Blerim Jashari
Interests
Cognitive Development, Children's Learning, Causal Reasoning, Social Learning, Curiosity and Exploration
Education
Harvard University
2025–presentDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Education: Human Development, Learning, and Teaching
Cambridge, MACross-registration at MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Harvard Psychology Department. Coursework in Computational Cognitive Science, Social Psychology.
Advisor: Elizabeth Bonawitz
Harvard University
Graduated 2025Master of Education (Ed.M.), Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology
Cambridge, MACompleted coursework in Intermediate and Advanced Statistics, Cognitive Development, and the Science of Learning. Co-led the AI Literacy initiative, a recognized student group at Harvard.
Minerva University
Graduated 2021Bachelor of Science (double major), Cognition, Brain, Behavior & Cells, Organisms
San Francisco, CAStudied and got work experience across the United States, England, South Korea, and Germany.
Reports & Publications
Jashari, B., Sonnert, G., Sunbury, S., & Saddler, P. (in preparation). Seeing Yourself in Science: Role Models and Students' STEM Identity. Harvard University.
Jashari, B., Sonnert, G., Sunbury, S., & Saddler, P. (in preparation). The Impact of Pre-College Mentorship on the Development of Students' STEM Identity. Harvard University.
Connolly, K., Jashari, B., Esch, M., Gashi, A., & Della Libera, L. (report). A theory of teaching as deploying context-sensitive techniques. Minerva University.
Jashari, B. (undergraduate thesis). Deploying active-learning: The role of cold-calling in online active-learning classrooms. Minerva University.
Presentations
Talks
Jashari, B., Sonnert, G., Sunbury, S., & Saddler, P. (2026, August 18–21, forthcoming). The impact of pre-college mentorship on students' STEM identity [Talk]. European Association for Research on Adolescence, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Jashari, B., Sonnert, G., Sunbury, S., & Saddler, P. (2026, June 17, forthcoming). The impact of pre-college mentorship on students' STEM identity [Talk]. The Future of Education - 16th Edition International Conference, Florence, Italy.
Pizza, L., Harrington, Sh., Jashari, B., Song, J., & Thomas, A. (2026, April 10). Do people value plants over non-living entities? The influence of biology knowledge on moral considerations in adults and young children [Symposium Talk]. 2026 Cognitive Development Society (CDS) Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Jashari, B., Sonnert, G., Sunbury, S., & Saddler, P. (2025, May 8). The impact of pre-college mentorship on students' STEM identity [Talk]. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Jashari, B., & Kim, D. B. (2025, April 6–9). The functional, critical, and rhetorical AI literacy for students [Presentation]. ASU+GSV Summit, San Diego, California.
Jashari, B., & Esch, M. (2021). A theory of teaching as deploying context-sensitive techniques [Presentation]. Minerva University Summer Research Program, San Francisco, CA.
Connolly, K., Jashari, B., & Esch, M. (2021). A theory of teaching as deploying context-sensitive techniques [Presentation]. Minerva University Faculty Research Presentation.
Jashari, B. (2021). The role of active learning strategies for online classes based on educational psychology research [Talk]. Minerva University Educational Psychology Tutorial.
Poster Presentations
Jashari, B., Bass, I., Mills, C., Ullman, T., & Bonawitz, E. (2026, April 9). Children ask more questions when they think their teacher is AI [Poster presentation]. 2026 Cognitive Development Society (CDS) Meeting, Children and Technology: Emerging Scholars, Emerging Methods, Emerging Directions Pre-Conference Workshop, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Jashari, B. (2021, March 2). The role of cold-calling in student engagement and stress in class [Poster presentation]. X-DBER Education Conference.
Research Experience
Graduate Student Researcher
Graduate Researcher
Investigated the association between pre-college mentorship and STEM identity among first-year students at minority-serving institutions in the United States.
Graduate Research Assistant
Conducted research on how children develop moral consideration for plants and nature under the supervision of Dr. Ashley Thomas and Dr. Lizette Pizza.
Research Intern
Researched the impact of screen time on children to inform decisions about curriculum design during the COVID pandemic. Assisted in drafting the national law for early childhood education.
Research Assistant
Conducted meta-analysis projects on children's emotion regulation and postpartum depression. Collected data on COVID-19 news headlines to study their impact on mental well-being.
Research Assistant of Psychology and Learning
Contributed to the development of a new teaching framework informed by cognitive science and psychology under supervision of Dr. Kevin Connolly. Explored effects of teaching strategies—such as cold calling, questioning, and feedback—on student comfort and engagement.
Field Intern
Conducted research and data analysis on youth and adolescent development programs in Kosovo. Worked on a literature review on children with disability in Kosovo.
Selected Professional Experience
Learning Design Fellow
Harvard Graduate School of Education April–June 2025Co-designed the AI Literacy tutorial, a mandatory tutorial for all incoming approximately 700 master's students.
Student Services Manager
Minerva University June 2023–August 2024Managed the Student Information System for more than 600 students studying across the US, Germany, South Korea, India, and Argentina.
High School STEM Teacher & Learning Designer
Elite Open School June 2021–June 2023Taught STEM courses for the Minerva Baccalaureate program and designed learning experiences.
Accomplishments
HGSE Grant
Professional Development Grant, Harvard Graduate School of Education ($550).
Fulbright Scholar
Fulbright Grant, U.S. Department of State ($80,000).
Gold Medal
"Golden Climate" International Olympiad 2016, Nairobi, Kenya: Competed with participants from 30 countries and presented a paper in environment protection.
Silver Medal
"ISWEEEP" International Olympiad 2016, Houston, Texas: Competed with participants from 70 countries with a sustainability data project.
Bronze Medal
"Genius" International Olympiad 2016, Oswego, New York: Competed with participants from 90 countries.
Mentorship
Subhashree Majumder
— Harvard Graduate School of Education (Spring 2026–present)Arzu Abay Gurz
— Harvard Graduate School of Education (Fall 2025, Spring 2026)Dilnaz Zhalmagambetova
— Harvard Graduate School of Education (Fall 2025–present)Sophia Zhang
— Harvard Graduate School of Education (Fall 2025–present)Gertrude Ncube
— Harvard College (Summer 2025)Justin Oh
— Gia Microschool (Summer 2025)Joshua Kim
— Gia Microschool (Summer 2025)Technical Skills
Programming Languages
Python, R, LaTeX
Software and Tools
Microsoft Office, Google Suite, CANVAS, Moodle
Statistical Methods
Regression Analysis, ANOVA, Factor Analysis, Meta-Analysis, Probabilistic Modeling
Research Tools
Qualtrics
Languages
Fluent in English and Albanian; Conversational Proficiency in Turkish; B2 in German
