Research

Current Work

I like to think of myself as a learning scientist - someone who studies how people learn. My research interests are centered on how K-12 students learn to understand, value, and make use of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in both in-school settings (i.e., classrooms) and out-of-school settings (e.g., fun activities, at home). I am particularly interested in how students connect or integrate the STEM areas. For example, one area of my research focuses on how students develop better engineering designs by incorporating math ideas in their design process. In doing so, I hope that they increase their understanding of those math ideas and come to value math as a useful tool for problem solving.

I am currently living in New Jersey and working at in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers. I am an Assistant Professor of Practice, and one of my primary responsibilities is to coordinate the Design of Learning Environments concentration of the Ed.D. program. I also teach courses in the Educational Psychology department.

I am continuing my work with Shanna Daly on an NSF-funded project focused on Ideation Flexibility. The project is concerned with studying the ways that cognitive styles influence how engineering students come up with solutions to design problems. We are investigating how interventions such as design heuristics might be able to help individuals be more flexible in how they come up with solutions. My particular interest is how the framing of problem statments influences the types of solutions that individuals generate, and how individuals with different cognitive styles are influenced differently by different problem framings.

I am also working on modifying my dissertation for journal submissions. With Chris Schunn, I am attempting to separate the document into three papers. The first paper is about the design history of the robotics learning environment that I designed to help middle school students connect math to robotics, and its commonalities and differences with other learning environments that target introductory robotics. The second paper is on the types of math that kids in middle school robot competitions use and how that math is or is not useful in their competition. And the third paper is on the contrasting math framings that I observed and manipulated in the final study of my dissertation.

Downloadable Documents

Curriculum Vitae (last updated: April 22, 2015)

Bio (last updated: June 12, 2013)

Photo (last updated: May 21, 2012)

Research Statement (last updated: March 28, 2012)

Engineering Design Ideation

Silk, E. M., Daly, S. R., Jablokow, K. W., Yilmaz, S., & Rosenberg, M. (2014, June). The design problem framework: Using adaption-innovation theory to construct design problem statements. Paper accepted to be presented at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Yilmaz, S., Daly, S. R., Jablokow, K. W., Silk, E. M., & Rosenberg, M. (2014, June). Investigating impacts on the ideation flexibility of engineers. Poster accepted to be presented at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Silk, E. M., Daly, S. R., Jablokow, K. W., Yilmaz, S., & Rosenberg, M. (2014, April). Interventions for ideation: Impact of framing, teaming, and tools on high school students' design fixation. Paper presented at the 2014 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA, USA. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Math in Educational Robotics

Silk, E. M. (2011). Resources for learning robots: Environments and framings connecting math in robotics (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh). Available from Dissertations and Theses at the University of Pittsburgh and from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (Publication No. AAT 3485771). [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)] [University of Pittsburgh ETD] [ProQuest UMI Database]

Silk, E. M., Higashi, R., & Schunn, C. D. (2011, June). Resources for robot competition success: Assessing math use in grade-school-level engineering design. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education, Vancouver, BC, Canada. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., & Schunn, C. D. (2011, June). Calculational versus mechanistic mathematics in propelling the development of physical knowledge. Paper presented at the 41st annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Berkeley, CA, USA. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., & Schunn, C. D. (2011, April). Resources for learning robots: Facilitating the incorporation of mathematical models in students' engineering design strategies. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, USA. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., Schunn, C. D., Shoop, R., & Stein, M. K. (2011, March). The Robot Algebra Project. Poster presented at the eighth annual NSF ITEST Summit, Arlington, VA, USA. [Poster (PDF)]

Silk, E. M. (2010, August 25). Can math help in LEGO robotics competitions? [4-part web log post]. Retrieved from http://robotics-academy.org/blog/?p=356 [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

Silk, E. M., Higashi, R., Shoop, R., & Schunn, C. D. (2010). Designing technology activities that teach mathematics. The Technology Teacher, 69(4), 21-27. [Paper (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., Schunn, C. D., & Shoop, R. (2009). Synchronized robot dancing: Motivating efficiency & meaning in problem-solving with robotics. Robot Magazine, 17, 74-77. [Author Proof (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., & Schunn, C. D. (2008, June). Using robotics to teach mathematics: Analysis of a curriculum designed and implemented. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., Schunn, C. D., Higashi, R., Shoop, R., Dietrich, A., & Reed, R. (2007). The use of robotics to teach mathematics. Robotics Educators Conference, Butler, PA, USA. [Presentation (PDF)]

