Emma Gargroetzi

Emma Gargroetzi is assistant professor of STEM Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. Inspired by 15 years of working with young people in New York City, Latin America and California's Bay Area, Emma's research focuses on identity, power and educational justice in the mathematical lives of children and youth. Her ongoing work examines the use of quantitative reasoning in youth, civic composing and the possibilities for educational dignity in mathematics learning environments. Emma predominantly approaches research through ethnographic methods and video-based social interaction analysis.

As a 2022 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow Emma is working with STEM and Humanities teachers and youth across the U.S. to launch the Transdisciplinary Civic Learning Collaborative, a space for learning that combines literary and quantitative practices for the purpose of civic learning and social problem-solving. Drawing on teacher inquiry and case study methodologies, the research is conceived as a social design-based experiment with the purpose of illuminating new possibilities for youth and schools in building an anti-oppressive and inclusive democracy. Bringing together theory and practice contributed through research in critical literacy, mathematics for social justice and youth civic composing, the study takes a critical sociocultural approach to exploring youth identities and participation as civic actors in unprecedented times. The research will contribute insight into the possibilities and challenges of schools, especially language arts and math classrooms, as sites of civic imagination. The project is driven by the hypothesis that transdisciplinary collaboration between Humanities and STEM educators locally and across sites, supported through a critical teacher learning community, may open new avenues for youth identities and engagement in literacy, mathematics and civic life.

Emma received her Ph.D. from Stanford University with a dual focus in race, inequality and language in education and in mathematics education. She also holds an M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College in peace education, an M.S. from Brooklyn College in teaching students with disabilities, and a B.A. in political science from Vassar College.