $650,000 Institutional Challenge Grant to support new research projects
Figlio says.
Learning and organizational change faculty member Mindy related to racial and economic equality and expand collaborative partner-
The program bridges two cultures and educa-
Mesmin Destin Douthit became SESP’s practicum director, succeeding ships between the University and Evanston schools.
tion systems while tapping each institution’s
Dan Lewis. Along with helping researchers launch additional projects, the grant
funds new NEERA research fellows and brings informal, out-of-school learn-
Kirabo Jackson, the Abraham Harris Professor of Education and ing partners into the alliance.
Social Policy, and professor Cynthia Coburn were among 15 US The William T. Grant Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and Doris Duke
scholars who joined the prestigious National Academy of Educa Charitable Foundation have pooled resources to fund the grant in an effort
tion last year. Northwestern was the only institution to have two to address critical social issues.
inductees this year, and SESP now has 12 NAEd members over- The grant was awarded to SESP dean David Figlio, a principal investigator
Kirabo Jackson
all. Jackson also received the 2020 David N. Kershaw Award from with NEERA and the Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social
the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. The oldest of six children, Spillane grew up on Policy; Eric Witherspoon, superintendent of Evanston Township High School
a 21-acre dairy farm near Bantry in West Cork, District 202; and Devon Horton, superintendent of Evanston/Skokie School
Professor emerita Carol Lee was named president-elect of District 65. The grant will support new endeavors by SESP faculty mem-
Ireland. He first arrived in the US as an exchange
the National Academy of Education. Handbook of the Cultural bers Megan Bang, Mesmin Destin, and Simone Ispa-Landa, among others.
student at California State University, Chico,
Foundations of Learning (2020), coauthored by Lee, includes While Evanston school districts are among the highest-achieving in the
where he earned a master’s degree. salient strengths. Northwestern and CUHK are
work by SESP faculty members Megan Bang, Reed Stevens, nation, they also have some of the largest racial disparities in academic
In 2013 he was awarded Northwestern’s top-tier universities with strong global reputa-
Sepehr Vakil, and Shirin Vossoughi. achievement. The initial grant-enabled projects will help teachers support
Dorothy Ann and Clarence L. Ver Steeg Distin tions, multicultural student bodies, and inter-
Jen Munson
guished Research Fellowship. That same year, developing their students’ identities and smooth transitions from middle to
The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump: A Psychological Reckoning, national alumni networks. CUHK is known for
he was elected to the National Academy of high school.
the latest book by SESP psychology professor Dan McAdams, theoretical and empirical work in economics,
Education. In addition, the projects’ research findings will be used to help design
was released last March. while SESP’s emphasis on strong policy design
A gifted conversationalist, Spillane brings a and assess the professional development materials that teachers use to
and evaluation skills lends the program a practi-
passion and urgency to his work that inspires improve how they support students.
National Academy of Education/Spencer fellowships were cal component.
junior colleagues, says Rebecca Lowenhaupt, SESP and its alumni have received half of all the Institutional Challenge
awarded to assistant professor Jen Munson and graduate The program begins in August 2021 with
associate professor of educational leadership at Grants awarded to date. Previous recipients include Rachel Dunifon (PhD99),
students Cora Wigger and Julissa Muñiz. classes taught by both CUHK and SESP faculty on
Boston College, who coauthored Navigating the the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology
CUHK’s campus in Hong Kong’s Sha Tin District.
Julissa Muñiz
Human development and social policy faculty member Yang Qu Principalship: Key Insights for New and Aspiring at Cornell University, and Mimi Engel (PhD08), associate professor in the
After 10 months in Hong Kong, students will come
received a National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award School Leaders (2019) with Spillane and was a University of Colorado Boulder School of Education’s Research and
to Northwestern to complete seven months of
and was named a 2020 Rising Star by the Association for postdoctoral fellow at SESP. Evaluation Methodology program.
additional coursework to earn their degrees.
Psychological Sciences. “As we reimagine schooling in the context of
the COVID-19 disruption, the skills of principals
Learning sciences faculty member Shirin Vossoughi won the are particularly relevant,” she says.
