Martha Alibali
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Education Research
Members of the same species vary far more than most people realize, and this variation is what drives how species change through survival and reproduction. Young children are expected to learn about biodiversity in elementary school.
- Fields
Education Research
Psychology
- Topics
biodiversity
biological variability
within-species variation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Test whether playing LifeCycles and CyClo, card games showing organisms' life stages, improves 2nd- and 5th-grade children's understanding of biological variability in lab studies.
- Determine how the number and similarity of organisms shown on game cards affect children's comparisons and relational reasoning about biological kinds.
- Test whether giving caregivers support for guiding comparisons improves children's relational thinking during game play, and study caregiver-child interaction in museum settings.
- Design and pilot test a museum exhibit prototype that builds the card games and research findings into an informal learning experience.
More about the research
Doing so means comparing examples, such as the same animal at different life stages or different animals at the same stage. Comparison is mentally demanding, and classroom materials rarely support it well. Can familiar card games help children make these comparisons and learn about biological variability?
Why it matters
The findings could give teachers, museums and families simple, game-based tools that help elementary school children grasp variation within and between species. This foundational idea may prepare students for later biology learning. A tested museum exhibit prototype could bring these lessons to families visiting museums.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Florencia Anggoro
College of the Holy Cross, MA·Education Research
Test how changing the number and similarity of organism life-stage cards in LifeCycles (modified War) and CyClo (modified Uno) affects second- and fifth-graders' learning about biological variability, in lab studies with about 150 children.
Kayce Mastrup
California State University-Monterey Bay, CA·Education Research
Prototype a bounded large language model homework tool for grades 3–5 that uses structured prompting constraints to guide students' reasoning on science and math problems rather than giving direct answers.
Jiun-Yu Wu
Southern Methodist University, TX·Education Research
Develop game-based semiconductor learning modules for high-school students, with avatars and peer play, and refine them iteratively through design-based research driven by student feedback.
The school
University of Wisconsin-Madison: 91 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 854 research doctorates a year.
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