About Us

Young children learn best in social contexts where they can work together, when learning opportunities are iterative and they can ask and answer new questions, when they are actively engaged and hands-on, and when experiences are meaningful and relevant to their daily lives.

The STEM Learning Lab leverages these principles to promote rich learning opportunities in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math in the places children and families spend time. Lab initiatives span classrooms, school yards, and community contexts (e.g., parks, bus-stops, playgrounds, grocery stores) to foster playful and interactive learning opportunities for children and families. Recent projects include a basketball court painted to emphasize fraction and decimal learning, a life-size board game for math and science learning, and partnerships with local schools and community organizations to co-design playful learning environments that reflect the culture, values, and goals of the community.

Projects

Three-year research award from the NewSchools Venture Fund’s EF+Math Program titled “Fractions in the School Yard: Play-based Executive Function and Math Learning” to design connections between the Fraction Ball intervention and classroom instruction with teachers and students from Santa Ana Unified School District.

Four-year Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) grant from the National Science Foundation titled “Stimulating STEM in the City: Co-Designing with Latinx Families to Promote Informal STEM Learning” to co-design and evaluate a series of playful STEM learning installations in the city of Santa Ana, CA.

Two-year grant from the American Educational Research Association and the National Science Foundation for secondary data analysis using the Study of Early Child Care & Youth Development (SECCYD) data set, titled “Moderating effects of early child care and education quality on long-term STEM outcomes for children from low-income families.”

Blogs & Popular Media

STEM Learning Lab at the Borderless Leadership Conference

UC Irvine’s Advancing publication shares involvement with Borderless Leadership Conference in Guanajuato with Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Researchers Need Community Partners to Create Lasting Initiatives

PsychologyToday article on early childhood learning and the importance of partnerships- as seen through UC Irvine’s STEM Learning Lab.

Playing the Way to High-Quality STEM Learning

PsychologyToday article on early childhood learning, Playful Learning Landscapes and Fraction Ball.

High-quality early child care and education: The gift that lasts a lifetime

Brookings article on math and early childhood education, featuring Dr Bustamante.

Five Ways Early Educators Can Make Math Fun, According to an Early Education Researcher

PBS SoCal article on Math Learning, Fraction Ball and Playful Learning Landscapes.

Inclusive R&D Centers Educator Voice. It’s Already Changing the Face of Math Instruction.

EdSurge article on EF+ Math and Fraction Ball.

Santa Ana Families Design Playful Learning Experiences for Kids in the Community

PBS SoCal article on Playful Learning Landscapes.

APS Awards Asst. Prof. Andres Bustamante Rising Star Designation

UC Irvine press release on APS Awardee Asst. Prof. Andres Bustamante.

NSF awards $2.57M grant to support STEM learning installations in Santa Ana public areas

UC Irvine press release on playful learning landscapes

UCI receives NSF grant to create and test interactive videos to foster children’s science learning

UC Irvine press release on interactive videos to foster science learning.

Fraction Ball at El Sol Academy

UC Irvine newsletter story on Fraction Ball.

Family & Community Engagement: Doing with—not for—families

“They know their children better than anyone—their temperaments, personalities, strengths, vulnerabilities, talents, and special needs. They know their own cultures and the cultures they want to transmit to their children. When parents share their knowledge, they improve provider practices and program quality.”

Early Childhood Science is a Fast Track to a High-Quality Learning Environment

For many, the idea of science education is scary. It conjures memories of high school chemistry and memorizing formulas that feel unrelated to our daily lives. This wariness of science education is especially common in early childhood, several studies suggest that early childhood teachers report…

Introducing High Quality Preschool 2.0: Targeted Learning Can Also be Fun!

Children learn in a way that “sticks” when these factors are present, and have so much fun that they can’t wait to learn more. The second example above is what we call “guided play” which is a discovery-learning approach intermediate between…

Journal Articles

Meet Our Team

Director

Andres S. Bustamante, Ph.D.

