Siegler Lab at Columbia University
The Siegler Lab is dedicated to ongoing research into how theoretical understanding of mathematical development can be applied to improving children’s math learning.
Lab Members
Dr. Lauren Schiller, Postdoctoral researcher
Lauren is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Siegler Lab and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Teachers College Columbia University. She recently completed her Ph.D. at Teachers College with Dr. Siegler as her advisor. Lauren’s dissertation explored how children understand the relations among rational number notations. Previously, she completed her M.Ed. in Mind, Brain, and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her B.S. in Special and Elementary Education at Boston University. For the last few years, Lauren has managed research projects in schools across several different countries. She has also worked as a research assistant in labs at Harvard, NYU, and Teachers College related to mathematics and cognition. Lauren has been invited to facilitate professional development workshops for hundreds of teachers and present on her research in various conference settings. Prior to graduate work, Lauren implemented mathematics/reading interventions for students with disabilities and taught literacy and ethics at urban schools in Boston. Her major research interests include rational number instruction, mathematical difficulties and disabilities, teacher/student estimation ability, and young children’s number sense.
Jiwon Ban, Lab manager
Jiwon Ban is the lab’s full-time Lab Manager and Research Associate. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. in Psychology with a Developmental Concentration and a Minor in Hispanic Studies. While exploring different career paths during her time at CMU (e.g., interning at the university-affiliated laboratory preschool, volunteering at a youth psychiatric hospital, and working as a research assistant in a cognitive development lab), she discovered her passion for both research and classroom experiences. She has now completed two years of research training in the Siegler Lab, and beginning Fall 2021, she will be entering her doctoral program at Boston College, where she will be mentored by Drs. Elida Laski and Marina Vasilyeva.
Colleen Oppenzato, Doctoral student
Colleen is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Cognitive Science in Education program. She earned her M.A. in the same program in 2016 and holds B.A. degrees from Wesleyan University in English and Sociology. For the last several years, Colleen has worked as a research assistant in the Siegler Lab, coding and analyzing textbook data and conducting research projects in both K-12 schools and at universities. She is also currently an adjunct lecturer at City College of New York’s Center for Worker Education. Prior to graduate work, Colleen taught fifth and sixth grade general education and special education. She also worked as a math curriculum developer, assessment writer, editor and project manager for a variety of publishers. Her major research interests include children’s and adults’ understanding of rational numbers, the role of practice in improving children’s math learning, and the development of resources to help teachers enhance children’s understanding of math.
Colleen runs a weekly Math Journal Reading Group, please email her at co2116@tc.columbia.edu if you are interested in joining.
Casey Flynn, Doctoral student
Casey is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University in the Cognitive Science in Education program. Casey completed her M.Ed from the University of Notre Dame and her B.S. in Business Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For the past 10 years, Casey has been both a middle school and high school Mathematics teacher. She is passionate about helping teachers implement best practices in Math Education and believes there is much work to be done in this field. Casey’s major research interests include students’ understanding of graphs, using multiple representations in order to aid understanding, and mathematics assessment.
Yoojin Hahn, Doctoral student
Yoojin is a first-year student in the Cognitive Science in Education PhD program. She completed her B.A. in Psychology at Columbia University. Her major research interests include children’s numerical development, cognitive factors that predict math achievement, and formal and informal learning experiences that promote effective math learning.
Alexander McBurney, Master’s student
Alex has worked as a Research Assistant in the Siegler Lab for the past two years, as he completed his Master’s degree at Teachers College in Cognitive Science in Education. After receiving his B.A. from Yale University, he spent the past 15 years running tutoring programs for middle, high school, and college students. He is interested in the specific math skills associated with college and career readiness, and how these components are represented and measured on standardized assessments. He is also interested in applying statistical methods for identifying learners’ choice of strategies when solving problems in order to better inform feedback and instruction.
Malini Nair, Master’s student
Malini Nair is a second year Masters student in the Cognitive Science in Education program. She completed her BA at UC Berkeley and has previously worked at YuLab at the National University of Singapore and The Dynamic Brain Network Laboratory at Osaka University. Her current research centers on math learning games and how they can be better adapted for students’ rational number education.
Suzy Yinglong Wan, Master’s student
Yinglong is in the master program of cognitive science in education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also a member of the Siegler Lab at Columbia University. Previously, she worked as research assistant for SPAFF Lab and MAPLE Lab at university of Pittsburgh. She graduated from University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor of science in Psychology. She is interested in decision making, problem solving and math learning.
Yingying Zhang, Master’s student
Yingying Zhang is a current M.A. student at Teachers College Columbia University in the Cognitive Science in Education program. She graduated from Arizona State University with a B.A. in Early Childhood Education and Special Education. Ying is working as a research assistant at Dr. Siegler’s Lab. And she’s interested in researching the board game, numerical estimation, computation thinking, and number sense.