Design for Science Learning

Schunn, C. D., Silk, E. M., & Apedoe, X. S. (2012). Engineering in/&/or/for science education. In S. Carver & J. Shrager (Eds.), The Journey from Child to Scientist: Integrating Cognitive Development and the Education Sciences. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. [Publisher URL] [Amazon]

Silk, E. M. (2012, January). Ends and means: A framework for design, make, and play learning activities. Paper presented at the Design, Make, Play - Growing the Next Generation of Science Innovators workshop at the New York Hall of Science, Queens, NY. [Draft Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., & Schunn, C. D. (2011, September). A cognitive perspective on integrated STEM learning. Paper commissioned for the report STEM Integration in K-12 Education: Status, Prospects, and an Agenda for Research and presented to the National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council's Committee on Integrated STEM Education at the September 27, 2011 meeting, Washington, DC, USA. [Final Draft (PDF)]

Schunn, C. D., & Silk, E. M. (2011). Learning theories for engineering and technology education. In M. Barak & M. Hacker (Eds.), Fostering Human Development through Engineering and Technology Education (pp. 3-18), Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. [Paper (PDF)] [Publisher URL]

Silk, E. M., Schunn, C. D., & Strand Cary, M. (2009). The impact of an engineering design curriculum on science reasoning in an urban setting. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 18(3), 209-223. doi: 10.1007/s10956-009-9144-8 [Final Draft (PDF)]

Doppelt, Y., Schunn, C. D., Silk, E. M., Mehalik, M. M., Reynolds, B., & Ward, E. (2009). Evaluating the impact of a facilitated learning community approach to professional development on teacher practice and student achievement. Research in Science & Technological Education, 27(3), 339-354. doi: 10.1080/02635140903166026

Silk, E. M., & Schunn, C. D. (2008, January). Core concepts in engineering as a basis for understanding and improving K-12 engineering education in the United States. Paper commissioned for the report Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects and presented at the National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council workshop on K-12 Engineering Education, Washington, DC, USA. [Final Draft (PDF)]

Doppelt, Y., Mehalik, M. M., Schunn, C. D., Silk, E., & Krysinski, D. (2008). Engagement and achievements: A case study of design-based learning in a science context. Journal of Technology Education, 19(2), 22-39. [Paper (HTML)] [Paper (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., & Schunn, C. D. (2008, April). Utilizing contrasting cases to target science reasoning and content in a design-for-science unit. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Baltimore, MD, USA. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., Schunn, C. D., & Strand Cary, M. (2007, April). The impact of an engineering design curriculum on science reasoning in an urban setting. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, New Orleans, LA, USA. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Silk, E. M., & Schunn, C. D. (2006). Learning science by participating in design: A case where multiple design subgoals interfere with systematic progress. In S. Barab, K. Hay, & D. Hickey (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 988-989). Bloomington, IN: International Society of the Learning Sciences. [Paper (PDF)] [Poster (PDF)]

Doppelt, Y., Silk, E. M., Mehalik, M. M., Schunn, C. D., Reynolds, B., & Ward, E. (2006, April). Evaluating the impact of a facilitated learning community approach to professional development on student achievement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, San Francisco, CA, USA. [Paper (PDF)] [Presentation (PDF)]

Cognitive Modeling

Qin, Y., Carter, C. S., Silk, E. M., Stenger, V. A., Fissell, K., Goode, A., & Anderson, J. R. (2004). The change of the brain activation patterns as children learn algebra equation solving. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 101(15), 5686-5691. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0401227101

Mobile Robotics

Maxwell, B. A., Meeden, L. A., Addo, N. S., Dickson, P., Fairfield, N., Johnson, N., Jones, E. G., Kim, S., Malla, P., Murphy, M., Rutter, B., & Silk, E. M. (2001). REAPER: A reflexive architecture for perceptive agents. AI Magazine, 22(1), 53-66. [Paper (Online)]

Maxwell, B. A., Meeden, L. A., Addo, N. S., Brown, L., Dickson, P., Ng, J., Olshfski, S., Silk, E. M., & Wales, J. (1999). Alfred: The Robot Waiter Who Remembers You. Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Robotics. Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press. [Paper (PDF)]