Cross-Cutting Theme Sessions

This year, AERA is introducing a new session format called cross-cutting theme sessions. These sessions were derived with the support of the program chairs and vice presidents from several AERA divisions and SIGs. As these new cross-cutting theme sessions illustrate, the strength of our work lies in its interdisciplinary, multimethod, and comprehensive focus on the field of education.

Cross-Cutting Theme Session #1 – The Significance of Culture, Context, and Ways of Knowing From Pre-K Through Higher Education 
This session consists of four papers drawn from Divisions A, C, and J that all focus on the role of culture and context in student learning through several different disciplines and through a focus on different levels of the educational system. This cross-cutting session demonstrates that the research on the significance of sociocultural contexts to learning is not unique to one discipline or area of study within our interdisciplinary field.

Cross-Cutting Theme Session #2 – Trauma and Violence in Students’ Lives: The Role of Education in Healing and Hurting 
Each of these papers, drawn from Divisions C and J, examines issues of trauma and violence in educational settings and policies, practices, and structures within schools and universities that can either heal or exacerbate the pain students experience.

Cross-Cutting Theme Session #3 – On Measuring and Evaluating Education: Why Culture, Context, and Ways of Knowing Matter
This session, through four papers from Divisions C and H, explores the complicated intersection of “objective” measures and “subjective” ways of being in the world and knowing content. What do many of the standardized measures miss in their evaluations of schools and students?

Cross-Cutting Theme Session #4 – Beyond the Schoolhouse Door: Expanding the Physical Boundaries of Education 
This session includes papers from Divisions C and J that examine the educational aspects of schools that are not a part of the classroom-level curriculum. These “beyond the classroom” papers draw upon a wide range of the research, all of which examines forms of inclusion and exclusion to highlight the educational aspects of neighborhoods, programs, online learning, and artwork.