Filling in the Gaps: Bryan Mascio, MBE'13

When Bryan Mascio entered the Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) Program, he did so with the intention of transitioning from his role as a teacher to that of an education neuroscience researcher. But, as his (first) year at the Ed School closes, however, he sees his future a little differently.

“I fully intend to use neuroscience research and utilize it as part of my own research,” Mascio says. “[But now] my intention is to focus on the components of good teaching and the role of teacher education, ultimately becoming a professor of education.”

Good teaching is something that Mascio already knows a bit about according to Professor Kurt Fischer, director of MBE. Calling him an “amazing teacher and mentor,” Fischer says, “Bryan is remarkably generous with his time, always willing to help out in so many different ways. He is humble, insightful, respectful, and looks for opportunities to help others shine. A great example is the Filling the Gaps series, in which he invites peers to share their expertise with each other instead of taking the spotlight himself. When he does offer his perspective, people inevitably pay attention because he has interesting, stimulating ideas.”

Mascio has been accepted to the Ed School’s Ed.D. Program and will be staying in Cambridge to continue his studies. Upon learning that he had been honored with the Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute Award for MBE, he answered some questions about his time at the Ed School and beyond.

Which professor or class significantly shaped your experience at the Ed School? I did research with both Gigi Luk and Jenny Thomson, both of whom gave me tremendous opportunities to really get my hands dirty and run research projects. Gigi's class, H-140 [Seminar on Experimental Research in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience], had us actually design our own studies, which I have now conducted and presented at the Student Research Conference. Since Gigi is my adviser, I have benefitted greatly from her mentorship — it really has meant all the difference in my experience.

How did you stay inspired throughout the year?  I had spent the last 12 years working with at-risk adolescents, and the difficult decision to leave my classroom was based on the determination that what I do in and after this experience has to make at least as much of a difference for students as what I had been doing. That imperative drives much of what I do.

Any advice for next year’s students going through your program?  Our program has so much flexibility that it is vital to decide what you are here for and then remind yourself of it throughout the year. I was here to immerse in neuroscience-related research, and all of my activities reflected that. Deciding that you are here to focus on school reform, classroom practice, or to explore are all equally valid, and your decisions should reflect that.

What will you change in education and why?  I intend to change the conversation. Right now, when people are asking how to make education better, they seem to be focused on the "how," and aren't asking "better at what?" I would argue that a lot of well-meaning and hard-working reformers are making schools better at things of questionable value, and we're not asking that question. We're having too few conversations about these values, resulting in tradition and the assumptions of those in power dictating the direction we are moving in. This is no way for a noble profession to operate. The science and statistics can improve the precision of our methods and measurements, but precision and accuracy are not the same things and these don't speak to the accuracy of what we are doing — getting better at the wrong thing is not what we should aspire to.

Read profiles of the other master’s students being honored with the 2013 Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute Award.