Hive Research Lab is Dr. Rafi Santo, Dr. Dixie Ching, Dr. Kylie Peppler and Dr. Christopher Hoadley.
Dr. Rafi Santo (Project Lead) is a learning scientist focused on the intersection of digital culture, education and institutional change. Centering his work within research-practice partnerships, he has studied, collaborated with and facilitated a range of organizational networks related to digital learning, computing and technology in education. Within informal education, he has focused on organizational change and the design of innovation networks around digital learning, focusing on both regional networks including the Mozilla Hive NYC Learning Network, a collective of 70 informal education organizations, as well as national networks, including the Digital Learning Challenge community supported by the Susan Crown Exchange. In work in K-12 schooling, he’s partnered with the CSforAll National Consortium to support school districts to develop values-driven strategic plans around universal computing education initiatives. His work on Hacker Literacies has appeared in journals including International Journal of Learning and Media and Digital Culture & Education and he is co-author of a four volume collection on digital making from MIT Press called Interconnections: Understanding Systems through Digital Design. His work has been supported by the Spencer Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation and the Susan Crown Exchange.
Dr. Dixie Ching (Project Lead) is a post-doctoral researcher within the Educational Communication and Technology program at New York University. A former cell biologist, Dixie has dedicated her career to helping people see the relevance of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to their lives and in developing a better informed public through STEM literacy. She has worked on the design and implementation of educational tools and media at various organizations, including the Center for Children & Technology/Education Development Center, Inc., New York Hall of Science, Discovery Communications, WGBH/NOVA, and Beijing Television. In 2011, Dixie was part of a team that was awarded the Collegiate and Impact prizes at the National STEM Video Game Challenge for their math fluency games, including Battleship Numberline. Dixie was able to fully leverage her expertise in research and communication at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, where she oversaw the Center’s research projects and Fellows program and edited the Center’s publications. She has a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley, receiving an I.L. Chaikoff Award for the quality of her research and her undergraduate and post-graduate research at UC Berkeley and the National Institutes of Health have resulted in publications in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. She has a master’s degree in Science Journalism from Boston University, which she attended on a GenCorp Foundation scholarship. Dixie serves on the Council of Advisors for the Humanities, Art, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC).
Dr. Kylie Peppler is an assistant professor in the Learning Sciences Program at Indiana University. An artist by training, she engages in research that focuses on the intersection of arts, media, new technologies and informal learning. Peppler’s involvement in the study and development of the media-rich programming environment Scratch resulted in the book, The Computer Clubhouse: Creativity and Constructionism in Youth Communities. Peppler has collaborated with Leah Buechley and Yasmin Kafai to study e-textiles and to create new programming tools and an online community (LilyPond) for LilyPad Arduino designers. Her current work on creativity, systems thinking and media arts in youth communities is supported by the National Science Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Dr. Chris Hoadley is associate professor and co-director of NYU’s programs in Educational Communication and Technology, Digital Media Design for Learning, and Games for Learning. He has over 35 years experience designing and building educational technology. Currently his research focuses on collaborative technologies and computer support for cooperative learning (CSCL). Hoadley is the director of dolcelab, the Laboratory for Design Of Learning, Collaboration & Experience. He is an affiliate scholar for the National Academy of Engineering’s Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education (CASEE) and was awarded a Fulbright for 2008-2009 in the South Asia Regional program to study educational technologies for sustainability and empowerment in rural Himalayan villages. Hoadley coined the term “design-based research” and founded the Design-Based Research Collective, funded by the Spencer Foundation. He previously chaired the American Educational Research Association’s Special Interest Group for Education in Science and Technology (now SIG: Learning Sciences), and served as the first president of the International Society for the Learning Sciences. Hoadley earned his baccalaureate in cognitive science from MIT, and a masters in computer science and doctorate in education from UC Berkeley. He previously taught at Stanford University, Mills College and Penn State University in education, computer science and information sciences.
Hive Research Lab 