Research Interests

Nikki Barry (McDaid) (Shoshone-Bannock) is a doctoral student in Learning Sciences at Northwestern University. Her research interests are broadly focused on informal and formal learning environments at the intersection of land-based education and Indigenous resurgence. More specifically, she wants to understand the ways that youth in land-based learning environments recognize personhood of more-than-human animals and plants and whether or not the propensity to do so might be correlated with the ways youth engage in decision-making around social and environmental concerns. Nikki earned her M.A. in Teaching from Pacific University and her B.S. in Sociology from Northeastern University. She also has experience as a middle school and high school English and Musical Theatre teacher and has two children of her own.   

Research Interests

Wade works with informal educators -- those people who make after-school clubs, museums and summer camps so cool. He helps informal educators understand what makes learning happen in those out-of-school settings. In his research with community partners, he studies how these informal educators build the wealth of knowledge and expertise they bring to youth, and the ways that informal educators learn from and with each other in professional training. He has an M.S. from UW-Madison from the Games+Learning+Society Center, and started his career as a high school social studies teacher.

Research Interests

My area of interest emerges from the educational initiatives I have undertaken as part of my organisation in the domain of language, literacy and culture. These initiatives comprise of two levels: (i) working directly with an indigenous youth collective in India on literacy, digital and teaching skills and (ii) working indirectly with children (6-12 age group) through community learning centers as facilitated by the youth collective mentioned above. With the youth my focus is on understanding the complex overlap of digital media, literacy and (counter) narratives. With the children my focus is on co-designing pedagogic spaces with community youth that are multilingual and culturally responsive. Broadly I am moved by anything that invokes critical pedagogy, integration of theory and practice, community based design, applied linguistics and philosophy of education.

Research Interests

I'm broadly interested in computer science education, accessibility, civic technology, and social justice. Most of my research interests stem from asking "How can we make Computer Science a safe and joyous experience for Black, Disabled, Latinx, and Indigenous college students?"

Research Interests

My research interest lies in the intersection of Learning Sciences and Human-Computer Interaction, with a focus on informal learning, mobile learning, scaling, and emergent social behavior and learning design from massive learning communities. 

Research Interests

With 17 years in education, I have served in various roles, including teaching science and other content areas from 6th grade through adult students in an alternative setting, working as a curriculum coach and associate principal, and leading service learning for the third largest district in the U.S. My research examines transformative collective learning in K12 science education, teacher collectives, and interdisciplinary teams with school leaders. Within these contexts, I hope to continue to contribute to how we understand intergenerational & community-based co-constructions, imaginations, and praxis, as well as learning and pedagogies towards expansive and agentic present-futures.

Research Interests

Informal Learning, Cyberlearning

Research Interests

Mis/Dis-information, adult cognition, acquisition of new knowledge

Research Interests

Agent-based modeling for learning about and understanding complex systems. Creating socio-technical infrastructure for ongoing systemic change in education. Cognition at every level from neurons to societies.

Research Interests

Khushbu designs hands-on learning experiences at an intersection of engineering design, art and mathematics. She is particularly interested in building these experiences for informal public spaces such as museums, playgrounds and libraries. Her goal is to explore playful mediums of learning through mechanical movements, paper zines and puzzles, with the intention to take one away from the computer screen, and to enable accessibility in tinkering while learning.

Research Interests

Research Interests

My research interests include how educators and students develop and practice critical digital pedagogies and literacies; resist, refuse, and revise educational technology imaginaries; and design learning experiences to support educational dignity.

Dissertation Title

Teaching Histories of Harm and Repair: Examining Teacher Perceptions and Approaches to District Mandated Curriculum on Police Violence and the Struggle for Justice in Chicago

Research Interests

Civics and Social Studies Education, Learning toward Justice and Transformation, Participatory research methods

Research Interests

Research Interests

complex learning; distributed & embodied cognition; learning analytics; multi-modal data; social learning; 21st century skills; interest-driven learning.

Research Interests

 I am interested in constructionist learning environments that provide equitable opportunities for STEM learning. In particular, how making practices in multiple cultural settings can be leveraged to design spaces and projects that represent and value diverse backgrounds. Additionally, I view mathematics as a (under-appreciated) culture of making, and am interested in designing and implementing math microworlds that support learners in their construction of math concepts.

Research Interests

I am interested in reimagining science education. In particular, I am interested in designing science high school curriculums that create equitable opportunities for all students to pursue science in ways that are authentic to individuals and the discipline. I am currently working with an Open Science Education design team consisting of teachers and designers. I am studying the tensions that arise during this process; particularly, tensions at the intersections of science education, gender, and race. 

I am also working on understating the roles of silliness in the classroom, specifically when silliness is used during on-task discourse within the classroom. 

In the past I have studied acoustical instruments, and how they can be used in the classroom to stimulate students’ interests and understanding of string theory. I have used Social Network Analysis to better understand interactions within science classrooms. I have also worked at Argonne National Laboratory on a team in pursuit of understanding dark energy through the study of Type 1A Supernovae.

Research Interests

K-8 Computer Science Education, Collaborative Learning, Visual Programming Lanugages

Research Interests

I am interested in the intersection of playful learning, learner agency, and equitable participation. My research projects revolve around youth empowerment through learning communities, participatory museum exhibits, human-centered design, design-based research, and social emotional learning.