Andres is an Assistant Professor at the University of California Irvine’s School of Education. He designs and implements play-based early childhood STEM interventions in places and spaces that children and families spend time (e.g., parks, school yards, grocery stores etc.). He maintains an intentional focus on translating rigorous science from the lab, into meaningful research in the classroom, and the community. Andres is invested in research that has practical implications for school and life success for the children and families that need it the most. He is also committed to sharing and interpreting early childhood research with a broader audience through blog posts for the Brookings InstitutionHuffington PostBOLD Blog, and other media outlets.

See CV Here

Research Scientist

Kreshnik Begolli, Ph.D.

Received his PhD in Education from the University of California, Irvine and completed his postdoctoral training at Temple University. Motivated to understand children’s abilities to learn and impart knowledge and to advance science and education, Kreshnik’s research arena alternates between the laboratory, the classroom, and the community. By blurring the line between these arenas, Kreshnik’s research draws from cognitive research in analogical reasoning, mathematical cognition, and spatial thinking. His recent work has focused on discovering learning principles to develop effective instructional strategies, innovative research methodology, and on transforming school playgrounds and community parks into learning landscapes that promote children’s development of conceptual, generalizable knowledge in mathematics and science.

See CV Here

Project coordinators

Evelyn Santana

Evelyn is one of the project coordinators for the STEM Learning Lab at the University of California Irvine. Before becoming a project coordinator, Evelyn obtained her Masters degree in Psychology, more specifically psychological research, at California State University Long Beach. As a graduate student, her research focused on cortisol levels in low income pregnant women. During this time, she was also a program assistant for 3 research programs on campus which allowed her to work with minority students. Through this role, she began to see that many students like herself faced similar challenges throughout their education careers. This led her to build an interest in education. In the future, she hopes to work for an organization that supports educational equity and a place where she can continue to leverage her strong team management skills while helping others.

Giovanni Sánchez

Post Doctoral Fellows

Karlena Ochoa, Ph.D.

Karlena is a Postdoctoral Fellow working with Drs. Andres Bustamante and June Ahn at the University of California Irvine. She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Oregon in 2021 under the supervision of Drs. Lou Moses and Kate Mills. Her dissertation work examined the relationship between children’s moral judgments and Theory of Mind and how this understanding relates to other facets of development that are critical for healthy development. Karlena is excited to pivot her focus to engage in applied work and is particularly interested in societal and familial factors that influence the quality of early childhood education in underserved communities. 

Annelise Pesch, Ph.D.

Annelise is a Postdoctoral Fellow working with Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek on the expansion of Playful Learning Landscapes to Santa Ana, California in collaboration with Drs. Andres Bustamante and June Ahn at the University of California-Irvine. She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota under the supervision of Dr. Melissa Koenig. Her dissertation examined how preschoolers’ epistemic and interpersonal trust in teachers impacted learning in classroom contexts. She is interested in understanding the components of interactions that support children’s learning, with the goal of bridging gaps between research and real-world application.

Doctoral Students

Daniela Alvarez-Vargas

Daniela is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California specializing in human development in context. Her research interests include the design, implementation, and evaluation of mathematical interventions that are created to serve pre-kindergarten to middle school-aged children that have been historically marginalized. She is also interested in how causal inference methods improve research in educational psychology and how features of study design and analysis methods can yield more accurate forecasts of the long-term impacts of educational interventions. Through ongoing work, she hopes to develop more expertise in designing for equity to support students on their math journeys.

Ashlee Belgrave

Ashlee is a PhD student at the University of California, Irvine studying Education with a concentration in human development. Ashlee is certified in community-based research and is a community-based research fellow in the Orange County Educational Advancement Network where she collaborates with the Center for Educational Partnerships. Ashlee’s interest in community-based education research is derived from her experiences with strong support of her familial culture and educational trajectory from her community which includes her family, loved ones, and mentors. Ashlee’s research interests include examining mechanisms for leveraging university resources to create educational interventions and programming for supporting educational equity and culturally relevant community learning. 

Vanessa Bermudez

Vanessa is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California specializing in human development in context. Vanessa’s previous training was in research and experimental psychology, with a focus on developmental psychology. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duke University and San Jose State University. Vanessa is interested in working with community members, such as parents and teachers, to co-create programs and artifacts that are meaningful and rooted in the cultural experiences of the community to enhance the early learning experiences of marginalized children. She is also interested in learning about factors that influence the quality of care and learning opportunities in childcare and early childhood education programs and implications for policy changes.

