Alejandra 
Magana 

Learning Sciences  
Information Technology  
E-business  

Research Interests

     My research interests focus on two of the four common themes pervading Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In particular, my research interests revolve around themes such as scale and models and the instructional strategies and technologies designed to leverage cognitive processes supporting these ways of thinking. These common themes are of major importance because not only transcend disciplinary boundaries, but also represent ways of thinking required when performing explanation, theory, observation, and design.

     Moreover, NSF indicates a strong interest in these themes by major funding opportunities, various NSF workshops, etc. Within these themes my research approaches are centered in three activities. The first one is that by naturalistic and/or experimental methods of research I identify learners' conceptions and misconceptions, as well as problem solving strategies when confronted with activities involving scales or models. The second concentrates on linking my research findings into practice by reconciling and relating different theories and models, instructional design processes, instructional strategies, and pedagogies to the design, implementation, and testing of effective learning experiences. Finally, the last activity consists of identifying how teachers and/or pre-service teachers perceive the adoption of the learning experiences and envision themselves incorporating such materials into their future classrooms. My ultimate goal is to design, evaluate, and disseminate instruction that may result in the desired changes in learners' knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the cognitive and affective domains.

     Specific topics that support this focus include identifying: a) students' conceptions of size and scale, b) instructional strategies that can support the cognitive processes involved in thinking about scale, c) how novices and experts use models as tools to think with, b) how using and/or building models may support learners' inquiry learning process.

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West Lafayette, IN.