Melissa Gresalfi
Biographic Data
| ID | 1583941 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa Gresalfi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa |
| FAMILY NAME | Gresalfi |
| SIGNATURE | GRESALFI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Indiana University Bloomington |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3307-3914 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Why AI is Not the Enemy
This article reframes the potential of generative AI in qualitative analysis, shifting from a focus on efficiency and automation toward opportunities to deepen analysis and strengthen core commitments of qualitative inquiry. We introduce “AI-in-the-loop analysis” as a term to describe the intentional incorporation of computational capabilities into analytic processes that remain grounded in human sensemaking, interpretation, and reflexive judgmen…
Coding choreography
This paper considers how a curricular design that integrated computer programming and creative movement shaped students’ engagement with computing. We draw on data from a camp for middle schoolers, focusing on an activity in which students used the programming environment NetLogo to re-represent their physical choreography. We analyze the extent to which students noticed incompatibilities (mismatches between possibilities in dance and NetLogo), a…
The role of participatory identity in learners’ hybridization of activity across contexts
Background: We explore how school-based mathematical experiences shape out-of-school mathematical experiences, developing the idea that learners hybridize norms and practices around authority and evaluation across these two contexts. To situate our study, we build on constructs of participatory identity and framing.Methods: Drawing from a large corpus of video records capturing children’s point-of-view, we present a case study of hybridization wi…
The “tricky business” of genre blending
Background Educational video games are increasingly used in classrooms because they can offer meaningful contexts for problem solving. However, educational video games bring together two historically disparate activities: school mathematics and video games. How these two activities complement, compromise, or contradict each other influences how mathematical activity takes shape during game play.Methods This paper offers a case analysis of two stu…
Gaming the System
Understanding games as systems, with complex interactions of game elements and rules. Gaming the System demonstrates the nature of games as systems, how game designers need to think in terms of complex interactions of game elements and rules, and how to identify systems concepts in the design process. The activities use Gamestar Mechanic, an online game design environment with a systems thinking focus
Learning for a Reason
This article discusses the ways that tasks and classroom cultures can be supported through the design of online immersive games. The authors focus on a mathematics unit in which students become statisticians who must understand the contextual implications of using particular mathematical tools in analyzing different data sets and reflect on what their tool choice reveals about practical situations. Through these designs, the goal is to illuminate…
Transformational Play
Videogames are a powerful medium that curriculum designers can use to create narratively rich worlds for achieving educational goals. In these worlds, youth can become scientists, doctors, writers, and mathematicians who critically engage complex disciplinary content to transform a virtual world. Toward illuminating this potential, the authors advance the theory of transformational play. Such play involves taking on the role of a protagonist who …
Constructing competence
Virtual worlds, conceptual understanding, and me
Purpose This paper aims to advance the idea of consequential engagement, positioning it as a necessary complement to the more common practices of supporting procedural or conceptual engagement. More than a theoretical argument, this notion is grounded in examples from the authors' work in enlisting game‐based methodologies and technologies for supporting such engagement. Design/methodology/approach Through the presentation of two example designs,…
Transformational Play
Videogames are a powerful medium that curriculum designers can use to create narratively rich worlds for achieving educational goals. In these worlds, youth can become scientists, doctors, writers, and mathematicians who critically engage complex disciplinary content to transform a virtual world. Toward illuminating this potential, the authors advance the theory of transformational play. Such play involves taking on the role of a protagonist who …
Learning for a Reason
This article discusses the ways that tasks and classroom cultures can be supported through the design of online immersive games. The authors focus on a mathematics unit in which students become statisticians who must understand the contextual implications of using particular mathematical tools in analyzing different data sets and reflect on what their tool choice reveals about practical situations. Through these designs, the goal is to illuminate…
Virtual worlds, conceptual understanding, and me
Purpose This paper aims to advance the idea of consequential engagement, positioning it as a necessary complement to the more common practices of supporting procedural or conceptual engagement. More than a theoretical argument, this notion is grounded in examples from the authors' work in enlisting game‐based methodologies and technologies for supporting such engagement. Design/methodology/approach Through the presentation of two example designs,…
Constructing competence
Virtual worlds, conceptual understanding, and me
Purpose This paper aims to advance the idea of consequential engagement, positioning it as a necessary complement to the more common practices of supporting procedural or conceptual engagement. More than a theoretical argument, this notion is grounded in examples from the authors' work in enlisting game‐based methodologies and technologies for supporting such engagement. Design/methodology/approach Through the presentation of two example designs,…
Transformational Play
Videogames are a powerful medium that curriculum designers can use to create narratively rich worlds for achieving educational goals. In these worlds, youth can become scientists, doctors, writers, and mathematicians who critically engage complex disciplinary content to transform a virtual world. Toward illuminating this potential, the authors advance the theory of transformational play. Such play involves taking on the role of a protagonist who …
Learning for a Reason
This article discusses the ways that tasks and classroom cultures can be supported through the design of online immersive games. The authors focus on a mathematics unit in which students become statisticians who must understand the contextual implications of using particular mathematical tools in analyzing different data sets and reflect on what their tool choice reveals about practical situations. Through these designs, the goal is to illuminate…
Gaming the System
Understanding games as systems, with complex interactions of game elements and rules. Gaming the System demonstrates the nature of games as systems, how game designers need to think in terms of complex interactions of game elements and rules, and how to identify systems concepts in the design process. The activities use Gamestar Mechanic, an online game design environment with a systems thinking focus
The role of participatory identity in learners’ hybridization of activity across contexts
Background: We explore how school-based mathematical experiences shape out-of-school mathematical experiences, developing the idea that learners hybridize norms and practices around authority and evaluation across these two contexts. To situate our study, we build on constructs of participatory identity and framing.Methods: Drawing from a large corpus of video records capturing children’s point-of-view, we present a case study of hybridization wi…
The “tricky business” of genre blending
Background Educational video games are increasingly used in classrooms because they can offer meaningful contexts for problem solving. However, educational video games bring together two historically disparate activities: school mathematics and video games. How these two activities complement, compromise, or contradict each other influences how mathematical activity takes shape during game play.Methods This paper offers a case analysis of two stu…
Coding choreography
This paper considers how a curricular design that integrated computer programming and creative movement shaped students’ engagement with computing. We draw on data from a camp for middle schoolers, focusing on an activity in which students used the programming environment NetLogo to re-represent their physical choreography. We analyze the extent to which students noticed incompatibilities (mismatches between possibilities in dance and NetLogo), a…
Why AI is Not the Enemy
This article reframes the potential of generative AI in qualitative analysis, shifting from a focus on efficiency and automation toward opportunities to deepen analysis and strengthen core commitments of qualitative inquiry. We introduce “AI-in-the-loop analysis” as a term to describe the intentional incorporation of computational capabilities into analytic processes that remain grounded in human sensemaking, interpretation, and reflexive judgmen…
Computer Science (7 works) · Educational Games and Gamification (6 works) · Pedagogy (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Human–computer interaction (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Digital Games and Media (4 works) · Mathematics education (4 works) · Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques (4 works) · Social science (4 works)