Melissa Gresalfi | Vanderbilt University (original) (raw)

Papers by Melissa Gresalfi

International Handbook of the Learning Sciences, 2018

Journal of Research on Technology in Education

Journal of research on technology in education, Oct 27, 2022

International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 2013

This paper details a framework for evaluating the potential of particular forms of technology for... more This paper details a framework for evaluating the potential of particular forms of technology for supporting student engagement with mathematics. I propose that, focusing on the strength of affordances to engage in particular ways allows us to begin to build an analytic frame that serves two purposes: (1) to begin to document learning as an interaction with larger bodies of data; and (2) to make and evaluate conjectures about the potential of different technologies for supporting high quality engagement with mathematics. I describe design iterations from previous work that leveraged this framework as an example of how this framework could be used and why it has proven to be valuable.

The papers in this symposium explore the concept of disruptions as an analytical concept for inve... more The papers in this symposium explore the concept of disruptions as an analytical concept for investigating how individual learning and changes in local practice mutually influence each other in designed learning contexts. Disruptions are rearrangements, temporary or sustained, of typical practice, meaningfully experienced by participants. The papers present data from a variety of studies investigating middle and high school mathematics education settings (teacher professional development, a geometry design study, museum field trips) as comparative cases for exploring the idea of disruptions. We explore how disruptions to typical practice in terms of discourse, authority, participation frames, material and representational tools, and spaces and modes of learning are taken up, adapted, or rejected by learners, and how this informs design.

Research on classroom discourse has long underscored the integral role of social interaction in l... more Research on classroom discourse has long underscored the integral role of social interaction in learning, yet designing for and supporting meaningful classroom interaction often remains a challenge. This paper examines the ways that elementary school students are positioned and position themselves during activities aimed at promoting reflexivity about small-group math discussions. We examine one student group's participation in three such activities over eight months' time and specifically highlight the role of a mediating tool that was designed to support participation-centered rather than ability-centered conceptions of learning. Our aim is to examine how one focal group's math discussions were or were not shaped by the tool in ways that were consequential for productive collaborative engagement.

Short Circuits, 2014

Short Circuits offers students opportunities to undertake physical computing projects, providing ... more Short Circuits offers students opportunities to undertake physical computing projects, providing tools and methods for creating electronic puppets. Students learn how to incorporate microprocessors into everyday materials and use them to enhance their language and writing skills with shadow puppet shows featuring their own DIY flashlights.

ABSTRACT Digital media are central in almost every aspect of daily life, most notably in how we c... more ABSTRACT Digital media are central in almost every aspect of daily life, most notably in how we communicate, understand political issues, reflect (co-)produce, consume, and share knowledge. Perhaps nowhere is this digital influence contested more than in education, where questions arise about the ability of traditional systems to prepare young people for the social, economic, and political demands of a complex and connected new century. From these concerns springs an innovative approach to supporting the development of systems thinking in young people; one that allows them to see how systems are at play in the digital contexts they regularly engage and one that puts them in the position of designers of those systems. Script Changers: Digital Storytelling with Scratch focuses on how stories offer an important lens for seeing the world as a series of systems and provides opportunities for young people to create interactive and animated stories about the systems around them. The projects in this book utilize the Scratch visual programming environment as a means to tell stories about how to affect change in youths' local communities.

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2010

Educational Technology Research and Development, 2017

The goal of the current study was to contribute to our emergent understanding of whether and how ... more The goal of the current study was to contribute to our emergent understanding of whether and how particular types of digital games can support student learning and engagement. We focused on commercially available educational apps that focused on similar content (fraction comparison and equivalence) but represented extremes in how game-like they were (games vs. worksheets). Third-grade students (n = 95) worked on the apps for an hour in their math classrooms. Students preformed equally well on a paper-andpencil assessment, but students' enjoyment of the games was significantly higher. Student interviews indicated that students who played the games noticed the mathematics content in the games, sometimes linking it to the game mechanics, noticed the relevance of the game for the assessment and talked about enjoying the games. Findings suggest that exploratory games that implicitly support mathematics knowledge can improve students' math knowledge outside of the game context and improve student engagement.

Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2020

ABSTRACT Background Educational video games are increasingly used in classrooms because they can ... more ABSTRACT Background Educational video games are increasingly used in classrooms because they can offer meaningful contexts for problem solving. However, educational video games bring together two historically disparate activities: school mathematics and video games. How these two activities complement, compromise, or contradict each other influences how mathematical activity takes shape during game play. Methods This paper offers a case analysis of two students: one who engages with the mathematics as intended by the game and is easily seen as on task, and a second who seems to reject the mathematics as intended by the game and is easily seen as off task. The analysis focuses on how each student’s frame of activity influences their mathematical activity during game play. Findings Findings suggest that, considered from their own frame of activity instead of the frame of the design, both students appear engaged in mathematical sensemaking, albeit in different ways: one as intended by the designer, the other as emerging from game play. Contribution By highlighting potential tensions between these official and unofficial frames, this paper contributes to continued reflections on task designs that incorporate youth culture such as video gaming to make mathematics classrooms more inviting to students.

