Pratim Sengupta

Assistant Professor, Teaching and Learning

Ph.D., Northwestern University, 2009

Joined faculty in 2009

I am a learning scientist and a physicist whose interests are located along two strands of learning sciences research: Design and Cognition. Here at Vanderbilt, I direct the Mind, Matter and Media Lab (M3Lab, http://www.vanderbilt.edu/m3lab) located in the Wyatt Center. Along the Design strand, the focus is on development and classroom implementation of LTHC (i.e., Low-Threshold and High-Ceiling) models-based, computational learning environments for learning and teaching science in elementary, middle school, high school and college classrooms. I am particularly interested in studying how new forms of computational representational systems (e.g., multi-agent-based modeling, tangible programming, etc.) can lead to rethinking how knowledge is represented in various scientific domains (with a particular emphasis on physics), and the implications for learnability of those domains. Along the cognition strand, I am interested in building models of how students learn science, using a combination of theoretical, empirical and computational approaches.

I work with schools both in the Nashville area, as well as in Chicago. A consistent theme of my work has been the finding that younger students can develop fairly sophisticated forms of scientific thinking (and reasoning) through bootstrapping, rather than discarding their repertoire of intuitive knowledge, when provided with meaningful opportunities for learning using novel technological tools. Therefore, the central goals of my research are to design such novel, technology-driven learning environments that leverage naïve intuition, and to study the process of knowledge construction in learners.

You can find the latest updates about our research at the M3Lab at http://blogs.vanderbilt.edu/m3lab, and at our website at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/m3lab.

Learn More about Pratim Sengupta:

CV
Media Mentions

Areas of Expertise

Math and Science Education

Learning Sciences

Learning Technology

Faculty Directory

Open Faculty Positions