Julie Salazar

Julie Salazar is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at University of California, Irvine. She received her B.A in Psychology from California State University, Northridge and a minor in Child and Adolescent Development. During her undergraduate studies, Julie conducted research related to culture, gender, education, technology and esports. During her last year she served as the Director of Outreach for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, where she hosted workshops for K-12 students with the interest to promote STEM learning in underrepresented communities. She plans to pursue research in STEM learning within Latinx communities and to one day help create interventions that can support informal STEM learning.

Leiny Garcia

Leiny is a PhD student at UC Irvine School of Education with a focus on Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement. Her experience in pursuing an engineering degree as a first generation scholar inspired her to join initiatives that aim to address the racial and gender disparities in the STEM and Computer Science fields. This included the makerspace movement and organization in her hometown of Los Angeles. As a researcher, she is interested in the intersections of design, learning sciences, and culturally relevant pedagogies to inform best practices for K-8 learning experiences.

John Louis-Strakes Lopez

John is a Ph.D. student in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement. John obtained a B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola Marymount University in Spring 2020. His Jesuit education had a strong emphasis on serving with and for communities and seeks to incorporate Jesuit practices in his research. His current research interests include human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence for education, learning analytics, student engagement, and science education. John believes in the importance of creating informal learning opportunities through summer camps, after-school programs, and technology, and aspires to design learning systems. He aims for his work to bridge gaps in educational access and equity and strives to inspire creative thinking.

Daniel Hodge

Daniel’s research interests are interdisciplinary but they take aim at the manifestations of power mechanisms and social control within K-12 educational spaces. Daniel is interested in redefining what it means be “educated” in historically white spaces, and he hopes to focus on the ways in which Black Students attempt to regain agency inside of current social institutions.  Currently, Daniel aids in teaching 8th Grade English in Santa Ana, while he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Education from UC Irvine. His research will focus on how school environments can foster transformative spaces for the mental health of Black, Native American, Latino/a, and LGBTQ students.

Wendy Roldan

Wendy is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering where she is co-advised by Dr. Jennifer Turns and Dr. Jason Yip. Her research is on the design of equitable learning environments in engineering and human-computer interaction contexts. Wendy’s work is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship. Before grad school, Wendy attended Northwestern University where she received a degree in mechanical engineering and a design certificate. In her free time, she runs and eats a lot of Talenti.

Lourdes Farag

Prior to pursuing a PhD in Education, first-year doctoral student, Lourdes M. Acevedo-Farag earned her B.A. in Sociology and Education and M.Ed. in Urban Education from UCLA. As a Latina, first-generation college student originally pursuing a STEM major, she recognized the disparity between the STEM-oriented skills she brought compared to that of her more affluent counterparts. She then dedicated herself to learning how to reduce this gap in preparation for STEM fields, which ultimately led her to pursue a career in the classroom. While she taught in a variety of grades throughout her 12-year career as a classroom teacher, having taught middle school math to students who did not identify as “math people,” sparked her interest in how students from historically marginalized communities persist through the STEM educational pipeline. Her research interests regard interactive, play- and project-based STEM learning, math identity, persistence, and BIPOC communities. She plans to employ mixed-methods approaches to understand how to create effective interventions that facilitate students’ math identities, positively affecting their persistence through the STEM educational pipeline. 

Siling Guo

Siling is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine with a specialization in human development in context. Siling earned her master’s degree in Human Development from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Past experiences with educational interventions have exposed Siling to the links between school-based interventions, child development, and early childhood education policy. She is interested in understanding how early interventions designed to improve children’s skills or environment will make persistent changes in their learning and developmental outcomes. Siling’s academic work is also built upon her undergraduate pursuits in early childhood education and psychology, during which she gained classroom experience and background as a teacher, researched teacher-child interaction, and designed early education curricula.

REsearch assistants

Amber Liang

Amber is an undergraduate student majoring in Education Sciences and minoring in Sociology. She plans to double major in Psychological Science, as she’s interested in pursuing a career relating to social behavior in educational settings (school administrator, psychologist, and/or teacher).

