Dr. Puvirajah has an active and well-developed research and outreach programs in teacher education and STEM learning that align with his interest in examining how teachers and science learners use Discourses to explore, negotiate, and develop their respective roles and identities within a community of practice. Specifically, within the STEM learning context, he studies Discourses that are enhanced through the use of technological tools and occurring in informal settings.
Current Work
A Reciprocal Model for Teaching and Learning Computational Competencies: Connecting Pre-Service Teachers and Urban Latino Youth
Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project aims to advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students and teachers in authentic computational tasks associated with real-world challenges. The after-school program will engage urban Latino middle school and high school students in activities aimed at developing computational competencies and promoting interests in pursuing computer science related studies and careers.
Teacher Reflection and Critical Incident Reflection
Using discourse analysis, this project focuses on investigating the use of video and critical incident reflection for teacher transformative learning and the use of schema-based framework for analyzing science teachers’ video enhanced reflection. Moreover, capitalizing on the advances in computing, graphics, and mobile technologies, the project also focuses on studying the affordances of virtual worlds for developing communities of practice among novice teachers.
Examining Newly Arrived Students’ Engagement in Out of School Learning Experiences in Computational Thinking
This project aims to systematically investigate newly arrived students’ previous science learning experience in formal and informal settings, create an informal learning experience (e.g., maker-spaces, robotic, coding academy) for newly arrived students, and examine the informal learning context for inclusive science learning opportunities for newly-arrived students. The goal of this project to understand how informal learning spaces may create inclusive and engaging science learning opportunities for newly arrived students. The science learning opportunities may create space for peer-to-peer mentoring, skills building, and to work with industry/scientists and create alternative pathways for science learning.
Other Research Interests
Research with STEM Learners
Dr. Puvirajah’s ongoing research in Discourse and communities of practice (CoPs) with STEM learners focuses on the contextual differences between formal and informal science learning spaces and the types of Discourses and CoPs that these spaces create. More specifically, he scrutinizes the impact of informal, free choice learning contexts on community building that leads to learning science processes, skills, and content knowledge. For example, in a study of an out-of-school robotics community, using critical discourse analysis, he focused on the interplay of the informal context and language to gain insights into the mediation and manifestation of power among students and teacher mentors (Puvirajah, Verma, & Webb, 2012). Within this community, he has also studied the participants’ use of social language to facilitate practices that neared cultural traditions of a scientific community and the linguistic and social interactions among the participants as they attempted to create a third space to practice science through the intersection of school scripts and personal scripts (Verma, Puvirajah, & Webb, 2015).
Research with STEM Teachers
Dr. Puvirajah’s research focuses on how teachers’ technology enabled reflective practices help develop a sense of belonging within a teacher community of practice. Using discourse analysis, he has studied the use of video and critical incident reflection for teacher transformative learning (Calandra & Puvirajah, 2011; Criswell, Calandra, Puvirajah, & Brantley-Dias, 2015) and the use of schema-based framework for analyzing science teachers’ video enhanced reflection (Calandra, Sun, & Puvirajah, 2014). Moreover, he is capitalizing on the advances in computing, graphics, and mobile technologies to be among the first to study virtual worlds for developing a community of practice among novice teachers. In his work with virtual worlds and novice teachers, he has studied the affordances of purposefully designed virtual world experiences for novice science teacher development (Puvirajah & Calandra, 2012), novice science teacher virtual worlds experiences as an intermediate step between formal methods classes and real life field experiences (Calandra & Puvirajah, 2014), novice science teacher embodiment in virtual worlds, and novice science teacher identity exploration, negotiation, and development in virtual worlds (Puvirajah & Calandra, 2015).
Refereed Journal Articles
Puvirajah, A. & Calandra, B. (2015). Embodied experiences in virtual worlds role-play as a conduit for novice teacher identity exploration: A case study. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research. 15(1), 23-47.
