Research

The overarching theme of my research is to create an interactive environment to facilitate learners’ problem-solving and the development of transferrable skills.

Computational thinking: My current interest focuses on developing both students’ and teachers’ computational thinking. I am currently working with a team at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on developing a professional learning model to promote K-12 teachers’ computational thinking skills as well their ability to integrate computational thinking into STEM classrooms.

Methodological focus: I have been using quantitative methods (e.g., hidden Markov model, Bayesian network, sequential analysis, social network analysis, and natural language processing) to understand learners’ behavior, competence, interaction, and discourse.

Instructional design focus: I aim at creating an interactive learning environment for learners to promote active learning through problem solving. The goal of such environment is to help learners develop transferrable skills beyond the performance within the system. Below are some of my sample publications.