Britney Meza

Britney is a first generation undergraduate student majoring in Education Sciences with a minor in English/Spanish Bilingual Education and she intends to double major in Spanish. Britney’s interests are bilingualism and the importance of language in education and culture. In the future she plans to be a teacher in K-12 schools and work her way up to becoming a professor. She is also interested in UCI’s MAT program. Britney hopes to gain research experience and has enjoyed the positive environment the lab has offered.

Erin Kong Jang

Erin is a first generation undergraduate student at UCI double majoring in Education Science and Psychological Science. While she is still exploring her options, she hopes to pursue a career in these fields or attend graduate school.

Eming Cheng

Eming is a third year undergraduate student at UCI majoring in Education Science, Business Economics, and minoring in Psychological Sciences. She has worked with kids for three years and has found education to be her passion. Eming plans to open her own daycare one day and is currently exploring different opportunities in education to guide her on that path. She is excited to work alongside fellow researchers and learn more about the field.

Ethan Shenting Lin

Ethan is an undergraduate student at UCI double majoring in Education Sciences and Mathematics while pursuing a Secondary Teaching Certification for Mathematics. He joined the lab as a research assistant in September of 2021 to see more of the behind the scenes of a teacher’s job, as well as to see more potential methods to teach Math. His goal is to become a teacher that makes learning math fun and interactive for students.

Gizelle Zaragoza

Gizelle is an undergraduate third-year student pursuing her B.A. in Public Health Policy at the University of California, Irvine. As an East Los Angeles native and Mexican first-generation college student originally pursuing a B.S., she learned of the socioeconomic disparities in the STEM pipeline altering the success of students pursuing this field and even experienced it herself. This inspired her to join the lab in June 2022 to promote innovative learning opportunities in STEM through playful learning landscapes so that the next generation of children are equipped with the skills and foundation needed to succeed in the field. Her interests also include health education as well as emergency preparedness education in Latino communities. She hopes to obtain her Masters in Public Health to satisfy her quest for knowledge to better serve her community and those alike.

Isabella Teresa Seccia

Isabella is majoring in Education Sciences and minoring in Spanish. She joined the STEM Learning Lab during Fall Quarter 2021. It is her first year at UCI, but she expects to have Junior standing at the end of Spring Quarter and expects to graduate at the end of the 2023 school year. She hopes to teach abroad for a couple of years while getting her Masters in education. Isabella also hope to continue being involved in research throughout her career as an educator. Being a research assistant in the STEM Learning Lab has broadened her perspective on education and has allowed her to expand her definition of learning. She is grateful for the time she has spent as a research assistant thus far, and is looking forward to learning more as she continues.

Jackeline Villegas

Jackeline is an undergraduate student at UCI majoring in Psychology & Social Behavior, and in Education Sciences with one specialization in English Language Learning and another in Digital Media & Learning. She has been a Research Assistant for the STEM Learning Lab since March 2020. While she is considering becoming a Behavioral Interventionist, she is still exploring other options for after she graduates in 2021. She is interested in working with children from disadvantaged communities.

Jennie Maldonado

Jennie is a first generation undergraduate student majoring in Education Sciences and minoring in Spanish/English Bilingual Education. She also intends to double major in Art. She plans to pursue a career as an early education teacher, Spanish teacher, and is also interested in special education. Jennie is happy to be part of the lab and is excited to gain research experience!

Jessica Lopez

Jessica is an undergraduate student majoring in mathematics with a specialization in education and minoring in education. She is also on track to receive a single-subject teaching credential to teach middle school students. She plans to get as much research experience while being an undergraduate student to apply for UCI’s Ph.D. in Education program, focusing on TLEI (Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement). Her goal is to have the teaching tools to make a positive impact on middle school students in underrepresented communities.

Jessica Verduzco

Jessica is a first generation 3rd year undergraduate psychological science major at UCI. She is passionate about improving respect for the environment, humans, and animals. She looks forward to using her studies in human behavior to improve sustainability in her community. While she is still exploring career options and plans after graduation, Jessica wants to give her energy and time to spread compassion and use educational measures to create a better harmonious relationship with the natural world. She is also extremely interested in protesting for animal welfare and social justice issues. Jessica’s hope is for our planet and all living beings to thrive under a regenerative economy and more compassionate world.

