Scholarship by Elon faculty and student featured at American Educational Research Association annual meeting

The work of various Elon faculty and a student was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), held in Los Angeles, California, from April 8 to April 12, 2026. The American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting is the world’s largest gathering of education researchers and a showcase for groundbreaking and innovative studies across areas. This year’s meeting, centered around the theme “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research,” highlighted the ongoing commitment of Elon faculty and a student to advancing equity, rethinking educational practice, and building community within and beyond the classroom. Below are the Elon-affiliated presentations featured at AERA 2026:

1. Rearticulating Progressive Education: A Mixed-Methods Study
Authors: Scott Morrison and Grace Rasmussen
Synopsis: This study investigates how educators define and enact progressive education today, documenting diverse interpretations and instructional approaches. The research aims to clarify what progressive education means in current practice and how educators’ beliefs and institutional contexts shape their work, offering insights for teacher preparation and equity-driven reform.

2. Philosophies and Practices of Garden-Based Educators: A Mixed-Methods Study
Authors: Scott Morrison and Grace Rasmussen
Synopsis: Focusing on educators behind school garden programs, this research explores their beliefs, motivations and challenges. By gathering survey and interview data, the study identifies the instructional goals, supports, and conditions necessary for sustaining effective, long-lasting school gardens.

3. Pre-service Teacher Learning from Field Experiences During a Study Abroad Program
Authors: Mark Enfield, Jeffrey Carpenter, Heidi Hollingsworth, Bill Burress
Synopsis: This paper examines the experiences of pre-service teachers participating in an extended study abroad program in New Zealand. Through interviews, the research reveals how immersive field experiences shape students’ understanding of curriculum and school culture, particularly in contrast to U.S. practices.

4. Exploring Teacher Perspectives on Contemporary Complexities in K-12 ICT Integration
Authors: Jeffrey Carpenter and Bianca S. Biadeni (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing)
Synopsis: Through interviews with K-12 teachers, this study uncovers the shifting landscape of technology use in post-pandemic classrooms. Teachers describe the dilemmas, contextual factors, and mixed feelings that shape their decisions about ICT integration, highlighting both enthusiasm and skepticism.

5. Becoming Unshackled: A Reflective Inquiry into Healing, Sovereignty, and Relational Abolitionist Being through Course Evaluations
Author: Nermin Vehabovic
Synopsis: This autoethnographic study illuminates how abolitionist and justice-oriented approaches to teaching are recognized or resisted by students. The work connects personal healing to collective liberation, subsequently offering a vision for justice-centered and transformative higher education.

6. Honoring Collective Intergenerational Educational Experiences of Latinas through Pláticas-Testimonios
Authors: Adrianna González Ybarra (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), Stephanie Hernandez Rivera
Synopsis: Employing a women of color feminist methodology, this research highlights the intergenerational educational testimonies of Latina educators. The pláticas-testimonios approach uncovers how shared stories and care serve as countermovements for humanizing education research.

7. The Impact of Social Media on K-12 Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Profession: An Experimental Study
Authors: Victoria Puglia (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education), Suzanne E. Graham (University of New Hampshire), Jeffrey P. Carpenter
Synopsis: This experimental study examines how exposure to positive or negative teaching content on social media shapes teachers’ perceptions of job satisfaction, respect, and support. Findings suggest that digital narratives play a significant role in teacher well-being and retention.

8. Countering Brown v. Board: Examining the Wilmington Ten Using the Black Historical Consciousness Framework
Authors: Cara Ward (UNC Wilmington), Lisa Buchanan, Denise M. Ousley-Exum (UNC Wilmington), Donyell L. Roseboro (UNC Wilmington)
Synopsis: This study interrogates the history of school desegregation, beyond how the Brown v. Board ruling is taught and understood. Focusing on the Wilmington Ten, the research discusses implications for teaching civil rights history and preparing future educators.

9. How Elon Musk Contributed to the Demise of the #OakEd Network
Author: Jeffrey Carpenter
Synopsis: An exploration of the rise and fall of the #OakEd teacher network on X/Twitter, this presentation discusses how changes under Elon Musk’s ownership led to the network’s abandonment. The case highlights the volatility of digital platforms for professional learning communities.

10. Futuring Teacher Education: Community Partnerships with Refugee Families for Critical, Caring, and Joyful Learning
Author: Nermin Vehabovic
Synopsis: This three-year ethnographic study details partnerships between teacher candidates and families from refugee backgrounds, emphasizing care, dignity and shared learning across culturally and linguistically diverse community contexts. The work illustrates how collaborations rooted in an ethic of care, emphasizing relational, responsive, and reciprocal engagement between educators and families, as well as the notion of freedom dreaming, which envisions education as a space for imagining and building more just and equitable worlds, can disrupt dominant educational narratives and prepare teacher candidates for justice-oriented practice.

11.  Shaking the Table: Centering the Voices of Identity Center Practitioners – Symposium
Organized by: Stephanie Hernandez Rivera, Jonathan A. McElderry
Objective: Staff in identity centers on college and university campuses are often champions of social justice, supporting students through a myriad of approaches, including, educational programming, leadership development, and advocacy that challenges oppressive ideologies and practices. Despite the important role of staff, scholarship often focuses on student experience, with minimal attention to the experiences of staff in these spaces. The objective of this session is for scholar-practitioners to share their own self-inquiries focused on their experiences as current or former identity center staff.