RFG Symposium: Intergenerational Dynamics: Undergraduate Research Showcase

Intergenerational Dynamics is the second annual undergraduate research showcase sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s Research Focus Group on Global Childhood Ecologies. It features multidisciplinary presentations of undergraduate research related to childhood, including senior honors thesis research in Comparative Literature by senior major Daian Martinez and research on Education by Lakshmi Garcia in the College of Creative Studies. The panel of presentations and subsequent discussion on the theme Intergenerational Dynamics will focus on dynamics between children and adults, as shown in Anglophone and Chinese picturebooks researched by Daian Martinez and rhetoric in mathematics education for linguistically diverse language classrooms researched by Lakshmi Garcia.

Intergenerational Dynamics: Undergraduate Research Showcase

Chair: Sara Pankenier Weld (Germanic and Slavic Studies, UCSB)

Panel Participants:

“Little Adults: The Adult Presence in Chinese and Anglophone Children’s Picturebooks”
Daian Michely Martinez ’24 (Comparative Literature, UCSB)

“Little Adults” focuses on picturebooks from both Anglophone and Chinese traditions to investigate the adult presence and underlying cultural values shown in text and image. Daian Martinez conducts a cross-cultural comparison to uncover nuances related to gender roles, social responsibility, authority figures, and child-parent relationships. Employing the theoretical frameworks of aetonormativity, cultural studies, and narratology, Martinez analyzes the dynamics of the adult presence within children’s literature.

“The rhetoric of MLR’s (Mathematical Language Routines) for linguistically diverse California elementary schools”
Lakshmi Garcia ’25 (College of Creative Studies Writing and Literature, UCSB)

Lakshmi Garcia’s research under Professor Sarah Roberts focuses on understanding the routinization of mathematics language routines (MLRs) in local Elementary schools. A “mathematical language routine” refers to a structured but adaptable teaching style with exercises designed to amplify, assess, and develop students’ language. MLRs are utilized as tools given to teachers to ensure their assigned curriculums are language accessible to students. Districts with large communities of multilingual learners most benefit from using MLRs, which have been shown to integrate language and vocabulary development successfully through mathematical reasoning. This project conducts qualitative research through careful analysis of classroom observations to prepare educators for work in linguistically diverse schools.

Zoom attendance link here

Sponsored by the IHC’s Global Childhood Ecologies Research Focus Group