Mitchell Krieger

Mitchell (Mitch) Krieger F11 is a Hampshire College Alum who graduated in the Spring of 2014. He is from West Bloomfield, Michigan. You can check out a video profile of him used for admissions on YouTube. His interests include pop culture, education, camp, and technology. In his free time he likes to chill with friends, rock climb and explore all that life has to offer. Mitch loves Hampshire with a passion and has absolutely loved his time in this weird, wacky, wonderful yet magical place that we call Camp Hamp.

= Pre-Hampshire =

Mitch grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a suburb of metropolitan Detroit with his mom, dad and two younger sisters. Before Hampshire Mitch attended traditional public school until 11th grade when he transfered to Oakland Early College in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where he got his High School Diploma and an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts. He was an active participant in many extra curricular activities.

= Employment =

Work Study

 * Hampshire College Early Learning Center - Fall 2011-Spring 2012
 * Dean of Students Office - Fall 2012 - Spring 2013
 * Dakin E House Intern - Fall 2013 - Spring 2014

Other

 * Wooden Acres Adventure Programs - Summers 2008-2013
 * West Bloomfield School District - Fall 2008 - Spring 2011

= Academics =

Division II Contract
Learning in the Digital Age: Technology in Education

We live in an age where there is a computer in almost every classroom. For many children today, high speed internet has always existed and been very accessible. Terms like “google” and “blog” are in our dictionaries. This generation will be the first to be fully submerged in the digital world. So, how does our society need to change the education of these digitized youth? How does technology change the classroom environment? How does it effect how teachers teach and what is taught? How does technology effect learning? How can teachers better incorporate technology in the classroom? How can schools incorporate technology into the curriculum to enhance understanding and increase student success? How can we equip engineers and computer scientists with the knowledge they need about education, in order to create technology that aids in the classroom?

The potential that technology has to enhance education is immense, however it is not very accessible. Technology is expensive and it is difficult for a school to obtain the money and resources to fund initiatives that bring technology into the classroom. In addition, Students of low socioeconomic class will not have the same opportunities to use technology that has the capacity to really engage them in the learning process. In addition to the issue of accessibility, the field of computer science is heavily dominated by white males, which leads to problems when creating educational technologies for uses by all genders, all races, and all nationalities throughout all of education.

In Division II, I hope to take classes that explore the use of technology to expand educational opportunities and ways of learning. However I want to keep a critical eye out for negative effects of technology on the classroom environment, teachers, and students. How can teachers compete for their student’s attention when they are sucked into a vibrant world of video games, internet and television? Does technology really help, facilitate and encourage learning or is it just a distraction? I think it is important to take classes that explore the making of educational technology (such as programming and computer system classes) but also have a solid foundation in the art of teaching itself through education, sociology and psychology classes.

It has been over 15 years since the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, predicted a future world where there would be a personal computer in nearly every American home. Today many university and college students own their own laptop. They use it to take notes in class. They use it for entertainment. They use it for communication. Today a computer is almost a necessity, but is it necessarily good for learning and an educational environment? If so how? If not why?

Division III Contract
Reimagining Mathematics Education in American Public Schools

I’ve always loved math, and I’ve always been good at it. However, I had the realization one day that there are many students who really do hate math with a passion. I could not understand why at first. To me math was fascinating and I loved the satisfaction of solving a tough problem. So, I began to think hard about what it is about math that people hate so much. What really causes the culture of math anxiety? Why is math such a frustrating topic for so many students? I believe that the answer lies in the way math is taught in American public schools. The only conclusion I could come to is that students do not like math because of the pedagogy that is used to teach it. This year I plan to make the case for reimagining math pedagogy by focusing on problem and inquiry driven learning through a constructivist lens. I believe that a problem first, inquiry focused approach may change the way many student perceive what math is, and hopefully ease their anxiety by allowing them to explore math on their own terms and in new ways.

There are three major parts I must look at to get to a full understanding of math education and make a convincing argument for approaching math pedagogy in this way. First, I must identify the current state of math education in public schools, and then the history and evolution of the subject area. How has math historically been taught? Why is math currently taught in this way? Which students thrive with this pedagogy and why do students fail? What are the signs that point to this pedagogy contributing a large part to the math anxiety culture? Next, I need to construct the argument for problem and inquiry driven mathematics learning. Why will this pedagogy support better student learning? How does this pedagogy help resolve math anxiety? What evidence is there that problem and inquiry driven learning reinforces math education? Lastly, I will describe what a curriculum might look like when teaching math in this way. How can this pedagogy be implemented? What are the implications of using this philosophy for math curriculum development and educators? What would a lesson look like that uses this type of pedagogy? These three topics and the questions they bring up will drive my Division III work, and hopefully my work in future classrooms as well.

One of the interesting things about my project is the lack of what we traditionally think of as a research method. Rather than using a classic social science research methods such as ethnography, interviews, surveys and experiments, I am approaching my project from a much more philosophical basis. My division III builds itself from my own philosophy of education that has been developed over my time at Hampshire and my educational career. I think that from the literature out there (and through general observation) we can agree that math anxiety is a real issue. Since there is already literature and data on this subject, my plan is to collect this data as well as information about the history and current state of math education in the United States to inform my case for inquiry and problem driven pedagogy and curriculum. From this I will begin to design an example curriculum that’s based in this philosophy. In a way, my entire Division II has been leading up to my Division III. Although my Division II was based in a different subject matter (educational technology), I think much of what I did has to do with how philosophy and research drives curriculum design and reform. I found two old Division IIIs that surround a very similar topic to my project. The first, deals with numeracy education and presents interesting arguments about the relationship between literacy and numeracy. The second division III is a curriculum designed surrounding the importance of the ability to transfer knowledge. I really liked both of them and could definitely see myself modeling my project as some sort of fusion between their two separate methods. In addition, both works gave me interesting ideas and theories about math education that have sparked my imagination. I plan to at least use some of the sources in their bibliographies as a solid launching point as I begin my research this semester.

EPEC F2013
Math and the Imagination: Exploring Math in New Ways was taught by Mitch as part of his Division III

=Extra-Curricular=

Mitch was a signer for Aliz: Queer Jews and Allies (F12-S14), and Society for Hampshire History (F12-S14) and was one of the Co-coordidnators for the HSU Scope Group on Student Experience (F13-S14) for which he also serves on the Coordinating Board (F13-S14). In addition he was a member of the Budget and Priorities Committee (F13-S14) and a Hampshire representative to the Five College Student Coordinating Board (F13-S14). He was also involved in Sexperts (F11-S12), Active Minds (F11-S13), and Re-Rad (S12-S14). Also he was on the search committee for the new Dean of Students (F12-S13), was one of the co-chairs for the creation process of the new Student Governance System (Hampshire Student Union) to replace Community Council (F12-S13), and was a voting member of FiCom (F12-F13).

As a hobby, Mitch does lighting and set design for Theater productions. Some of his Hampshire College Theater credits include Red Light Winter (Fall 2011), I know My Mama Loves Me (Spring 2012), While We See the Sun (Spring 2013), Collaboration (January 2014), Medea and Jude (Spring 2014).

=Post Hampshire= Mitch will be living in Dobbs Ferry, New York and is starting as a faculty member in residence at CITYterm at the Masters School in August of 2014. He will be teaching high school mathematics at CITYterm in addition to his residence life duties.