Liz Chen, PhD

Assistant Professor She/her/hers

About

My philosophy of effective teaching practices is embodied in the use of culturally relevant pedagogy by means of a) creating a safe learning environment where students’ unique cultural values and lived experiences are acknowledged, b) promoting students’ diverse intellectual participation, c) using effective teacher questions to access and enhance students’ diverse thinking, and d) applying equitable assessments to track students’ learning progressions and inform subsequent teaching.

Educational & Professional Experience:

Education

PhD in Mathematics Education at Purdue University (2021).

Professional Experience

Postdoctoral researcher at Ohio University (2021-2023)

Lecturer at Ohio University (2021-2022)

Lecturer at Purdue University (2021)

Research and teaching assistant at Purdue University (2016-2021)

Recent Publications

Articles in Refereed Journals and Books

[1] Chen, L., & Bofferding, L. (under review, 2025). Elementary students’ representational competency: Investigating frames used to match number sentences and visuals in subtraction worked examples. Mathematical Thinking and Learning.

[2] Bofferding, L., Haiduc, A., Aqazade, M., Chen, L., & Kocabas, S. (2023). Using incorrect worked examples to investigate the consistency of first and third graders’ measurement conceptions. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-022-10334-x 

[3] Thompson, J., Hallman-Thrasher, A., Heacock, K., Chen, L., & Koestler, C. (2023). Elevating clinical practice in mathematics education: Cases that showcase teaching practices in action. In D. Polly, E. Garin, & C. Martin (Eds.), Clinically based teacher education in action: Cases from mathematics educators. Information Age Publishing.

[4] Dani, D., Koestler, C., & Chen, L. (2022). STEM integration in field experience for mathematics and science teachers. Connections, 31, 1-7.

[5] Bofferding, L., Chen, L., Kocabas, S. & Aqazade, M. (2022). Early elementary students’ use of shape and location schemas when embedding and disembedding. Education Sciences, 12, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12020083

[6] Bofferding, L., Kocabas, S., Aqazade, M., Haiduc, A., & Chen, L. (2022). The effect of play and worked examples on first and third graders’ creating and debugging of programming algorithms. In A. Ottenbreit-Leftwich & A. Yadav (Eds.), Computational thinking in PreK-5: Empirical evidence for integration and future directions. A Special Research Publication (pp. 19-29). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. and the Robin Hood Learning + Technology Fund.

[7] Chen, L., Akarsu, M., & Bofferding, L. (2022). Finding the boundary of students’ subtraction understanding: Prospective teachers’ assessment of kindergartners. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 25: 91-118. https://rdcu.be/b9NZD

Articles in Refereed Conference Proceedings

[1] Chen, L., Kocabas, S., & Zhou, L. (2025, October, accepted). Investigating preservice and inservice teachers' attitudes towards artificial intelligence (AI) in education. Proceedings of the forty-seven annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. State College, Pennsylvania, 

[2] Chen, L. (2025, July). The development of preservice mathematics teachers’ spatial reasoning: Strengths and challenges. Proceedings of the 9th ICMI-East Asia Regional Conference on Mathematics Education (EARCOME 9). Seoul, South Korea.

[3] Chen, L. (2024, November). Investigating preservice mathematics teachers’ spatial reasoning in problematized tasks. Proceedings of the forty-six annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Cleveland, Ohio. DOI: 10.51272/pmena.46.2024 

[4] Chen, L., & Hallman-Thrasher, A. (2023, October). Embodied teacher actions to promote students’ generalization in a visual pattern task. Proceedings of the forty-five annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Reno, Nevada.