Alla Keselman, Ph.D.

Paris, March 2001

I am currently a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Medical Informatics at Columbia University, working with Dr. Vimla Patel in the Laboratory of Decision Making and Cognition. My research interests include studying how lay people acquire, organize and apply knowledge about health-related issues. I am particularly interested in developing educational interventions that would help adolescents and young adults to acquire understanding of the biological bases of various health issues, while also teaching them scientific reasoning skills and the value of integrating scientific reasoning into thinking about real-life problems.

For the past year, I have been working on a project that investigates the nature of middle and high school adolescents' conceptual knowledge of HIV, and the impact that this knowledge bears upon real-life problem solving, information evaluation and decision making. The data collected in this project will be integrated with an extensive review of cognitively-based science interventions in order to develop a currciculum sequence for 7th grade science instruction. Our intention is to creata an intervention that will help youth
(1) to build strong understanding of the biological bases of HIV/AIDS, which would extend beyond mere factual knowledge of HIV modes of transmission and prevention and
(2) to integrate that knowledge into real-life problem solving and information evaluation
(3) to transfer conceptual knowledge and information evaluation skills to other health domains.
This project is supported by postdoctoral fellowship from the American Educational Research Association.
If you are interested to learn more about that project, you may want to look at the following paper: Sex, Myths, and Adolescents' Conceptual Understanding of HIV . (from 2002 proceedings if Cognitive Science Society)

During the first year of my fellowship at DMI, I also became interested in applying cognitive science methods to the problems of software design/usability, human-computer interaction and medical decision making. Currently, I am a part of a large study that investigates group decision making practices in medical equipment purchasing, with the goal of developing equipment purchasing guidelines.

I received a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Cognitive Studies in Education) at Columbia University in 2001, under the supervision of Dr. Deanna Kuhn. The Cognitive Studies program is located in the Department of Human Development at Teachers College. My dissertation research concentrated on designing an intervention that helped middle-school kids to develop experimentation and reasoning skills to support inquiry learning. Another area of my research interest at Teachers College included factors affecting literacy skills of community college students.

Papers

Keselman, A. Supporting Inquiry Learning by Promoting Normative Understanding of Multivariable Causality. Under review for publication.

Keselman, A. (2001). Enhancing Middle School Students' Scientific Reasoning Skills through Refining Their Mental Models of Multivariable Causality. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Teachers College, Columbia University.

Keselman, A., & Kuhn, D. Developing Cognitive Prerequisites to Support Inquiry Learning in Computer Environment. Annual Conference Proceedings, Computer Science and Collaborative Learning, Boulder, Colorado, January 7-11, 2002. (online proceedings version is here)

Keselman, A., & Patel, V. L. Sex, Myths, and Adolescents' Conceptual Understanding of HIV. Annual Conference Proceedings, Cognitive Science Society , Fairfax, Virginia, August 8-10, 2002.

Kuhn, D., Black, J., Keselman, A. & Kaplan, D. (2000). The Development of Cognitive Skills to Support Inquiry Learning. Cognition and Instruction, 18 (4), 495-523.

Perin, D., Keselman, A., & Monopoli, M. (in press). Effects of Text, Domain, and Learner Variables on the Academic Writing of Developmental Reading Students. Higher Education.

Presentations

Keselman, A., Cognitive Barriers to Adolescents' Critical Evaluation of HIV Information. Department of Medical Informatics Research Seminar, Columbia University, New York, NY, June 13, 2002.

Keselman, A., & Kuhn, D. Developing Cognitive Prerequisites to Support Inquiry Learning in Computer Environment. Annual Conference, Computer Science and Collaborative Learning, Boulder, Colorado, January 7-11, 2002.

Kuhn D., & Keselman, A., Scientific Reasoning: What Develops? Annual Conference, Americal Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 1-5, 2002.

Perin, D., Keselman, A., & Monopoli, M. Expository Writing Abilities of Adult Remedial Readers. Annual Conference, Society for the Study of Scientific Reading, Montreal, April 24, 1999.

Upcoming Presentations

Keselman, A., Patel, V.L. Sex, Myths, and Adolescents' Conceptual Understanding of HIV. Annual Conference, Cognitive Science Society, Fairax, VA, August 8-10, 2002.

Keselman, A., Kaufman, D.R., Patel, V.L. Barriers to Adolescent Ability to Evaluate the Accuracy of Information about HIV . American Medical Informatics Association, San Antonio, TX, Novermber 9-13, 2002.