Seth studies ways of supporting students to use mathematics and science to construct and revise knowledge. He has conducted research that focuses on measuring the extent to which whole class discussions in middle grades classrooms support students to examine epistemological aspects of various statistical properties, worked on interdisciplinary teams to create innovative technologies for teachers and students in middle grades math classes, helped to develop new tools for assessing nuanced ways of thinking in middle grades students, and has developed frameworks and curricular approaches for interdisciplinary STEM learning environments organized around data modeling practices. 

There are three commitments that motivate this work: 1) Children are innovative, creative, and incredible sense-makers. 2) It is increasingly important to be able to reason mathematically and scientifically in order to have access to important cultural resources, and to engage in public discourse. So, all students should have opportunities to develop competency in using math and science to make sense of the world around them, and to engage in their communities in ways that are meaningful to them. 3) Research to develop these opportunities in ways that leverage children's ingenuity should be done in partnership with teachers and schools and make use of expertise from as many stakeholders as possible. 

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Seth has spent most of his life in Tennessee. He attended elementary school and high school in Polk County, TN. He attended Tennessee Technological University for his undergraduate degree, majoring in Mathematics and Secondary Education. He taught high school math for six years before attending Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt he worked with Dr. Richard Lehrer, and became interested in how students come to understand and use data to make inferences. After graduating, he worked with Dr. Jere Confrey at North Carolina State University building innovative digital tools to support middle school math teachers. In 2016 he started working at MTSU.

Seth is married to Jennifer, and has three children - Jacob, Andrew, and Eleanor. 

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Rosenberg, J., & Jones, R. S. (2024). Data Science Learning in Grades K-12: Synthesizing Research Across Divides. Harvard Data Science Review.Jones, R. S., Lovett, J., Fletcher, S.*, & Heath, A. L.* (2023). Psychology in Mathematics Education. In O’Donnell, A., Barnes, N. C., & Reeve, J. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Educational Psychology. Online edition, Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199841332.013.51

Jones, R. S., Banilower, E., & Grover, S. (2023). Teacher knowledge and practices for assessment. In C. J. Harris, E. Wiebe, S. Grover, & J. W. Pellegrino (Eds.), Classroom-based STEM assessment: Contemporary issues and perspectives (pp. 83–94). Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, Education Development Center, Inc.

Jones, R.S. & Rosenberg, J.M. (2022). Characterizing whole class discussions about data and statistics with conversation profile analysis. Journal of Mathematical Behavior. Elsevier. New York, N.Y.

Jones, R.S., Grinath, A., & Scott, F.* (2022). The multi-Dimensional Learning Goals for Making Inferences with Data. In Short, P. (Ed.), Age of Inference: Cultivating a scientific mindset. Information Age Publishing. Charlotte, N.C.

Reid, J. W.*, Quinn, C. M.*, Jia, Z.*, Jones, R. S., & Grinath, A. S. (2021). Small Instructional Changes to Emphasize Data Modeling Practices. The Journal of College Science Teaching.

Rosenberg, J. M., Lawson, M. A., Anderson, D. J., Rutherford, T., & Jones, R. S. (2020) Making data science “count”: Data science and Learning, Design, and Technology research. In E. Romero-Hall (Ed.), Research Methods in Learning Design & Technology. Routledge: New York, NY.

Jones, R.S., Jia, J.*, & Bezaire, J. (2020). Giving birth to inferential reasoning. Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK–12.

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Otto Bassler Award for Outstanding Dissertation Awarded by the Teaching, Learning, & Diversity department at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, 2015

Bonsal Applied Education Dissertation Research Grant Awarded by Dean Camilla Benbow, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, 2014

Edmund W. Gordon MacArthur Foundation/ETS Fellowship For 21st Century Learning and Assessment Awarded by Jim Gee, University of Arizona, & Robert Mislevy, ETS, 2013

Experimental Education Research Training Pre-doctoral Fellowship Award Awarded by IES Training Program PIs David Cordray & Dale Farran, Vanderbilt University, 2010

Peabody Dean’s Tuition Award Awarded by Dean Camilla Benbow, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, 2009

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Current Research Projects:

CAREER: Supporting Model Based Inference as an Integrated Effort Between Mathematics and Science

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's CAREER program, through the DRK-12 program. We are conducting design based research to develop and test innovative learning environemnts where math and science teachers coordinate their work around data, variability, modeling, and inference. 

Data MAKER Biology 

This is a collaboration with Dr. Anna Grinath at Idaho State University. We are working to design undergratuate biology courses and labs that support students to build, critique, and revise data models in order to generate biological knowlege claims. Through this work we are developing a design framework for integrating data, biology, and argumentation learning goals across time. 

Modeling Data Modeling

This is a collaboration with Dr. Joshua Rosenberg at The University of Tennessee. In this project, I am seeking to develop measures of dynamic, whole-class discussions about data and statistics. Using a construct modeling framework, I work to generate measures that coordinate the discussion qualities we are trying to support with the quantities generated from the measurement scheme. 

Past Research Projects:

Group Base Cloud Computing in Large Lecture Classes

This project is a collaboration with Dr. Anna Grinath at MTSU and Dr. Corey Brady at Vanderbilt University. We are designing and conducting research on NetLogo simulations that aim to support collaborative inquiry in large lecture classes.

Project Engage

This is a collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Lovett at MTSU. We conducted a yearlong professioanl development program with middle grades teachers. In the project we aimed to help teachers develop a deeper understanding of data, variability, statistics, probability, modeling, and inference. We are now analyzing data from the professional development to better understand how teachers' thinking changed across the activities. We have presented this work at multiple regional and national conferences. We currently have one manuscript under review in The Journal of Mathematical Behavior and two others in development.

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