Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy Friends and former lab member

beingzion@gmail.com	Dr. Benzi Slakman I am a researcher in the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy and in the School of Education at the Hebrew University. My research explores the relationship between pedagogical design and learning conversations, with emphasis on dialogic and argumentation theories. The research is conducted in collaborative learning environments, mainly through technological mediation. I am interested in educational technological initiatives and have written on educational technological policy in Israel as well as on learning with social networks and new media. My research explores new approaches to political and civic education, dialogic teaching, and philosophical inquiry with children: the asking of questions, humanistic conversation practices, and ways of observing works of art. My research on teachers and professional development settings addresses methods of assessing dialogue and collaborative learning, facilitation practices, emotions in learning discussions, and teachers' roles in relation to emotions in controversy-raising discussions. I also am engaged in the development of technological tools and learning environments that promote reflectivity in deliberation processes, methods of professional observation of professional materials, and teachers' use of theories of knowledge and dialogical instruction to examine and improve their teaching. My interest and engagement in pedagogical development focuses mainly on humanistics and fostering literacy. I also work as a pedagogical coach and teacher educator in schools and kindergartens.
chenlaufer@gmail.com	Chen Laufer I am a research assistant in the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy. I assist in the development of coding variables, coding the discourse structure of tape-recorded team meetings in schools participating in the research, and dividing these meetings into activity units according to content categories. I have a double BA in Education and Sociology-Anthropology from Ben-Gurion University. I am currently doing my Masters in Learning Disabilities in the Department of Education at Tel Aviv-University.
asterhan@huji.ac.il	Dr. Christa Asterhan I am a senior lecturer at the School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lead the Learning and Interaction Lab there. I explore the cognitive and social dimensions of learning through human interaction. I am a strong proponent of a multidisciplinary, multi-method approach to the study of learning through interaction. In my own research, I combine controlled experiments, detailed dialogue analyses and self-report data collection methods and am informed by theories from cognitive science, social psychology, communication, and developmental psychology. Topic-wise, my research interests are in collaborative learning, argumentation, teacher support of learning dialogues, conceptual change, teacher-teacher dialogues, social network technology in education, and computer-mediated communication. To Christa's website
****eia994@mail.harvard.edu	Dr. Einav Aizikovitsh-Udi I am a researcher and teacher learning community coach in the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy. I hold a PhD in Mathematics Education from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University School of Education. My main academic and professional interests are: conceptual development of systemic models, courses, and tools for the study of pedagogy, mathematics, and mathematics learning in advanced technological settings. My research focuses on the study of mathematics instruction and the impact of multidisciplinary integrations on teaching staff development, particularly in mathematics education. Examples of my most recent studies include: creating a systemic effect in the transition from a disciplinary coaching model to a school coaching model; the impact of gender on mathematics learning; empowering teachers through running; the impact of mathematics applications on the teaching and learning processes; development of critical thinking through probabilistic models; and the reciprocal relations between critical thinking and statistical thinking.
hadar.netz@gmail.com	Dr. Hadar Netz I am a lecturer in the Program for Multilingual Education, the School of Education, Tel-Aviv University. I am interested in linguistic aspects of discourse in general and of classroom discourse in particular. I employ mainly methods of Discourse Analysis and Conversation Analysis, methods that are based on micro-analysis of the discourse. In my research on classroom discourse, I look at the expression of various social aspects, such as ideology, gender, standard language, and socio-economic status, focusing on their relation to learning opportunities.
hagitku@bgu.ac.il	Hagit Kuperstein I am the Administrative Director of the Unit for the Promotion of Professionalism in Education, in the Department of Education, which is involved in training, facilitating, and professional development of educators at all stages of their careers. The Unit and Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy have a close and collaborative working relationship in research and training activities.
itaypollak75@gmail.com	Dr. Itay Pollack I hold a PhD from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. As a researcher at the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy, I collaborated on research on discourse and classroom interaction and professional development of teacher teams. In addition, I served as the Lab’s coaching coordinator and facilitated the coaches’ professional development. My current research deals with the epistemic climate in elementary schools. I explore ways in which knowledge is related to and structured in the classroom discourse and how teachers construct shared knowledge about teaching in the framework of their discourse on teaching. Using ethnographic and linguistic tools and methods, I research classroom interaction with a focus on such issues as dialogicity, language skills instruction, and teaching controversial issues. I currently serve as the Pedagogical Coordinator of the Academic Development and Teaching Promotion Unit at Ben-Gurion University, in which I develop and promote opportunities for the University’s academic faculty to improve and advance their pedagogy.