Michelle Yang

Michelle is attending UCI and expected to graduate with her bachelors in 2024. Although her official major is Social Ecology, she is undeclared with interests in Psychological Science, Behavioral Therapy, and Marketing. She joined the STEM Learning Lab as a Research Assistant beginning in late Winter Quarter of 2021. She is extremely excited to be working and learning alongside fellow researchers and UCI Professors. Her main objective for joining this research lab is to gain overarching experience in a professional setting and to develop abilities in data analysis, transcription, and development.

Milan Dinh

Milan recently graduated from UCI this past spring quarter 2022 as an Education Sciences major with a specialization in Early Childhood Learning and Development. She has been a part of the lab since July 2022 and is thrilled to learn new, valuable skills that come with being a research assistant. She is currently in the process of applying for graduate education schools and hopes to pursue either a PhD or Masters in Education. She also hopes to work in higher education in the future, and is excited to work alongside UCI professors and researchers.

Morgan Leong

Morgan is a third year majoring in Education Sciences and minoring in Management. She is interested in pursuing the different sides of education such as research, administrative, or teaching. In addition, Morgan is also interested in the field of marketing and possibly hopes to do something that relates to or promotes education.

Nayelly Barron

Nayelly is a first generation undergraduate student majoring in Education Science and with a specialization in Early Childhood Development. Her interest focuses on the lack of equity in the education system and intends to continue her involvement in research to gain more insight on how to create more educational opportunities for communities that need it the most. She plans to purse a Phd in Early Childhood Education or Education Policy.

Sarah Jimenez

Sarah is an undergraduate student majoring in Education Sciences. She plans to enroll in a duo-lingo program for teaching and possibly minor in Spanish Bilingual Education. Sarah plans to become an educator in K-12 schools here in California. She believes being a part of the research lab will give her a unique perspective on teaching in the future.

Stephanie Park

Stephanie is an undergraduate majoring in Education Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She joined as a research assistant in Fall Quarter of 2021 as a first year hoping to not only gain knowledge from working with fellow colleagues and researchers, but to also gain experience in working in the education field that includes the contemporary and traditional lens of the classroom setting. She plans to pursue a career in teaching or a career pertaining to education policy. As a research assistant in this lab, she continues to learn about her interests which include the interconnections between education and the environment, and the delicacy of how children learn.

Vanessa Llamas

Vanessa has a B.A. in Education Sciences with specializations in Children’s Learning & Development and Children’s Afterschool Learning & Development from UCI, which she graduated from in the spring of 2019. She joined the lab as a research assistant in November of 2020 to learn more about the developmental aspects of their research. She is waiting to hear back from post-bacc programs so she can prepare for doctorate programs in developmental psychology and study ADHD-related stigma and gender differences, specifically among school children.

Xiangqian Yu

Xiangqian is a third year student at UCI majoring in education science and psychological science. Xiangqian’s research interest is in the field of education, specifically pedagogy and teacher training. Xiangqian likes to work with children in a school situation.  Xiangqian is considering applying for graduate school with programs related to education. She hopes to pursue a future career related to education.

Yerin Ko

Yerin is a first year Education Sciences major with plans to double major in Social Policy and Public Service. She joined the team as a research assistant in October of 2021 with hopes to learn more about research in the education field, specifically on improving education accessibility. Being part of the lab has broadened her knowledge on what kind of work researchers do and hopes to dive deeper in research during her time at UCI. With this educational background, she hopes to become an education policy analyst or work internationally in the education sector of an NGO.

Zhong (Amy) Cao

As a first-generation college student, Zhong (Amy) Cao graduated with honors from UCI in Fall 2022 with an Education Science degree. She has been part of the lab since October 2022 as a hard-working research assistant. Her interests focus on learning motivation, emotion and playful learning design, she hopes to help underrepresented kids with her effort in the future. She is now applying to graduate schools, and received an offer from Harvard’s HGSE- Human Development and Education master program recently.

ALUMNI