Who We Are

2025–2026 SIG Officers

Constructivist Theory, Research, and Practice SIG (#25)

Chair

Dr. Zitong Wei

China Women’s University

Dr. Wei is an associate professor in the School of Child Development and Education at China Women’s University. She earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction (Early Childhood Education focus) from Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interests include teacher education, constructivism, cross-cultural research, and qualitative methodologies, with particular attention to how teachers in different cultural contexts interpret and implement constructivist active learning. A longstanding member of AERA and a dedicated reviewer for the CTRP SIG, she is the author of Constructivism and Teachers in Chinese Culture: Enriching Confucianism with Constructivism (2019), which examines constructivist teaching in a Confucian context. She looks forward to facilitating rich discussions on constructivist research within the SIG.

Program Chair

John Burrell

University of Connecticut

john.burrell@uconn.edu

John Burrell is a fifth-year doctoral candidate at the Renzulli Center for Creativity, Giftedness, and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut. He has ten years of experience teaching middle school and high school math, science, and study skills, including three years with twice-exceptional students. His research interests involve seeing students and systems that have been historically misunderstood more clearly. John currently serves as a research assistant on Project EAGLE, a $2.9 million project developing equitable approaches to identifying gifted English Learners (ELs), and his dissertation explores contextual predictors of attention and learning among gifted-identified students with ADHD. He looks forward to supporting the SIG’s digital presence and engagement.

Secretary / Treasurer

Position Open

Interested in serving? Contact the SIG Chair to learn more about this role.

Immediate Past Chair

Dr. Annemarie Kaczmarczyk

Mercer University

kaczmarczyk_ab@mercer.edu

Dr. Annemarie Kaczmarczyk is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at Mercer University. She earned her Ph.D. in Education with a certificate in Urban Education, as well as an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and a B.S. in Elementary Education, all from the University of Central Florida. Her teaching focuses on preparing preservice and in-service teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse learners and to integrate literacy across content areas. Passionate about student growth, she emphasizes reflection and discussion in her courses. Her research explores teacher preparation, teacher identity, and critical issues in education, with a focus on social justice in children’s literature.

Webmaster

Position Open

Interested in serving? Contact the SIG Chair to learn more about this role.

Social Media Manager

Ming Chen

University of Bristol

ming.chen@bristol.ac.uk

Ming Chen is a PhD candidate at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on technology-enhanced learning, with particular interests in computer-assisted language learning and learning design from a constructivist perspective. He is happy to support communication within the SIG and to help connect with a broader international academic community.

Chair: The Chair shall be responsible for the general administration of the SIG, for ensuring that the SIG Bylaws are followed, and shall act as liaison between the SIG and AERA and the SIG and the SIG Executive Committee. The Chair shall preside at all meetings of the SIG’s Executive Committee and at the Annual Business Meeting. The Chair shall act as parliamentarian or shall appoint a SIG member to serve in that role for each meeting. The Chair shall appoint ad hoc committees as needed. Unless otherwise specified in these Bylaws, the Chair of the SIG shall appoint persons to assist officers, to chair committees or to carry out other work of the SIG.

Program Chair: The Program Chair shall be responsible for determining sessions, reviewers, discussants and chairs for the annual meeting along with sending acceptance and rejection notices to authors of submitted proposals. In addition, the Program Chair will act as Chair in the event of the absence of the Chair. The Program Chair becomes the SIG Chair in the succeeding year.

Secretary/Treasurer: The Secretary/Treasurer shall be responsible for managing and reporting on the financial accounts of the SIG and the safe keeping of all financial documents of the SIG.