2020 Ver Steeg Graduate Faculty Award.
Yang Qu
4 SESP WIN T ER 2021 5
I didn't even know what
HTML was last month.
Yesterday, I coded my
ery own web page!
Hey, did you hear
my new DJ track
Picking Up STEAM
Yeah, I’m definitely Amid COVID-19 closures, a learning ecosystem flourished, powered by digital resources and
community mentoring. Free programs and activities in science, technology, engineering, the arts,
onna be famous
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TunePad has a
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>Join new version,
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Powered by From their training, the “It’s something that many of us have
mentoring college students gain foun- dreamed of but never seen actualized.
Programs on dational computer science Now we know the power of what we’ve
STEAMville are skills, including coding, digi- created, and this gives us a great opportu-
facilitated by tal making, and computa- nity to build on.”
college students tional thinking. They’re also
who have participated exposed to a network of partners Cultivating STEM identities
in the STEAMbassadors and an ecosystem of professional Research suggests that young people
program, the ambitious com learning opportunities for added growth. working as mentors develop a strong
munity mentoring initiative that OCEP Beyond technical skills, the STEAM “STEM identity,” the ability to think of
was set to launch in person in March 2020, bassadors program gives young themselves as science learners, science
just prior to the start of the pandemic. adults the confidence and users, and even as contributors
The program prepares Black and Latinx drive to give back to to science. This identity
young adults from two- and four-year their own communi- makes them more
colleges to engage elementary and middle ties as role models. likely to continue to
school-aged youth in STEAM-related “This is a cultivate science
activities. movement,” says literacy or persist
As the program’s website announced Shawn Jackson, on educational
last spring, “STEAMville will come alive president of pathways toward
with STEAMbassadors as DIY creators, Harry S Truman science careers
makers, coders, instructors, mentors, College, part of or STEM-related
community builders, (virtual) tour guides, the City Colleges professions, says
assessors, and coaches focusing on the of Chicago and a Kristen Perkins,
STEAM interests and superpowers of the lead STEAM partnership coordina-
youth of their communities.” bassadors partner. tor of the Northwestern
SESP’s Office of Community Education Partnerships University–Evanston Township High “Someday I want to have my own agency where kids
School partnership office.
[ PARTNERS ] [ PURPOSE ] [ PROGRAMS ] [ PEOPLE ]
“I know how valuable mentors have can get help from me and have someone to look up to.”
been in my life. I joined STEAMbassadors —STEAMbassador Sharif King
because if I could become that valuable
to someone else, it would be awesome,”
STEAMville, connects young people to
says DePaul University graduate student Perhaps the clearest sign that STEAM-
Marianella Osorio, who majored in user meaningful learning opportunities. bassadors can start changing lives
experience design as an undergraduate. Through a partnership among the City came during Zoom calls: nearly all the
At the same time, “if a middle school girl of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, DePaul, STEAMbassadors added “mentor” to
is not participating in STEM activities like and Northwestern, Pinkard and her OCEP their screen names, and soon the middle
robotics or coding club, the data suggest team also created the digital infrastruc- schoolers followed suit. When mentor
that no matter how she does academically, ture for My CHI. My Future. Malik Madkins saw a screen full of chil-
Several program participants say the
she won’t decide to pursue a STEM major dren with “mentor” as a part of their
in college,” Pinkard says. experience clarified what they hope to do names, he grew emotional.
in the future. Sharif King, a social work “I never knew I could do that much to
“I cried a little bit” major at Truman, calls his STEAMbassa inspire the kids to change who they are,
OCEP’s STEAMbassadors program is part dorship his training wheels: “Someday to be a role model,” Madkins says. “I cried
of Chicago Youth Service Corps, a signa- I want to have my own agency where kids a little bit, but they didn’t see the tears.”
ture component of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s can get help from me and have someone
My CHI. My Future. initiative, which, like to look up to,” he says.
8 SESP WIN T ER 2021 9
How OCEP Pivoted during the Pandemic
SESP’s Office of Community Education Partnerships improves learning and well-being in Northwestern’s home
communities of Evanston and Chicago—and beyond. When schools were forced to go remote last spring, the OCEP
team adapted and even expanded several key programs.
