Yukari Okamoto

Bio:

Yukari Okamoto is a Professor in the Department of Education who specializes in children’s cognitive development. She is particularly interested in young children’s numerical, scientific, and spatial thinking. Her current projects include: (1) the development of rational number knowledge, (2) preschool children’s biological reasoning, and (3) young children’s geometric and spatial thinking.

In the area of rational number understanding, she has co-authored an influential book , Developing Effective Fractions Instruction for Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade, that identified five recommended practices for teachers to implement when teaching fractions. She is currently working with her students to explore early rational number understanding. She also serves as a consultant to the project headed by Dr. Jerry Lipka of the University of Alaska who is developing a culturally appropriate fraction curriculum for native Alaskan students.

In the area of children’s biological reasoning, she is part of the team of the researchers in the Department of Education (Drs. Romo, Lee, and Bianchini). This is a five-year project, funded by NIH, whose goal is to develop and implement a biology curriculum for preschoolers from predominately low-income Latino families. Children served by this program thus far have shown increased understanding of causal mechanisms of germs that can cause illness and food spoilage, among other things.

In the area of geometric and spatial reasoning, she is working with her students to design a geometry curriculum for primary grade students. This is in response to the recently adapted Common Core Standards for Mathematics. She has also been collaborating with her colleagues from various universities across Canada and the U.S. in an effort to understand the role of spatial reasoning in mathematics and to design curricular activities that increase mathematics understanding through spatial reasoning.

Dr. Okamoto received a Ph.D. from Stanford University, and was a Spencer Dissertation-Year Fellow for Research Related to Education. She was also a Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow