Keisha Varma

University of Minnesota

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Keisha Varma is a professor at the University of Minnesota. Her research program explores the cognitive processes that underlie science learning. In her work, she investigates students’ understanding of complex science concepts and how technology can facilitate science learning. She works at the intersection of educational psychology, cognitive science, and the learning sciences, examining learning and cognition in technology-enhanced classroom settings. A theme throughout her research is examining K-12 students’ representations of complex systems. Her work shows that technology can enhance students’ learning behaviors and improve their representations for complex systems. Her current interests focus on using multiple methodologies to measure students’ representations of complex scientific systems as she analyzes the relationship between students’ interactions with scientific visualizations and their learning outcomes. Additionally, she is interested in studying teacher knowledge development. She is currently looking at ways to leverage psychological methodologies to understand changes in teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and their representations of effective teaching practice.