2013 Robinson, J. M., M. Gresalfi, A. K. Sievert, T. B. Christensen, K. D. Kearns, and M. E. Zola... more 2013 Robinson, J. M., M. Gresalfi, A. K. Sievert, T. B. Christensen, K. D. Kearns, and M. E. Zolan. “Talking Across the Disciplines: Building Communicative Competence in a Multidisciplinary Graduate-Student Seminar on Inquiry in Teaching and Learning.” In The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning In and Across the Disciplines, K. McKinney, ed., Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 186-199.

2015 Robinson, J. M., K. Kearns, M. Gresalfi, A. Sievert, and T. Christensen, “Teaching on Purpos... more 2015 Robinson, J. M., K. Kearns, M. Gresalfi, A. Sievert, and T. Christensen, “Teaching on Purpose: A Collegium Community Model for Supporting Intentional Teaching.” Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 26(1): 81-110. The "collegium" learning community teaches mid-career graduate students intentionally to prepare for and create learning opportunities for their undergraduate students, what the authors call "teaching on purpose." The design addresses the lack of alignment between research on learning and preparation of faculty for teaching, supports graduate students' development as scholars, primes them for responsible participation in a multidisciplinary campus community, and introduces teaching as a field of inquiry. Case studies demonstrate that participants' pedagogies moved from assumptions to theories and from anecdotes to evidence and prepared them to become advocates for teaching change. This effective and transferable collegium model can bridge the divide between the science and application of learning.

Soft Circuits introduces students to the world of wearable technology. Using Modkit, an accessibl... more Soft Circuits introduces students to the world of wearable technology. Using Modkit, an accessible DIY electronics toolkit, students learn to create e-textile cuffs, "electrici-tee" shirts, and solar-powered backpacks. Students also learn the importance of one component to the whole -- how, for example, changing the structure of LED connections immediately affects the number of LEDs that light up.

International Handbook of the Learning Sciences, 2018

Journal of Research on Technology in Education

Journal of research on technology in education, Oct 27, 2022

International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 2013

This paper details a framework for evaluating the potential of particular forms of technology for... more This paper details a framework for evaluating the potential of particular forms of technology for supporting student engagement with mathematics. I propose that, focusing on the strength of affordances to engage in particular ways allows us to begin to build an analytic frame that serves two purposes: (1) to begin to document learning as an interaction with larger bodies of data; and (2) to make and evaluate conjectures about the potential of different technologies for supporting high quality engagement with mathematics. I describe design iterations from previous work that leveraged this framework as an example of how this framework could be used and why it has proven to be valuable.

The papers in this symposium explore the concept of disruptions as an analytical concept for inve... more The papers in this symposium explore the concept of disruptions as an analytical concept for investigating how individual learning and changes in local practice mutually influence each other in designed learning contexts. Disruptions are rearrangements, temporary or sustained, of typical practice, meaningfully experienced by participants. The papers present data from a variety of studies investigating middle and high school mathematics education settings (teacher professional development, a geometry design study, museum field trips) as comparative cases for exploring the idea of disruptions. We explore how disruptions to typical practice in terms of discourse, authority, participation frames, material and representational tools, and spaces and modes of learning are taken up, adapted, or rejected by learners, and how this informs design.

Research on classroom discourse has long underscored the integral role of social interaction in l... more Research on classroom discourse has long underscored the integral role of social interaction in learning, yet designing for and supporting meaningful classroom interaction often remains a challenge. This paper examines the ways that elementary school students are positioned and position themselves during activities aimed at promoting reflexivity about small-group math discussions. We examine one student group's participation in three such activities over eight months' time and specifically highlight the role of a mediating tool that was designed to support participation-centered rather than ability-centered conceptions of learning. Our aim is to examine how one focal group's math discussions were or were not shaped by the tool in ways that were consequential for productive collaborative engagement.

Short Circuits, 2014

Short Circuits offers students opportunities to undertake physical computing projects, providing ... more Short Circuits offers students opportunities to undertake physical computing projects, providing tools and methods for creating electronic puppets. Students learn how to incorporate microprocessors into everyday materials and use them to enhance their language and writing skills with shadow puppet shows featuring their own DIY flashlights.

ABSTRACT Digital media are central in almost every aspect of daily life, most notably in how we c... more ABSTRACT Digital media are central in almost every aspect of daily life, most notably in how we communicate, understand political issues, reflect (co-)produce, consume, and share knowledge. Perhaps nowhere is this digital influence contested more than in education, where questions arise about the ability of traditional systems to prepare young people for the social, economic, and political demands of a complex and connected new century. From these concerns springs an innovative approach to supporting the development of systems thinking in young people; one that allows them to see how systems are at play in the digital contexts they regularly engage and one that puts them in the position of designers of those systems. Script Changers: Digital Storytelling with Scratch focuses on how stories offer an important lens for seeing the world as a series of systems and provides opportunities for young people to create interactive and animated stories about the systems around them. The projects in this book utilize the Scratch visual programming environment as a means to tell stories about how to affect change in youths' local communities.