roth@bgu.ac.il	Professor Guy Roth I am interested in how social environments influence human emotional regulation, motivation, personality development, and well-being. My research focuses on relationships between parents and children, teachers and students, as well as school principals and teachers, in an attempt to define optimal environments for personal and social growth.
michalram73@gmail.com	Michal Ram I am a research student in the Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. My research deals with the sharing of practice among teachers. I investigate the factors that advance and inhibit teachers from sharing with their colleagues issues that arise in classroom practice. In addition, I am a middle-school pedagogical vice-principal and coordinate the leading teachers program at the school, in the context of the pedagogical leadership and discourse framework.
ismirit@gmail.com	Dr. Mirit Israeli I am postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. My research interest is teacher leadership, with particular focus on the role of the team coordinator from the perspectives of school principals, coordinators, and teachers. As part of my work in the Laboratory, I co-developed the coding tables and am a lead researcher in the data analysis. I also coordinate the Lab data coding team and am responsible for the training of the data coders and research assistants. In addition, I am a pedagogical consultant at the Academic Development and Advancement of Teaching Unit at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
nadav.eh@gmail.com	Nadav Ehrenfeld I am currently a Mathematics Education PhD student at Vanderbilt University, under the supervision of Professor Ilana Horn. I hold a BSc in Mathematics & Computer Science and an MSc in Mathematics (with a focus on math education) from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. I am interested in questions such as how to support the professional development of math teachers in a way that focuses on their knowledge and experience, and how to support math students’ learning in a way that focuses on their thinking and understanding. In addition, I explore the social meaning of math studies or, as students might say, “What’s it good for?” As a member of the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy, I facilitated a collaborative mathematics teacher learning community. Prior to that, I taught math in pre-college and college programs.
assafnada99@gmail.com	Nadwa Assaf I was a research assistant in the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy. I have an MA in curriculum and pedagogy studies from the Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
noysa@post.bgu.ac.il	Noy Sabag I am a research assistant in the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy. At the Laboratory, I instruct the guided research course and engage in the development of coding variables, database management, and research on how teachers speak about standardized school achievement tests. I have a double BA in Education and English Literature from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and am currently an MA student in the Foreign Literature and Linguistics Department at Ben Gurion-University. My Masters thesis focuses on the understanding of metaphors in poetry.
trd269@mail.harvard.edu	Racheli Davies I am an alumna of Hotam/Teach First Israel and the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a facilitator of teacher learning. I train teacher leaders to facilitate learning for their peers, helping them look closely at and collaboratively analyze their practice on a regular basis. The goal is for teachers to lead their own learning and to continuously be discovering and adapting their teaching toward more targeted and deeper learning for their students and for themselves.
tali100@gmail.com	Dr. Tali Aderet-German I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Aalborg in Denmark, part of an international research team engaged in comparative research exploring testing and inclusion agendas in policy and practice. I was a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy for three years. In my PhD, at the University of Haifa, I investigated a self-evaluation process in a network of schools. My areas of research focus on the intersection between educational policy and the practice of school improvement. In the Lab, I focused on research that examines the mechanisms that enable scaling up of educational initiatives.
tamarab900@gmail.com	Dr. Tamara Bozokashvili As a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy, I studied identity-construction processes of leading teacher coaches. My research deals with identity-shaping processes, career development, and the structuring of knowledge and professional identity within different population groups, with emphasis on the interpersonal and cultural aspects of these processes. I have taught various BA courses in the Department of Education at Ben-Gurion University and am currently an instructor in the MA Educational Counselling Program.
yaelpul@gmail.com	Dr. Yael Pulvermacher I hold a PhD from the Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and an MA in Special Education from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. My doctorate, under the supervision of Professor Adam Lefstein, dealt with the development of teachers’ professional vision. My research interests focus on professional development of teachers and teaching instructors. I am currently Director of the Teach and Learn Center at the Kerem Institute—a center for teacher professional development. At the Center, we develop the knowledge necessary to lead learning processes in teacher learning communities seeking to improve educational work in schools. In this framework, we develop programs and train coaches and teaching teams.
fenigery@bgu.ac.il	Dr. Yariv Feniger I am a sociologist of education in the Department of Education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. My research focuses on various aspects of educational inequality and education policy. In my recent publications, I explored social inequality in Israeli higher education and the effects of national and international standardized tests on learning, instruction, school administration and educational decision-making.

Friends and former lab member

​Hagit Kuperstein

Hagit Kuperstein