Ala Samarapungavan
Professor Emerita of Educational Studies
Educational Psychology and Research Methodology,
Educational Studies
Email:
ala@purdue.edu
Phone:
(765) 494-7321
Address:
Steven C. Beering Hall of
Liberal Arts and Education
100 N. University Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2098
BRNG 5108D
Profile
Research & Publications
My research interests focus on cognition, learning and reasoning. My work explores how social and material supports affect the development thinking and knowing from childhood through adulthood. I study how classroom variables, such as teacher-student or peer interactions, task or activity structures and material supports, influence students' engagement in learning, knowledge, reasoning, and epistemic cognition. I am also interested in the connections between informal or out-of-school and formal school learning.