STEAMBASSADORS BAXTER CENTER FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION PANDEMIC PIVOT: Mentors used the pro-
MISSION: To help college students discover bcse.northwestern.edu gram’s existing online platform to deliver Uri Wilensky’s Radical Vision Takes Root
and strengthen their STEAM interests and MISSION: To provide direct support for sci- narrative stories that follow a virtual Digital
share their passions with youth through ence educators, including free classroom Youth Divas group as it overcomes various
mentorship and creative activities. supplies and professional development challenges.
PANDEMIC PIVOT: All training for STEAM programs.
bassadors and all youth programming went PANDEMIC PIVOT: The Baxter Center CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN COMPUTER
virtual. STEAMville’s playlists—including created a weekly teacher virtual learning SCIENCE EDUCATION
faculty projects like TunePad, FUSE, and series to discuss research-based principles cecse.northwestern.edu
Digital Divas—were critical resources. The for online learning and the challenges of MISSION: CECSE addresses the inequities
program borrowed 170 laptops including moving to remote classes. The Baxter Box in coding and computer science learning
50 from Northwestern’s Center for Talent Program, which provides teachers with opportunities, from programming
Development and 20 from the Center for free lab equipment, was modified education for youth to profes-
Excellence in Computer Science Education. for at-home use; the new sional learning and skill
The City Colleges of Chicago also loaned Baxter Box@Home pro- building for teachers.
laptops. After the summer program ended, gram allowed teachers to With a focus on
nearly 20 STEAMbassadors successfully borrow a demo version advanced computer
found jobs in Evanston and Chicago to sup- of the Baxter Box, science courses, the
port STEAM learning. which includes center provides free
OCEP PARTNERS: City Colleges of Chicago, pipettes, a gel box, a professional develop-
led by Truman College; DePaul University; thermocycler, and an ment for educators
Chicago Park District; Project Exploration; entire classroom set of and supports computer
and dozens of community organizations and lab reagents. science and coding pro-
nonprofits including the Evanston Public OCEP PARTNERS: Baxter gramming with city and
Library, Chicago’s Peggy Notebaert Nature International Foundation, community partners across
Museum, creative writing and tutoring cen- Lindblom Math and Science Academy Chicago.
ter 826 Chi, and AeroStar Avion Institute, a in Chicago’s West Englewood neighbor- PANDEMIC PIVOT: CECSE supported One
nonprofit that promotes awareness of avia- hood, and Round Lake High School in Summer Chicago’s app-development pro-
tion career pathways. Chicago’s northern suburbs. gram for youth as it transitioned to an
all-virtual experience, providing training and
DIGITAL YOUTH DIVAS resources for its 21 instructors and support-
ing its end-of-summer virtual showcase of
MISSION: To support a learning ecosystem
the apps and documentary shorts created
of college-age mentors, resources for fami-
by participants. CECSE also helped facili-
lies, and community support by offering a
tate the donation of nearly 7,000 Osmo
research-based weekend STEAM program
hands-on learning games to children,
for girls beginning in fourth grade, with out-
educators, and community organizations
comes tracked through high school.
in Evanston and Chicago.
OCEP PARTNERS: Computing and technol-
OCEP PARTNERS: Lane Tech College Prep
ogy professors Sheena Erete and Denise
on Chicago’s North Side and Chicago Public
Nacu of DePaul University’s College of
Schools.
Computing and Digital Media.
10 SESP WIN T ER 2021 11
ri Wilensky realized more than 40 years ago that
knowing how to frame problems with a computer
is no less a core skill for school-aged kids than
reading, ’riting, or ’rithmetic.