Criswell, B., Calandra, B., Puvirajah, A., & Brantley-Dias, L. (2015). A new lens for seeing tensegrity in science teacher reflections. Cultural Studies of Science Education.
Verma, G., Puvirajah, A., & Webb*, P. (2015). Enacting acts of authentication in a robotics competition: An interpretivist study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 52 (3), 268-295.
Calandra, B & Puvirajah, A. (2014). Teacher practice in multi user virtual environments: A fourth space. Tech Trends. 58 (6), 29-35.
Puvirajah, A., Verma, G., Li, H., & Martin-Hansen, L. (2014). Influence of a science focused after school program on underrepresented high school students’ science attitudes and trajectory: A survey validation study. International Journal Science Education, Part B, 5 (3), 250 – 270.
Calandra, B., Sun*, Y. & Puvirajah, A. (2014). A new perspective on teachers’ video-aided reflection. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 30 (3), 104-109.
Puvirajah, A., Verma, G., & Webb*, H. (2012). Examining the mediation of power in a collaborative community: Engaging in informal science as authentic practice. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 7 (2), 375-408
Calandra, B., & Puvirajah, A. (2011). Using digital video to promote teachers’ transformative learning. Educational Technology, 51 (2), 33-36.
Ebenezer, J., & Puvirajah, A. (2005). WebCT dialogues on particle theory of matter: Presumptive reasoning schemes. Educational Research and Evaluation, 11 (6), 561-590.
Ebenezer, J., Lugo, F., Beirnacka, B., & Puvirajah, A. (2003). Community building through electronic discussion boards: Pre-service teachers’ reflective dialogues on science teaching. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 12 (4), 397-411.
Refereed Book Chapters
Puvirajah, A. (In press). Waves. In P. Rillero & S. Eddis (Eds.), Mastering the Science Content of the NES General Science Exam. Anthem, AZ: Independent Variable Press.
Puvirajah, A. (In press). Energy. In P. Rillero & S. Eddis (Eds.), Mastering the Science Content of the NES General Science Exam. Anthem, AZ: Independent Variable Press.
Puvirajah, A., Martin-Hansen, L., & Verma, G. (2012). Creating a pipeline to STEM careers through service learning: The AFT program. In R. E. Yager (Ed.), Exemplary Science for Building Interest in STEM Careers. Arlington, Virginia: National Science Teachers Association.
Puvirajah, A. (2012). The wave phenomenon. In C. Wilson (Ed.), Passing the State Science Proficiency Tests: Essential Content for Elementary and Middle School Teachers. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Refereed Abstracts and Proceedings
Verma, G., Puvirajah, A., & Martin-Hansen, L. (2013). Recruiting minority students into STEM through experiences in being a teacher. In Nagarjuna G., Jamakhandi, A. & Sam, E.M., (Eds.). Proceedings of epiSTEME 5-- International Conference to Review Research on Science, Technology and Mathematics Education, (pp. 343-350). India: Cinnamon Teal Publishing.
Puvirajah, A. & Calandra, B. (2012). Why use designed experiences in MUVEs in teacher education? A rationale and example. In P. Resta (Ed.). Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, (pp. 2604-2608). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Webb*, H., Puvirajah, A., & Verma, G. (2011). Examining discourse in a high school robotic club. In S. Chunawala & M. Kharatmal (Eds.). Proceedings of epiSTEME 4 -- International Conference to Review Research on Science, Technology and Mathematics Education, (pp. 309 – 313). India: Macmillan.
Ebenezer, J., & Puvirajah, A. (2003). WebCT dialogues on particle theory of matter: Presumptive reasoning in students’ argumentation. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Computer Based Learning in Science. Nicosia, Cyprus.
Ebenezer, J.V., Beirnacka, B., & Puvirajah, A. (2002). Electronic discussion boards: Pre-service teachers’ reflective dialogues on science teaching. Abstracts of the 2002 International Organization of Science and Technology Education Conference. Sao Paulo, Brazil.
