Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · May 9

Thanks, Norma! It all started with my introduction to ed research courses in the MACSME program with you as my instructor :) Hope you are doing well!

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · May 9

Honored to receive the UTSA Research Achievement Award. It’s wild to be listed among faculty who are discovering new planets and developing new ways to treat brain diseases. 💙🧡
www.utsa.edu/today/2025/0...
@utsaroadrunners.bsky.social

Five UTSA faculty members honored for research achievements

www.utsa.edu

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Science of Teaching Math @scienceofteachmath.bsky.social · May 5

We just released a new video on how teacher stereotypes and expectations can impact a student’s math placement and feedback–and what teachers can do about it! Check it out below and let us know what you can do about bias in your classroom.

Watch now: youtu.be/g_sYNXvN2gQ

What Great Teachers Can Do About Bias

YouTube video by Science of Teaching Math

youtu.be

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Gale Sinatra @galesinatra.bsky.social · Mar 8

Science gave you the internet, cures for diseases, ozempic, and your IPHONE. Maybe instead of cutting funding, just thank a scientist! @StandUpForScience

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · Mar 7

#StandUpForScience demonstrators in New York's Washington Square Park called on the administration of US President Donald Trump to restore cuts for scientific and medical research.

A scene from above Washington Square Park where Stand Up for Science demonstrators are gathered.

A sign held by a demonstrator reads, "Government funded biomedical research saved my child's life."

A sign reads, "even the ocean is less fishy than this administration."

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Yasemin Copur-Gencturk @copurgencturk.bsky.social · Feb 23

Please share! We're seeking scholars to help us design AI-supported learning activities for teachers, enhancing their knowledge for teaching numbers, operations, & proportionality. Join us in advancing math education!

#MathEd #AI #Postdoc #Education

Apply here! usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

Postdoctoral Scholar-Research Associate at USC

Learn more about applying for Postdoctoral Scholar-Research Associate at USC

usccareers.usc.edu

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Feb 27

Predicting there will be lots more "There is a shortage of top notch ____" tweets from this walking crypto-scam.

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Feb 12

Finally, some decent news. Check out this UTSA Today article and video showing Dr. Sara Shields-Menard in action helping undergraduates at UTSA tackle the growing antibiotic resistance crisis as part of our USDA NIFA grant work. www.utsa.edu/today/2025/0... #NIFAimpacts #STEMEducation #DataScience

UTSA students search soil for new antibiotics in innovative STEM project

www.utsa.edu

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Feb 5

A nice platform for those looking to fight off despair with a quick hit of agency.

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Jan 16

This is helpful! Now asking myself where I put the title to my house. So happy you are safe 🙏.

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Jeffrey West Kirkwood @jeffreykirkwood.bsky.social · Dec 5

Now that Bitcoin has broken 100k it's worth remembering that the monstrous global resource destroying system on which it's based is not an outlier of the digital economy but an expression of its core logic—one that thrives on maximizing inefficiency www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

From Work to Proof of Work: Meaning and Value after Blockchain | Critical Inquiry: Vol 48, No 2

Abstract The price of Bitcoin is once more soaring. From early October 2020 to early January 2021, the price of a single Bitcoin token went from roughly $10,000 to nearly $65,000, reinspiring the hope...

www.journals.uchicago.edu

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Jeff Greene @jeffgreene.bsky.social · Dec 18

Looking for a leadership position in an energetic & productive School of Education where the faculty, staff, and students are working hard to make substantive, positive impacts in the community & the world? Then please consider applying for our Dean position!
buff.ly/3P4D7dM

Dean

Reporting to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, the Dean is the School's Chief Academic Officer and will provide academic, intellectual, and administrative leadership for the School. The Dean ...

buff.ly

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · Nov 25

Kendrick Lamar beat Drake in a rap battle so thoroughly that Drake called the police.

I will never stop laughing about this!

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Carlton J. Fong @carltonfong.bsky.social · Nov 16

Not sure if I did this right or not, but here are scholars who study motivation in educational settings, mostly affiliated with @aera-motsig.bsky.social and @aeraedresearch.bsky.social

go.bsky.app/3PuVgdT

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Jeff Greene @jeffgreene.bsky.social · Nov 15

If you've found yourself making impassioned arguments like "There's no evidence for learning styles and there are better ways to differentiate" or "Learning is more than just a cognitive process" then you may be Learning Scholar! Want to be added to this starter pack? Contact me! go.bsky.app/CBPm1dV

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

James Noonan @jmnoonan.bsky.social · Nov 23

This paper by @drmcquillan.bsky.social and @balebo.bsky.social and others, presented at #UCEA24, amplified both the mental health struggles of trans and questioning youth and also how networks of adults in schools are able to uplift and support them. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Transgender Adolescent School Climate, Mental Health, and Adult Social Support

This cross-sectional study describes gender differences in adolescent school climate, health, and social supports, including who depressed or anxious youth seek help from.

jamanetwork.com

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Joe Cimpian @joecimpian.bsky.social · Nov 21

🔬 Major new findings on STEM gender gaps: Looking across institutions over time, physics, engineering & computer science (PECS) show stark divides—gaps are closing at selective colleges but widening elsewhere. w/ @joalkhafajiking.bsky.social [<--🌟 on the job market 😉] www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An institution-level analysis of gender gaps in STEM over time

Gender gaps in engineering and computer science narrow at math-selective schools and widen in others

www.science.org

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Jeff Greene @jeffgreene.bsky.social · Nov 16

(1/x) If you are concerned about the democratic backsliding being seen around the world, then I urge you to read this new article in one of the top journals in my field: Review of Educational Research journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...
#PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

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Reposted by Ian Thacker

Yasemin Copur-Gencturk @copurgencturk.bsky.social · Oct 28

theconversation.com/us-math-teac...

US math teachers view student performance differently based on race and gender

Researchers asked math teachers why certain groups do better at math than others. The teachers had different answers for different groups.

theconversation.com

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Oct 21

This is a collaboration with STEM faculty at UTSA, Dr. Rebecca Schroeder and Dr. Sara Shields-Menard, to develop interdisciplinary online learning environments using place-based soil data to boost learning & motivation among diverse groups of undergrads. Rock and roll!

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Oct 21

Excited to announce that my team has been awarded a USDA NIFA HSI grant: "PBS-DIRT Don't Hurt: Place-Based Soil Data Interpretation and Research in Texas..." for $396k! 🌱📊 #NIFAimpacts #STEMEducation #DataScience

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Oct 21

Thanks for the kind words! To answer your question, the data visualizations and text presented students with point estimates (e.g. means and percentages). I haven’t considered integrating things like confidence intervals into the visualization yet, but that is a great idea!

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Oct 21

Check out my research featured in @us.theconversation.com:
"Climate change is easier to study when it’s presented as a game." theconversation.com/climate-chan...

Climate change is easier to study when it’s presented as a game

Students found the topic of climate change less boring when they studied it using a numbers estimation game.

theconversation.com

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Oct 20

Here to recycle a few old tweets. Starting with this:

Check out my recent publication in CEP, "Supporting secondary students’ climate change learning and motivation using novel data and data visualizations" sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Supporting secondary students’ climate change learning and motivation using novel data and data visualizations

National science standards at the secondary level currently recommend that students make sense of data constituting evidence of human-induced climate …

sciencedirect.com

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Ian Thacker @ianthacker.bsky.social · Oct 20

Please add me as well! This is so useful, thanks for giving me the push I needed to start turning my back on X, that icky icky place.

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