His programmable NetLogo modeling knowledge is represented in an incomplete
environment has helped hundreds of thou- way.”
sands of students, teachers, and research- Computational representations—or the
He envisioned teaching this approach to ers tackle complex ideas ranging from depiction of knowledge as computer code—
all students, not just those enrolled in the formation of crystals and galaxies to help illustrate how complexity emerges
computer science classes—a select few the patterns of wealth distribution, when elements in a system interact, which
in American K–12 schools of the 1980s. inequality, and segregation in a city. in turn “reveals more of what’s actually
Then, as he waited for the world to catch going on,” Wilensky explains. To keep our
up to this unusual idea, he began to make ACTIVE BEATS PASSIVE ecology in balance, for example, we need
it happen. Rather than memorize equations and to see how global transportation networks
Today Wilensky, the Lorraine H. Morton apply formulas to solve problems, people can allow a random plant or animal to
Professor of Learning Sciences and Com using Wilensky’s computer programs arrive in a foreign ecosystem, invade it,
puter Science at SESP and the McCormick create, explore, and test simulations. and dominate it.
School of Engineering and Applied Science, An active experience, as opposed to a Wilensky also believes that education
is the father of a worldwide movement to passive one, imparts context and meaning is most effective when lessons are based such transformations “restructurations” says Wilensky’s colleague Mike Horn,
harness the power of computer modeling to learning, says Wilensky. “In order to on students’ interests and intuition. Or in of knowledge. With the advent of powerful associate professor of learning sciences URI WILENSKY
and simulations and foster the mindset solve societal problems—such as epidemics other words, “We should have logic on tap, computation, they said, representing ideas and computer science. BY THE NUMBERS
known as “computational thinking.” or traffic jams—we need to understand the not on top”—to quote the late Seymour as computer code could improve computa- Wilensky, who came to Northwestern
The intellectually voracious son of two world as thickly connected, as composed Papert, the renowned learning theorist, tional literacy in the same way that mov- in 2000, has long argued and demon- More than $40 million
university professors has drawn on his life of networks, random events, and emergent mathematician, and educational technol- ing to the Hindu-Arabic system increased strated that when younger students learn in grant money raised
experiences, international upbringing, phenomena,” he says. The more abstract ogy visionary who was Wilensky’s the power and accessibility of arithmetic. conceptual science, technology, engineer-
and thirst for usable knowledge to moti- the idea, the more likely we are to deem doctoral adviser at the Massachusetts ing, and math (STEM) content through a Over 350 scholarly
vate, teach, and empower students from it genius, he continues, but often “abstract Institute of Technology. NETLOGO computational modeling approach, they publications
pre-K to graduate school—and beyond. ideas are hard to grasp because the Wilensky and Papert’s groundbreaking NetLogo, designed by Wilensky in 1999, can grasp the material as well as college
work involved studying the historical was the vehicle he and Papert needed to students do. Over 400 validated
development of representations and tech- test their theory. NetLogo helps users His research also suggests that it’s computational models
nologies to see how introducing more understand and visualize complex and easier to train teachers in computational
His book An Introduction
powerful systems impacts learning and interconnected phenomena, from the thinking in their subject areas, such as
to Agent-Based Modeling,
knowledge. spread of diseases like HIV/AIDS and chemistry or history, than to train and
coauthored with William Rand
Prior to the 14th century, for example, COVID-19 to the ways species interact retain full-time computer science teach- and first published in 2015,
the use of Roman numerals made it hard and compete in stable ecosystems. ers, who are in short supply. This strategy has been reprinted five times.
for most people to do basic math. As soci- The software enables users to control of including many subject areas ensures
ety gradually moved to the current Hindu- the actions of agents—infected people, that more students, including tradition-
Arabic system, even young children could predatory animals, and so forth—in a sim- ally underrepresented groups, will have
learn how to multiply, divide, and more. ulated setting. A student using NetLogo opportunities to learn computational that children could learn difficult concepts
Wilensky and Papert hypothesized that would tell the agents how to behave, then thinking. with the help of computers in general. But
novel ways of representing ideas can fun- watch what happens as they interact. In the 1980s, however, the precursors of after more than two decades of continuous
damentally alter how people learn—what “NetLogo is not just software and not what would become NetLogo could only development, Wilensky’s free, open-source
they can grasp and do—and who is capable just a programming language. It’s an envi- run on multimillion-dollar experimental tool is now the world’s most widely used
Sample models from NetLogo’s programmable modeling environment library of doing it. The duo coined a term, calling ronment that changes the way you think,” research computers. People also doubted agent-based modeling software.
