Marie Bienkowski

Deputy Director

Dr. Marie Bienkowski has expertise in both computer science and education research, including discourse, explanation, modeling and visualizations in science learning. Her current interests are in evaluations of the transformative effect of 1-to-1 and mobile computing in K-12 classrooms. She also has interests in the role of technology-supported visualizations and simulations in Biology, Earth Science, and Environmental education. Other research interests are in the role of explanations and sense-making discourse in inquiry-based learning of science.

Dr. Bienkowski was the PI of a 2-year evaluation study funded by Microsoft Asia-Pacific to study the role of 1-to-1 tablet computing in Singapore secondary schools. Year 1 examined uses and attitudes toward tablet computers being used in 1-to-1 configurations. Year 2 looked more extensively at what was happening in the classroom and employed Singapore teachers as co-researchers.

Dr. Bienkowski was the PI of an NSF-funded project that researched the effect of integrating genetics simulation software with explanation scaffolding software for high school Biology. The addition of discourse prompts for talking about genetics was expected to increase students' conceptual mastery of introductory genetics concepts.

Dr. Bienkowski was also the co-principal investigator for a project to create and evaluate learning activities for the GLOBE program. The activities stress the analysis of global visualizations of data in understanding Earth science. She has also worked on one of the EdGrid teams under the NCSA EOT-PACI PT3 program to develop and disseminate Earth Science learning activities based on 3d modeling and visualization tools.

Dr. Bienkowski has led software research and development projects for integrating semi-automated planning techniques for use in decision support systems to reduce task complexity for human planners. Her previous work in this area was leading a large development project for the application of advanced planning techniques to operations planning. Dr. Bienkowski has also led projects in the areas of intelligent information management and artificial intelligence applications. Before joining SRI in 1987, Dr. Bienkowski was a member of the technical staff at Bell Communications Research (Morristown, New Jersey) and was a visiting fellow at Princeton University in the Cognitive Science Laboratory.

Education

Ph.D., Computer Science, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1986
M.S., Computer Science, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1983
B.S., Psychology and Computer Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1980

Professional Experience

Deputy Director of Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (1998-present)
Program Director of the Applied Artificial Intelligence Technology Program, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (1990-1998)
Senior Computer Scientist in the Applied Artificial Intelligence Technology Program, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (1989-1990)

Research Areas at CTL

Evaluation
Learning Environments
Technology Development

Current Projects at CTL

Past Projects at CTL

Data and Inquiry in Geoscience Education (DIGS) (Staff) ended 2007
Evaluation of Tabletop ended 2005
Evaluation of the GLOBE Program ended 2006
GenTalk (Leader) ended 2003
Globe Visualization ended 2003
JASON Academy Evaluation (Leader) ended 2005
Studying Tablet PC use in Singapore Schools (Leader) ended 2007

Publications

DiGiano, C., Bienkowski, M., Chorost, M., & Estrella, G. (2007). "Choosing Outreach Strategies to Increase Interest in IT Careers: An SRI International white paper from the TRAILS project." Distributed at SIGCSE, Covington, KY, March 2007.
Read more
Koch, M. (2006) Build IT curriculum. Featured in Consumers Guide to After School Science Resources at http://www.sedl.org/cgi-bin/mysql/afterschool/science.cgi?location=search&show_resource_id=45
Read more
Koch, M. et al. (August, 2006). Build IT: Girls Developing Information Technology Fluency through Design. Annual Report Year 1. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Read more
Penuel, W. R., Bienkowski, M., Gallagher, L., Korbak, C., Sussex, W., Yamaguchi, R., Fishman, B. J. (2006). GLOBE Year 10 evaluation: Into the next generation. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Read more
Bienkowski, M. A., Haertel, G., Yamaguchi, R., Fujii, R., Gong, B., Molina, A., Adamson, F., & Peck-Theis, L. (2005). Singapore Tablet PC program study: Executive summary and final report, volume 2, technical appendicies. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Read more
Bienkowski, M. A., Haertel, G., Yamaguchi, R., Molina, A., Adamson, F., & Peck-Theis, L. (2005). Singapore Tablet PC program study: Executive summary and final report, volume 1, technical findings. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Read more
Bienkowski, M., Penuel, W., Toyama, Y., Molina, A., Hurst, K., & Peck-Theis, L. (2005). JASON Academy summative program evaluation: Final report. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Read more
Penuel, W. R., Bienkowski, M., Korbak, C., Molina, A., Russo, D., Toyama, Y., et al. (2005). GLOBE Year 9 evaluation: Implementation supports and student outcomes. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Read more
Bienkowski, M. A., Crawford, V. C., Hurst, K., & Sandoval, W. A. (2002). How students coordinate the use of representations and explanations in introductory genetics learning. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
Read more
Bienkowski, M., Crawford V., & Hurst, K. (2002). Construction of scientific explanations in genetics. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, New Orleans, LA.
Read more
Crawford, V. M., Sandoval, B., Bienkowski, M., & Hurst, K. (2002). Mediation of genetics learning by phenomenological and discursive representations. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Educational Researchers, April 1-5, 2002, New Orleans, LA.
Read more

On this page