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2010

Educational Technology Research and Development, 2017

The goal of the current study was to contribute to our emergent understanding of whether and how ... more The goal of the current study was to contribute to our emergent understanding of whether and how particular types of digital games can support student learning and engagement. We focused on commercially available educational apps that focused on similar content (fraction comparison and equivalence) but represented extremes in how game-like they were (games vs. worksheets). Third-grade students (n = 95) worked on the apps for an hour in their math classrooms. Students preformed equally well on a paper-andpencil assessment, but students' enjoyment of the games was significantly higher. Student interviews indicated that students who played the games noticed the mathematics content in the games, sometimes linking it to the game mechanics, noticed the relevance of the game for the assessment and talked about enjoying the games. Findings suggest that exploratory games that implicitly support mathematics knowledge can improve students' math knowledge outside of the game context and improve student engagement.

Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2020

ABSTRACT Background Educational video games are increasingly used in classrooms because they can ... more ABSTRACT Background Educational video games are increasingly used in classrooms because they can offer meaningful contexts for problem solving. However, educational video games bring together two historically disparate activities: school mathematics and video games. How these two activities complement, compromise, or contradict each other influences how mathematical activity takes shape during game play. Methods This paper offers a case analysis of two students: one who engages with the mathematics as intended by the game and is easily seen as on task, and a second who seems to reject the mathematics as intended by the game and is easily seen as off task. The analysis focuses on how each student’s frame of activity influences their mathematical activity during game play. Findings Findings suggest that, considered from their own frame of activity instead of the frame of the design, both students appear engaged in mathematical sensemaking, albeit in different ways: one as intended by the designer, the other as emerging from game play. Contribution By highlighting potential tensions between these official and unofficial frames, this paper contributes to continued reflections on task designs that incorporate youth culture such as video gaming to make mathematics classrooms more inviting to students.

2013 Robinson, J. M., M. Gresalfi, A. K. Sievert, T. B. Christensen, K. D. Kearns, and M. E. Zola... more 2013 Robinson, J. M., M. Gresalfi, A. K. Sievert, T. B. Christensen, K. D. Kearns, and M. E. Zolan. “Talking Across the Disciplines: Building Communicative Competence in a Multidisciplinary Graduate-Student Seminar on Inquiry in Teaching and Learning.” In The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning In and Across the Disciplines, K. McKinney, ed., Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 186-199.

2015 Robinson, J. M., K. Kearns, M. Gresalfi, A. Sievert, and T. Christensen, “Teaching on Purpos... more 2015 Robinson, J. M., K. Kearns, M. Gresalfi, A. Sievert, and T. Christensen, “Teaching on Purpose: A Collegium Community Model for Supporting Intentional Teaching.” Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 26(1): 81-110. The "collegium" learning community teaches mid-career graduate students intentionally to prepare for and create learning opportunities for their undergraduate students, what the authors call "teaching on purpose." The design addresses the lack of alignment between research on learning and preparation of faculty for teaching, supports graduate students' development as scholars, primes them for responsible participation in a multidisciplinary campus community, and introduces teaching as a field of inquiry. Case studies demonstrate that participants' pedagogies moved from assumptions to theories and from anecdotes to evidence and prepared them to become advocates for teaching change. This effective and transferable collegium model can bridge the divide between the science and application of learning.

Soft Circuits introduces students to the world of wearable technology. Using Modkit, an accessibl... more Soft Circuits introduces students to the world of wearable technology. Using Modkit, an accessible DIY electronics toolkit, students learn to create e-textile cuffs, "electrici-tee" shirts, and solar-powered backpacks. Students also learn the importance of one component to the whole -- how, for example, changing the structure of LED connections immediately affects the number of LEDs that light up.

Gaming the System demonstrates the nature of games as systems, how game designers need to think i... more Gaming the System demonstrates the nature of games as systems, how game designers need to think in terms of complex interactions of game elements and rules, and how to identify systems concepts in the design process. The activities use Gamestar Mechanic, an online game design environment with a systems thinking focus.

Short Circuits offers students opportunities to undertake physical computing projects, providing ... more Short Circuits offers students opportunities to undertake physical computing projects, providing tools and methods for creating electronic puppets. Students learn how to incorporate microprocessors into everyday materials and use them to enhance their language and writing skills with shadow puppet shows featuring their own DIY flashlights.

Script Changers shows the ways that stories offer a lens for seeing the world as a series of syst... more Script Changers shows the ways that stories offer a lens for seeing the world as a series of systems. It provides opportunities for students to create interactive and animated stories about creating positive change in their communities. These projects utilize the Scratch visual programming environment.

Soft Circuits introduces students to the world of wearable technology. Using Modkit, an accessibl... more Soft Circuits introduces students to the world of wearable technology. Using Modkit, an accessible DIY electronics toolkit, students learn to create e-textile cuffs, "electrici-tee" shirts, and solar-powered backpacks. Students also learn the importance of one component to the whole -- how, for example, changing the structure of LED connections immediately affects the number of LEDs that light up.