12 SESP WIN T ER 2021 13
But Wilensky never forgot his parents’ “My first impression of Uri was of a
NetLogo is not just software and not just dedication to their students. “Both of my whirlwind of creative engagement with
, parents were really, really good teachers, the understanding of ideas,” says Levy,
NetLogo BY THE NUMBERS
a programming language. It s an environment
and I caught that bug,” he recalls. He now senior lecturer at the University
Millions of users worldwide
that changes the way you think. returned to school, earning his PhD at of Haifa and director of its Systems
MIT, and never looked back. Learning and Development Lab. “I was
Over a million student users
totally amazed by Uri’s ability to take any
LAUNCHING LABS AND CAREERS topic and ask pertinent, careful questions Thousands of scientific
In the 21 years since NetLogo’s debut in to get at the underlying structures.” research users
“REALLY, REALLY GOOD TEACHERS” northern Israel where girls generally to prayer and Talmudic study, Wilensky K–12 classrooms, Wilensky has inspired Inside Wilensky’s lab were people who
Wilensky’s path to academia was perhaps didn’t attend school past eighth grade. She loved literature, psychology, philosophy, scores of graduate students to pursue were “passionate about the quality and Over 2,000 scientific articles
preordained, yet he at first resisted the successfully lobbied her parents to let her mathematics, science, and science fiction. careers in learning sciences and computa- depth of learning theories, educational on studies using NetLogo
calling. enroll in a high school in Jerusalem, and “I questioned a lot of my teachers’ ideas— tional modeling. He is the founding direc- technologies, and artificial intelligence,” across all disciplines
His father, Mordecai, convinced of an she later attended Hebrew University. not to refute but to poke,” he says. “That tor of the Center for Connected Learning says Paulo Blikstein (PhD09), a professor
impending Nazi invasion, left Poland in After meeting and marrying Mordecai, didn’t go over very well.” and Computer-Based Modeling, a research at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
1934 as a teenager and settled in the moving to Boston, and receiving a hard- After graduating from Brandeis Univer group that develops tools, learning envi- “We cared about student empowerment,
Palestine/Israel region (then under the won doctorate from Harvard, she eventu- sity with degrees in math, philosophy, and ronments, and curricula. He also founded about building knowledge by actively people to unexpected heights and results
British mandate); his family later perished ally became a trailblazing philosophy theater, Wilensky questioned whether and codirects Northwestern’s joint com- constructing things in the world,” in people becoming fast and true friends,”
in Nazi death camps in Poland. Mordecai professor and a long-serving department academia was his destiny. He began puter science and learning sciences doc- Blikstein says. “Uri was adamant on those Levy adds. “Uri’s unbound love of life,
eventually received the first PhD awarded chair at Haifa University. designing commercial computer-aided toral program—the first of its kind in the principles. We cared about public educa- his always searching for—and finding—
by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Wilensky spent most of his early child- design systems, collaborating with US—and was a cofounder of the North tion and social justice. It wasn’t just wonderful ways to experience the world,
and went on to teach history at Harvard, hood shuttling between Boston and Israel, high-flying architects such as I. M. Pei, western Institute on Complex Systems. research for its own sake. It was also part are a constant inspiration for me.”
Oxford, and Haifa Universities and where his parents settled when he was 14. which convinced him that humans and Working with Wilensky had such a of a larger idea of making schools more
Hebrew College of Boston, among others. They sent him to study at a yeshiva, hop- computers can develop partnerships—and strong impact on postdoctoral fellow equitable and less oppressive.” BY LISA STEIN
Wilensky’s mother, Sarah, the daughter ing he might continue the family’s rab- that these alliances were the way forward Sharona Levy, she switched fields to Beyond the work, however, Wilensky
of a rabbi, grew up in Tzfat, a small city in binic line. Although his days were devoted for science, society, and learning. study learning complexity. “creates a social environment that grows
Teachers Learn How to Add Computational Thinking to Their Classes
L
ongtime Chicago Public Schools The free, four-week professional devel- “The partnership is truly 50-50, with the Juhl and one of her codesign partners
special education and biology opment summer workshop brings teachers Northwestern team using computational modified a NetLogo model to create a
teacher Sue Juhl has a self- together with the CT-STEM team to brain- tools to help teachers make what and how COVID-19 pandemic simulation (right) that
described “unhealthy fear of storm ideas and cocreate curricula that they teach more powerful and engaging,” lets students control the number of people
computers and any kind of programming.” teachers can use in the coming school year. Wilensky says. infected who remain symptom-free.
