Virginia J. Flood (she/her)

My research in the learning sciences uses ethnomethodology and conversation analysis to investigate the role of the body in teaching and learning mathematics, computer science, and science. I am especially interested in (1) embodied communication (in particular, gesture) in STEM education and (2) ways STEM educational environments can intentionally incorporate the body into teaching and learning.

• PhD, University of California, Berkeley (2020)
• MST, University of Maine (2012)
• BS, University of Southern Maine (2007)

• STAR Faculty Research Award (22'-23'); Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo; 2023-05-12;
• International Conference of the Learning Sciences Best Paper Award; International Society of the Learning Sciences; 2022-06-10;

• Flood, V. J. & Harrer, B. W. (2023) Kinetically-held questions: Representational gesture post-stroke holds in whole-class interactions in STEM. Linguistics and Education.
• Flood, V. J., Harrer, B. W. (2022) Teachers’ responsiveness to students’ gestured candidate responses in STEM whole-class interactions. Classroom Discourse.

• Flood, V. J., Shvarts, A., Abrahamson, D. (2022) Responsive teaching for embodied learning with technology. In S. Macrine & Fugate, J. (Eds.), Movement matters: How embodied cognition informs teaching and learning. MIT Press.

• Flood, V. J. & Harrer, B. W. (2023). How kinetically-held gestures support collaborative problem solving in physics. In Blikstein, P., Van Aalst, J., Kizito, R., & Brennan, K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2023 (pp. 1522-1525). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
• Flood, V. J. Wang, X. C., & Sheridan, M. (2022) Embodied responsive teaching for supporting computational thinking in early childhood. In Oshima, J., Mochizuki, T. Hayashi, Y. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences ICLS 2022. (Full paper) International Society of the Learning Sciences. 855-862. *Winner ICLS Best Paper Award*

• Wang, X. C., Flood, V. J., Cady, A. (2021). Computational thinking through body and ego syntonicity: Young children’s embodied sense-making using a programming toy. In E. de Vries, J. Ahn, & Y. Hod (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences – ICLS 2021. International Society of the Learning Sciences, 2021 *Nominated for Best Paper Award*;

• DiGEST-PHYSICS: Dialogic gesture in collaborative sense-making in physics; Federal; NSF (ECR Core); Awarded; (07/01/2022-06/30/2025)