Lab Song!
Lab Director and Professor
Martha W. Alibali
I conduct research at the interface of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, and mathematics education. My primary line of research investigates mathematics learning and development, with a special focus on the role of gesture in mathematical thinking and knowledge change. I am also interested in the role of gesture in thinking and communication, particularly in educational settings.
Contact information:
Department of Psychology and Department of Educational Psychology,
University of Wisconsin-Madison
mwalibali@wisc.edu
Office: (608) 262-0837
Graduate Students
Andrea Marquardt Donovan
I am interested in cognitive development and mathematical learning in children. My current research investigates the role of manipulatives in children’s mathematical learning and conceptual understanding of equations, and how children express new knowledge in performance, speech and gesture.
Email: amdonovan2@wisc.edu
David Menendez
I’m a fifth year graduate student advised by Martha Alibali and Karl Rosengren. My research broadly centers on conceptual development. More specifically, on children’s understanding of the natural world, and how visual representations aid or hinder learning about biology. I am also interested in how socio-cultural factors influence cognitive development.
Email: dmenendez@wisc.edu
Lauren Anthony
I am a second year graduate student co-advised by Martha Alibali and C. Shawn Green in the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience area. As an undergraduate at UCLA, I studied problem representation in mathematics and memory strategies. My current research investigates how students engage with patterns in mathematical contexts and the extent to which experience with patterns affects both procedural fluency and knowledge about mathematical relationships.
Email: leanthony2@wisc.edu
Victoria Jay
I am a first year developmental psychology PhD student advised by Martha Alibali. I’m a Wisconsin native who got my B.S. in Psychology & Neurobiology here at UW-Madison, and am excited to be back after receiving my M.S. in Psychology from the University of Illinois. Broadly, my interests lie in the development of systems and representations that underlie our abilities for more formal mathematics.
Email: vjay@wisc.edu
Rui Meng
I am a sixth year graduate student advised by Martha Alibali and Percival Matthews. My research focuses on cognitive development and cuts across cognitive, developmental, and educational psychology. In particular, I study how young children and adults understand and interpret covariation data, and its connections with other numerical and mathematical concepts.
Email: rmeng5@wisc.edu
Anna Bartel
I am a fifth year cognitive psychology PhD student advised by Martha Alibali. My current research revolves around how visual and data representations influence student understanding of algebra and statistics. Some of my most recent projects include: (a) assessing different error patterns in algebraic symbolization as a function of different diagram types, (b) investigating how graphical and textual framing cues influence problem solving accuracy and strategy use on constant change problems, and (c) exploring the effects of graphical depictions of variability in how people interpret graphs. You can find me tweeting about math, stats, and beyond at @annabartel_ .
Email: anbartel@wisc.edu
Nicholas Vest
I am a second-year graduate student advised by Martha Alibali. My current research investigates numerical cognition with a focus on the development of abstract mathematical concepts such as zero. Additionally, I am interested in gesture and action and how our motor behaviors influence learning. Prior to graduate school, I obtained a B.S. in Psychology at Indiana University where I also worked as a lab manager for two years. You can find me on Twitter @nicholas_vest.
Email: navest@wisc.edu
Post-Doctoral Researchers
Emily Szkudlarek
I am a post-doctoral scholar at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research working in both the Cognitive Development and Communication lab and the Mathematics Education Learning and Development Lab with Dr. Percival Matthews. Before coming to UW-Madison, I received a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania working with Dr. Elizabeth Brannon. I am interested in how children and adults can build mathematical understanding from concrete depictions of numerical and arithmetic concepts. Specifically, I investigate how we can perform intuitive, non-symbolic math operations as children before formal mathematical instruction, and situations where adults already expert in symbolic calculation persist in their use of intuitive strategies to solve math problems. My research explores how strong arithmetic concepts can support advanced mathematical reasoning.
Email: szkudlarek@wisc.edu
Project Managers
Elena Silla
I am one of the project managers in the lab. The projects I am working on investigate how children think about math and whether the use of tools such as diagrams and manipulatives enhance student understanding. I am a former teacher and am now interested in developing research-based tools and techniques that can be used by educators to improve student education and hope to pursue this in later graduate studies.
Email: esilla@wisc.edu
Olympia Mathiaparanam
I am a new project manager being advised by Martha Alibali and Karl Rosengren. Our research broadly investigates how visual diagrams help children learn about biological variation and aid in their understanding of biological concepts including metamorphosis, inheritance, and evolution.
Email: omathhiaparan@wisc.edu
Undergraduate RAs
Xinyi Liu
Brendan Risen
Jessa Snower
Yicheng (Tom) Tang
Shivali Zala
Zach Buehler
Kylie Robinson
Grace Sutton
Sonja Lin Vaintrub
Jenna Morris
Makayla Petersdorff
Tyler Tommasi
Lauren Kresser
Madilyn Michels
Kai Sylte
Mingke Wang
Megan Haas
Junyan Zhu
Holden Manhart
Other People in the CDC Lab
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Lab Alumni
Graduate Students
Bethany Rittle-Johnson, Professor, Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
Nicole M. McNeil, Professor, Psychology, University of Notre Dame
Autumn Hostetter, Associate Professor, Psychology, Kalamazoo College
Richard Prather, Assistant Professor, Human Development, University of Maryland
Shanta Hattikudur, Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, Temple University
Noelle Crooks, Assistant Professor, Broward College
Annie Riggs, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Western Washington University
Andrew G. Young, Postdoctoral Fellow, Thinking Lab, Occidental College
Pooja G. Sidney, Assistant Professor, Psychology, University of Kentucky
Sarah Brown, Postdoctoral Researcher, Boston University
Amelia Yeo, Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Education
Postdoctoral Researchers
Rebecca Boncoddo, Assistant Professor, Psychological Sciences, Center Connecticut State University
Virginia Clinton, Assistant Professor, Education, Health, and Behavior, University of North Dakota
Jennifer Cooper, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Stonehill College
Emily Fyfe, Assistant Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington
Christopher Osterhaus, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Munich Center of the Learning Sciences
Jose Gutierrez, Assistant Professor, Education, Culture, & Society, University of Utah
Andreas Obersteiner, Professor, Mathematics Education, Freiberg University of Education
Undergraduate Researchers
Benjamin Barmore
Vanesa Meneses
Gill-Helene Schomaker
Sarah Desch
Ruby Paisner
Jaclyn Psenka
Adele Poser
Collen Bruckner
Delaney Twing
Devin Deegan
Eartha Zhang
Erika Strauss
Erin Condon
Kathryn Anderson
Li Cai
Morgan Gald
Morgan Pagenkopf
Olivia Borglin
Vaughan Collins
Vijay Marupudi