But after just four weeks working with Even after the official training ends, the “Every scientific discipline—biology, Modeling shows how the virus spreads
Northwestern learning and computer sci- Northwestern team supports teachers in chemistry, physics—heavily uses compu- when parameters regarding infectiousness
entists and curriculum developers, Juhl the classroom and online. The codesigned tational methods and tools,” says Horn. and behavior are changed.
unveiled a timely and relevant new class curricula are then reviewed by instruction “Computer coding is how scientists deal Juhl’s curriculum, designed for special
that combines computer models, data, design experts and made available for with large and small amounts of data. education and English-language learners,
and algorithms with social-emotional public use on the CT-STEM website. We’re trying to bring high school science includes seven lessons that can be used for
learning to help students recognize and Led by SESP professors Uri Wilensky in line with real science and bring it alive.” students in grades six through ten.
mitigate the risk of COVID-19. and Michael Horn, the CT-STEM program Students use Wilensky’s NetLogo com- “COVID-19 is more than just a scientific
Juhl was among the more than 70 educa- builds on a decade of work with high putational modeling environments and phenomenon,” Juhl says. “It is also a social,
tors who have learned how to incorporate school science teachers. Wilensky and Horn and Wilensky’s NetTango blocks- financial, and emotional one. So we built
newly acquired computational tools and Horn also codirect the world’s first joint based interface to explore an array of this into the model to personalize it and
skills into their curricula through North PhD program in computer science and questions, including how diseases spread, help kids discuss it.”
western’s Computational Thinking in STEM learning sciences. how lines move at the grocery store, and
program (ct-stem.northwestern.edu). how quickly forest fires burn.
14 SESP WIN T ER 2021 15
“By addressing trauma and basic life needs, [Olson] is chipping away at what
made these women susceptible to this in the first place.” —Tabitha Bonilla
Under nonpandemic circumstances, come into the program, they learn to be
the women of Salt & Light gather twice a communicative through yoga.”
week in a cozy two-room space in Chicago The women also practice key workplace
that formerly housed a yoga studio. The skills like communication, leadership, and
program’s first six months include trauma- empathy and start thinking about longer-
sensitive yoga, reflection, and meditation term goals such as getting a degree or
to help the women reconnect with their starting a business. Personal stylists and
bodies and reduce anxiety and stress. life coaches help them gain confidence to
Salt & Light:
They also learn about the crucial roles of reenter the work force. In a role-playing
nutrition and exercise in both physical exercise, volunteers act like employers and
and mental health. listen to mock elevator speeches.
Yoga changed how Taylor Holm viewed During the program’s final month,
A Healing Coalition
her body. “I didn’t see it as a temple, or women entrepreneurs give presentations
anything important,” says Holm, 23, who on how to create a business, and the
completed the program in 2018 and now women in the program compete in a Shark
teaches yoga. “My body was something to Tank–like competition. “The goal isn’t to
be used, a tool to get something I wanted. launch a company or get an MBA,” Olson
Through yoga, I started becoming aware says. “Rather, it’s to stress the point that
of how every part of my body felt. Certain something is possible if they dream.”
