Former Meredith faculty member and alumna, Lara Stroud Dick, ’03, has earned a Fulbright Award to study in Cyprus, a Mediterranean island located just south of Turkey. The Fulbright Award will allow Dick to continue her research on how math teachers can use technology to help students learn more effectively.

More specifically, she will be researching an educational practice known as “teacher noticing,” the process by which teachers observe and learn from the ways in which their students learn.

“Teacher noticing is a practice teachers go through every day when learning from their students’ thinking,” said Dick. “It includes three interrelated components: attend to students’ mathematics, interpret students’ mathematical understanding, and decide how to respond instructionally.”

Dick’s research on teacher noticing has been focused on helping teachers move from attending and interpreting their students’ thinking to making instructional decisions in their classrooms.

“We have found that when students are working with math action technologies, their engagement with the technology provides additional information for a teacher to consider when making a next-step instructional decision,” she said.

Now an associate professor of mathematics at Bucknell University, Dick works with future teachers every day. Her research will allow her to help her students become better educators.

“If you ask any of my former students to tell you about teacher noticing, they will be able to explain the importance of attending to their students’ mathematical thought process,” she said.

During her time in Cyprus, Dick will expand on this research and hopes to learn how Cypriot students engage with the same math action technologies that are used with students in the United States. “Specifically, I seek to answer the question, what is the role of language and culture in the manner students engage with different math technologies?” she said.

When Dick returns from Cyprus, she hopes to lead professional development with local secondary mathematics teachers and to continue helping her own students become better teachers.

“I am so thankful that I and my family have the chance to experience Cypriot culture,” she said. “I’m one-fourth Cypriot and am so excited for this opportunity.”