Research/Areas of Interest:
My work focuses on designing and co-designing computational learning environments that facilitate student participation in knowledge-building practices to construct scientific knowledge. I am interested in investigating students' epistemic engagement and participation in connection with science - how students know what they know in science classrooms and how they think about knowledge construction as a central part of the endeavor of science.
Another important aspect of my design-based research work is making and using agent-based computational models of complex systems to support students in thinking and learning about emergent phenomena such as natural selection. I have designed and co-designed several curricular units that have been used in high schools in the US as well as in India. Before starting research in Learning Sciences, I did some research in computational biology in India and have worked for various multinational organizations in different roles.
Education
- Ph.D., Learning Sciences, Northwestern University, United States, 2021
- MBA, Human Resources, Xavier School of Management, India, 2010
- M.Sc., Computational Biology, National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, India, 2007
Biography
As a Learning Scientist, I design and study curricula in schools and undergraduate level to investigate student participation as they navigate different aspects of their identities and values in a learning context. Working with teachers and students from diverse backgrounds to honor and integrate their context-specific funds of knowledge in curricular design is central to my educational design and research work. As technology is becoming more prevalent in educational contexts, I want to foreground student-centered equitable use of technology in classrooms. I am interested in extending my work by partnering with local and global communities to study how technological and pedagogical innovations can mediate such co-design efforts to support students' epistemic agency as they learn and do science.