Izabel Olson (PhD14) was teaching a women’s yoga class at Chicago’s positions brought up emotions and trauma,
but this helped me start to heal.” A nimble transition
Cook County Jail when she learned that many of her students were The program’s second six-month phase Olson’s response to the COVID-19 pan-
survivors of sex trafficking. emphasizes education and job training. demic and the statewide shelter-in-place
H
Women work with mentors and start yoga orders was swift, multilayered, and a tes-
teacher training—not necessarily to pre- tament to the strength of her partnerships
ow was it, she wondered, that jail. I was a single mom by 18,” Olson says. cohort of five women. Prior to the COVID-
pare them to teach yoga but to rebuild and her stable of volunteers.
she hadn’t gone down the “I realized why I had not been trafficked: 19 pandemic, the program was accepting
their ability to communicate. About 20 To maintain community and stability,
same path, given that her own education, community, yoga, and faith. I 40 women a year and preparing them for
percent of the women do go on to teach she transitioned Salt & Light’s programs StreetWise Magazine named Izabel Olson
early life paralleled those of recognized that if Salt & Light could bring careers in the wellness sector. Participants
yoga, Olson says. to all-virtual or hybrid formats; a church one of its 20 most inspiring Chicagoans in
some of the incarcerated women? those protective factors to women, we received a Chicago transit card and a sti- 2020. In 2017 she received the Illinois
“Women who are trafficked are often partner donated tablets to help ensure
That question became the catalyst could help them heal.” pend to help them avoid the leading causes Secretary of State’s Latina Humanitarian
told not to speak,” Olson says. “When they that participants could have online access. Achievement Award.
for the nonprofit Salt & Light Coalition of recidivism: financial pressures and lack
Each woman attended a weekly tele-
(saltandlightcoalition.com), a program Addressing trauma and vulnerability of job training.
therapy session and received frequent
Olson founded to “heal, educate, and Although the underground nature of “Poverty, immigration status, and previ-
check-in phone calls from Salt & Light dinner conversations on various facets of
empower” survivors of human trafficking. trafficking makes exact figures hard to ous abuse or assault are key risk factors,”
It’s a fact: staffers. Olson’s partners, including a the human-trafficking problem. The
Drawing on both her personal experience obtain, evidence suggests that at least says SESP assistant professor of human
restaurant and another church commu- series, which included powerful personal
and the learning sciences doctorate she 16,000 women and girls in Chicago are development and social policy Tabitha Sex or sex and labor trafficking
nity, both based in Chicago, helped deliver testimonies from women in the program,
earned at SESP, Olson designed a holistic involved in the commercial sex trade each Bonilla, who studies public understanding accounted for nearly 80 percent
groceries and restaurant-quality meals also helped families learn how to recog-
yearlong curriculum around health and year, according to the Illinois Department of human trafficking and what efforts to of the Illinois trafficking cases
twice a week—along with flower arrange- nize signs of trauma and discussed the
wellness, spirituality, job training, and of Human Services. fight trafficking look like in communities. reported to the National Human
Trafficking Hotline in 2019. ments on Mother’s Day. role of faith in moving forward.
entrepreneurship. Olson’s all-volunteer Salt & Light Coali “By addressing trauma and basic life needs,
In the spring Olson developed Pass the There were, of course, serious chal-
“My own early life was a struggle: I expe- tion, which takes its name from a Bible Olson is chipping away at what made these
Salt, a series of webinars in the form of lenges to transitioning the program to a
rienced homelessness. My father was in verse, began in 2017 in Chicago with a women susceptible in the first place.”
16 SESP WIN T ER 2021 17hybrid model, where half of the partici- “Many of the women we work with have experienced a
pants are on site with masks and the
other half take part via Zoom. “We’ve had
level of brokenness that doesn’t allow them to believe
issues with the offline-versus-online that we are here to support them.” —Izabel Olson
dynamic, but we’re trying different equip-
ment to see if we can find the right bal-
ance,” Olson says.
Overall, the online component has C OALITION VOLUNTEER NATASHA VASAN
worked better than she expected. “The
SESP undergraduate Natasha Vasan wrote Salt & Light’s
phone check-ins may have made the dif-
first successful grant application during her summer
ference,” she says. “The structure helped
practicum, an experience that changed her life. She now
the women get through the quarantine.”
hopes to study law “to fight for those whose voices are
The switch to online delivery was also
taken from them, who are born without a voice, or whose
a “great opportunity to understand the
voices are inherently quieter or less likely to be heard,”
impact of a different medium on our out-
she says.
comes and attrition rates.” Olson says.
