Combining computational modeling with real-world data analysis.

People

Research Team

Paulo Blikstein
PI

Paulo is an Associate Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University and serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) for this project. He has designed educational platforms for rich experimentation and developed the Bifocal Modeling framework as well as other cutting-edge techniques in learning analytics. He leads efforts towards the design of the platform and its interfacing physical experiments and also coordinates study design and analysis.

Tamar Fuhrmann
co-PI

Tamar is a Senior Research Scientist at Teachers College, Columbia University where she leads research projects at the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab and the global FabLearn Program. She is located in the San Francisco Bay area and leads curricular co-design efforts with teachers and implementations at all schools.

Aditi Wagh
Co-Pi

Aditi is a Research Scientist at MIT. Her expertise is in designing computational modeling environments for students studying biological phenomena. She studies the development of mechanistic reasoning and discourse practices in those environments. She contributes to curricular design and data analysis.

Michelle Wilkerson
co-PI

Michelle is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies how young people learn with and about computational representations such as computer simulations, data visualizations, or interactive graphics. As senior research personnel, she leads the development of curricular materials as well as study design and implementation.

Leah Rosenbaum
Research Scientist

Leah is an Associate Research Scientist at Teachers College, Columbia University. She completed her PhD in Learning Sciences and Human Development from the University of California, Berkeley, where her dissertation explored collaborative, body-scale game play as a resource for learning geometry and spatial reasoning. In addition to supporting MoDa’s curriculum development, she works with the other team members on data analysis and writing.

Adelmo Eloy
Research Fellow

Adelmo is a Research Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University and a doctoral student in Electronic Systems at the University of São Paulo (USP), in Brazil. His work focuses on the design of learning technologies for K-12 STEM Education. He contributes to the A2S project through the design of the curriculum and modeling environment as well as through data analysis.

Brendan Henrique
Research Fellow

Brendan is a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley. Previously he was a middle school science teacher in the Bay Area. As a graduate student, his research focuses on critically conscious computer science education. He contributes to the A2S project with curriculum design as well as data collection and analysis. He is an avid home cook and loves to travel.

Engin Bumbacher
Research Consultant

Engin is a Professor of Education Technology at the Teacher University Lausanne, Switzerland. He develops new approaches to integrate data science into both STEM and non-STEM courses, and to evaluate scientific and computational thinking practices through process-based assessments. He contributes to curricular design and also serves the project as a science content expert.

Nathan Rabinovitch
Developer

Nathan is a Research Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition to his role at the college, Nathan is a STEAM teacher for K-12 students. He contributes to the A2S project through the design of the curriculum and modeling environment and coordinating the project’s software development.

Jacob Wolf
Research Associate

Jacob was a Research Associate at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab and is currently a PhD student in Human Development, Learning, and Teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is passionate about promoting the development of youth computational cultures through the integration of computational literacy in STEM classrooms and beyond. He contributed to the MoDa curriculum, worked with teachers to implement MoDa in their classrooms, and coordinated the project’s software development.

Teachers

Jenny Billings
Kirby School

Jenny has been teaching middle school science at Kirby School since 2005, with a brief three year hiatus to teach fifth grade. Prior to joining the Kirby team, Jenny devoted her career to outdoor and wilderness education. She is passionate about facilitating constructivist, hands-on learning experiences. Outside the classroom Jenny loves to spend time with her family outside - surfing, hiking and camping. She also delights in drinking coffee and reading.

Laura Kretschmar
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School

Laura has been teaching math and science for 25 years, most of those years in Oakland, CA. She currently teaches at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. Laura's roots in science stem from watching Mt. St. Helens erupt when she was young, and majoring in Geology in college. Her motivation to teach mathematics came from realizing in college that she didn't have a strong conceptual foundation to pursue higher level mathematics course. Laura is passionate about teaching both math and science, and is grateful that she doesn't have to choose! Laura is deeply committed to providing access and opportunity for all students to see themselves as able mathematicians and scientists. Looking at student work and listening to student ideas is at the heart of Laura's teaching and learning. In her spare time, Laura is an avid hiker and dog lover.

Kelly Miller
Santa Catalina School

Kelly teaches at Santa Catalina School in Monterey, CA. She teach middle school math and science. 6th grade science is an Earth Science course. She has been a teacher for about 30 years. In her free time, she does SCUBA diving in the cold waters of Monterey, boogie boarding, mountain bike riding, hiking, and exploring outside.

Danielle Perry

Danielle teaches 7th grade math and science. She teaches in East Palo Alto, CA for the Ravenswood City School District at Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School (CCRMS). Before coming to Ravenswood in 2018, she taught three years in a private school and three years in a charter school, respectively. She literally falls in love with every group of students that she has the pleasure to teach. It is her honor and goal to provide the best overall program experience for each student and their family. She enjoys helping students and families immensely. She is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys spending time with family and friends because it gives her an enormous amount of personal satisfaction and pure joy.

Krystel Segovia
Borel Middle School

Krystel is a 7th grade science teacher. She has been a teaching science for 3 years at a school in San Mateo. What she loves about teaching is building relationships with students and helping them grow a passion for science. She loves to see students be curious and wants to learn about the world around them. Being one of two Latino teachers on campus, she hope to connect with the Latinx community and show them that they are capable of finding a career in the field of STEM. She tries to make the curriculum culturally relevant so it reaches everyone. When she is not teaching science, she likes to spend time with her family, travel, and garden.

Adela Toledo

Adela Toledo has been a Secondary Science Teacher for nine years. In the past years, she has been teaching 8th physical science. She graduated with a Life Science Bachelor's Degree and Science Education Master’s Degree. She has been implementing various learning technologies in her science curriculum because she notices how impactful it's been to student’s understanding of scientific abstract concepts. Implementing various learning technologies have provided equal access among her students, increased her students’ curiosity, and students’ approach to science. Especially among those students whose first language is not English.

Friends of the Project