Areas of Expertise
- Curriculum Studies
- Mathematics Education
- Teacher Education
Keywords
Mathematics Education, School-University Partnerships, STEM, Teacher Education, Elementary Education
Research Methodologies
- Design-Based Research
- Qualitative Methods
Research Levels
- Early Childhood
- Elementary
- K–12
Research Overview
Dr. Yagi’s research focuses on designing and researching innovative curriculum and instructional practices for mathematics in the elementary grades. More specifically, her interests are in approaches for developing elementary students’ early algebraic thinking. Based on the Measure Up curriculum research and development project at the Curriculum Research & Development Group, her work incorporates multiple forms of representation (volume, mass, area, length) that embody mathematics concepts in a generalized measurement context. Using everyday materials (e.g. paper strips, containers, water) teachers and students represent pre-numeric concepts and number relationships inherent to the properties of equality and properties of operations. Communicating one’s reasoning using the different representations is also a focus for developing meaningful mathematics learning experiences. Dr. Yagi maintains a strong connection to practice and incorporates this line of research into professional learning experiences for inservice and preservice elementary teachers.
Seanyelle Yagi is a lifelong learner and teacher and continues to develop her professional practice. She earned a BEd in Elementary Education from the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa (UHM). After working in the Hawaii Department of Education as a classroom teacher and math coach, she returned to UHM, where she earned her Master of Education degree in literacy. In 2008, Seanyelle was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Following this, she went on to work as a mathematics resource teacher and state level resource teacher while earning her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in mathematics education at UHM. Soon after, she joined the Curriculum Research & Development Group at UHM and earned a Service, Teaching, and Research Fellowship to the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. Currently she serves as a cohort coordinator and teaches elementary math methods and professional studies courses in the School of Teacher Education.
- Venenciano, L., Yagi, S., & Zenigami, F. (2021). The development of relational thinking: a study of Measure Up first-grade students’ thinking and their symbolic understandings. Educational Studies in Mathematics. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-10014-z
- Yagi, S., Venenciano, L., & Zenigami, F. (2020). Who Has More? The Great Flood. (B. Inouye, Illus.). Curriculum Research & Development Group
- Venenciano, L., Yagi, S., Zenigami, F., & Dougherty, B. (2019). Supporting the Development of Early Algebraic Thinking, an Alternative Approach to Number. Investigations in Mathematics Learning. doi: 10.1080/19477503.2019.1614386.
- Yagi, S. & Venenciano, L. (2025, March). Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Thinking About Teaching Number and the Number Line. Thematic session presentation to the mathematics SIG at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators. New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Yagi, S. & Venenciano, L. (2023, October). Whatʻs the Difference? Modeling Addition and Subtraction Based on Comparison Relationships. Workshop presentation at the 2023 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting. Washington D.C.
- Yagi, S., Venenciano, L., & Zenigami, F. (2020, March). First Graders’ Representation and Relational Thinking: A Qualitative Study. Paper presented at the 47th Annual Conference of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning. Las Vegas, NV.
- Yagi, S., Venenciano, L., Makaiau, A., & Kimi, V. (November 2024). Big Ideas in Early Childhood Mathematics, Professional Learning Sessions. Submitted to the Samuel N. & Mary Castle Foundation. $39,775.
- Yagi, S. & Venenciano, L. (Aug. 2021–July 2022). Mathematics Whole School Agreement Professional Learning Series. Funded by the Hawaii Department of Education Office of Curriculum & Instructional Design. $9,799.71.
- Yagi, S. & Manes, M. (Sept. 2016–July 2017). Expansion of math teachers’ circle Hawai‘i. Funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Improving Teacher Quality Higher Education Grants. $50,005.