An online module that could expand her The women of Salt & Light taught Vasan that “the
healing model to reach women across inescapable victimhood, mental and physical abuse,
the country is in the works. and subjectification of being trafficked not only made
speaking up impossible, it caused them to believe that no one would listen,” Vasan
From Rio to Evanston wrote in her application to law school. “I saw firsthand how oppression and subjec-
As a teenager in Brazil, where most of her tivity are agents that mute. It is not fair—or acceptable.”
extended family still lives, Olson found
Although her practicum has ended, Vasan is still volunteering as a grant writer for
herself in an abusive relationship. By 18,
Salt & Light. “It was a really good feeling to do something outside of school that
she was alone and pregnant with her son,
made an impact,” she says.
Gabriel. It was a hard road, she says, but
one that prepared her for what she is
doing now.
She credits her mother’s unflagging
belief in education—and a strong convic- by attending night school in Rio de Janeiro. Olson hit her stride once she began Moving toward the light meet them. I’m there to help them start
tion that her daughter could accomplish She spent her days working as a teacher talking about launching a nonprofit. She Even though she already has her PhD in doing things.”
whatever she set her mind to—with helping in wealthier parts of the city and volun- had no experience, but “it was like I spoke It’s a fact: learning sciences, Olson has returned to Olson’s data also suggest that the pro-
turn her life around. “I had no choice but to teered after work in the favelas, the poorer it into being,” she says. When she met 88 percent of Salt & Light school to pursue a master’s in counseling gram is working, at least initially. In a
believe I could succeed, because she was so areas on the outskirts of town. Rosemary Grant Higgins, a retired graduates secure a job at the end through Northwestern’s Center for Applied recent poll of those who had graduated at
passionate in believing I could do any- Her learning sciences dissertation, which Chicago criminal courts judge who had of the program. Psychological and Family Studies. least a year earlier, 80 percent were still
thing,” Olson says. “Because of her, won an American Education Research presided over commercial sexual exploita- Meanwhile, she wants Salt & Light’s part of the workforce a year following
fear was never part of my psychology.” Association award for best student paper tion cases for two decades, things began future direction to be set by the coalition’s graduation.
Before starting her SESP PhD program in 2013, examined the relationship between falling into place. community. Two graduates, Holm and “I work three or four jobs, but it feels so
in 2009, Olson earned bachelor’s and mas- cognition and culture and looked at how Higgins helped her set up partnerships they leave. The exit interview allows the Patience Roberts, have worked as peer much better working hard for my money
ter’s degrees in linguistics and teaching favela dwellers’ social experiences affect and meet key people. Olson sat down and women to give feedback, enabling the pro- support specialists. Graduates also sit on than doing something that’s destroying
their thinking about complex situations. wrote the curriculum, drawing on her doc- gram to better serve the next cohort. the advisory board, and their input has me on the inside,” says Holm, who wants
Although Olson loved her graduate toral training and her experiences in the Still, about half of the women drop out helped shape the job-training curriculum. to become a certified alcohol and drug
work, she wasn’t feeling a natural flow to antitrafficking community. “I noticed before finishing, Olson says. “Many of the “I’m more than just a support system. counselor or a life coach. “I’m so grateful
It’s a fact: her life. “There’s a sweet spot between gaps that needed to be filled if the cycle of women have experienced a level of broken- I hold them accountable,” says Holm, who for my life now.”
94 percent of Salt & Light’s working hard and finding the path of least trafficking was to be broken,” she says. ness that doesn’t allow them to believe meets regularly with the women. “They
women have histories of resistance,” she said in a Q&A on the web- The curriculum includes a research we are here to support them,” she says. see me a little bit different because I’ve BY JULIE DEARDORFF
substance abuse, and 77 percent site Seriously Badass Women. “I call that component, which Olson calls the pro- “Others have issues beyond our control: been through what they’ve been through.
have had mental health issues. my rhythm of grace. If that energy is not gram’s backbone. The women complete housing, childcare, several deaths in the I call and say, ‘Did you get your driver’s
there in my work, I stop and reassess.” surveys both when they arrive and when family—you name it.” license yet?’ If not, I’ll pick them up or
18 SESP WIN T ER 2021 19You can also read
