Gina Navoa Svarovsky received her PhD in 2009 in the Epistemic Games research group. As a former engineer and classroom teacher, she became interested in investigating how the professional practices of engineers can provide a framework for innovative learning environments. Her research in the group from 2001-2009 focused on the design, implementation, and assessment of the Digital Zoo epistemic game.
Background
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 1999
MEd, University of Notre Dame, 2001
MS, Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, 2003
PhD, Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, 2009
Prior to entering the world of epistemic gaming, Gina graduated with a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Notre Dame and taught high school phyics for two years in St. Petersburg, Florida. While in the classroom, she became interested in the potential of using authentic engineering design projects in the K-12 setting as a pathway to understanding science, which led her to the Epistemic Games group at the University of Wisconsin. In addition to developing and refining the Digital Zoo epistemic game, she worked on the CIRTL project, where she helped create and teach a course on the effective use of technology in the undergraduate STEM classroom. Gina has also been appointed as a funded Spencer Doctoral Research Program Fellow, a Future Faculty Partner at the University of Wisconsin Teaching Academy, and a Research Fellow at the Academic ADL Co-Laboartory.
Since finishing her PhD, Gina has been working at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Research Interests
Gina studied how epistemic games based on the profession of engineering can help middle school students – particularly girls – to build their conceptual understanding in physics and biomechanics. Her dissertation investigated how client meetings and design notebooks help students begin to develop the values and epistemology of engineering in the game Digital Zoo.
More Information
For more information about Gina’s research on Digital Zoo, download Gina’s current CV (PDF link), or check out…
Game Versions:
Publications & Presentations:
Epistemic Network Analysis: A prototype for 21st Century assessment of learning – The International Journal of Learning and Media, 2008.
SodaConstructing knowledge through exploratoids - Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2007.
SodaConstructing an understanding of physics – 2006 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference paper.
Design meetings and design notebooks as tools for reflection in the engineering design course – 2006 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference paper.
Berta’s Tower: Developing conceptual physics understanding one exploratoid at a time – 2006 ICLS conference paper.
Engineering girls gone wild: Developing an engineering identity in Digital Zoo – 2006 ICLS conference paper.
Bertas Tower: Understanding physics through virtual engineering – 2004 ICLS conference paper.
Bertas Tower: An expert-novice study investigating ideas in the domain of physics and the practice of engineering – 2003 AERA conference poster.
Contact
Gina Navoa Svarovsky
v: +1 608 345 3738
e: mnsvarovsky at wisc dot edu
