Elena Silla

Elena Silla is a Ph.D. in Education student specializing in the Learning Sciences in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. Her research interests include mathematical cognition and problem-solving skills such as flexibility in strategy use. She is also interested in learning how small changes in instruction can promote student learning in math classrooms.

Elena earned her B.A. in Psychology with minors in Education, Schooling, and Society and Business Economics from the University of Notre Dame. She then taught fourth grade in Oakland, CA for two years while earning her M.Ed. from Notre Dame through their Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) program. She also worked as a research specialist and lab manager at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Cognitive Development and Communications Lab.

Education

• M.Ed., Elementary Education, University of Notre Dame, 2017–2019
• B.A., Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 2013–2017

Professional Experience

• Graduate Research Assistant, Mathematical Cognition and Instruction Lab, School of Education, University of Delaware, 2021–present
• Project Manager, Cognitive Development and Communication Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019–2021
• Undergraduate Research Assistant, Cognitive Development and Communication Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2014–2017
• Undergraduate Summer Researcher, Social Cognitive Development Lab, Yale University, 2015

Recent Honors and Awards

• Unidel Distinguished Graduate Scholar Award, University of Delaware, 2021
• Fontana Family Graduate Scholarship, University of Delaware, 2021

Recent Publications

• Bartel, A. N., Silla, E. M., Vest, N. A., Nagashima, T., Aleven, V., & Alibali, M. W. (2021).
  Reasoning about equations with tape diagrams: Insights from students and math teachers. In E. de Vries, J. Ahn, & Y. Hod (Eds.), 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences–ICLS 2021 (pp. 685-688). International Society of the Learning Sciences, 2021
• Nagashima, T., Bartel, A. N., Yadav, G., Tseng, S., Vest, N. A., Silla, E. M., Alibali, M. W., & Aleven, V. (2021). Using anticipatory diagrammatic self-explanation to support learning and performance in early algebra. In E. de Vries, J. Ahn, & Y. Hod (Eds.), 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences–ICLS 2021 (pp. 474-481). International Society of the Learning Sciences, 2021
• Nagashima, T., Bartel, A. N., Tseng, S., Vest, N. A., Silla, E. M., Alibali, M. W., & Aleven, V. (2021) Scaffolded self-explanation with visual representations promotes efficient learning in early algebra. In T. Fitch, C. Lamm, H. Leder, & K. Teßmar-Raible (Eds.), 43rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1858-1864). Cognitive Science Society.
• Silla, E. M., Hornburg, C. B., & McNeil, N. M. (2020). Research-based teaching practices for improving students’ understanding of mathematical equivalence have not made it into elementary classrooms. In S. Denison, M. Mack, Y. Xu, & B. C. Armstrong (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2937-2943). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
• Nagashima, T., Bartel, A. N., Silla, E. M., Vest, N. A, Alibali, M. W., & Aleven, V. A. (2020). Experimental survey for diagrammatic self-explanations. In M. Gresalfi & I. S. Horn (Eds.), Proceedings of International Conference of the Learning Sciences, International Society of the Learning Sciences (pp. 35-43). Nashville, TN: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
• Nagashima, T., Yang, K., Bartel, A. N., Silla, E. M., Vest, N., Alibali, M. W., & Aleven, V. (2020). Pedagogical Affordance Analysis: Leveraging Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge for Eliciting Pedagogical Affordances and Constraints of Instructional Tools. In M. Gresalfi & I. S. Horn (Eds.), Proceedings of International Conference of the Learning Sciences, International Society of the Learning Sciences (pp. 1561-1564). Nashville, TN: International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Recent Presentations

• Silla, E. M., Tommasi, T.*, Vest, N. A., Bartel, A. N, Buehler, Z., Manhart, H., Petersdorff, M.*, Nagashima, T., Aleven, V., & Alibali, M. W. (2021). Fostering conceptual understanding of equation solving via an intelligent tutoring system. Poster presented at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research Poster Fair, Virtual Meeting [in-person meeting cancelled due to COVID-19]
• Vest, N. A., Silla, E. M., Bartel, A. N., Nagashima, T., Aleven, V. A., & Alibali, M. W. (2021, April). Evidence from worked examples: Conceptually rich explanations predict conceptual gains on posttest. Poster presented at the 2021 Virtual Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.
• Bartel, A. N., Silla, E. M., Vest, N. A, Nagashima, T., Tang, Y.*, Aleven, V. A., & Alibali, M. W. (2020). Do tape diagrams promote a focus on conceptual principles? Evidence from equation solving with an Intelligent Tutoring System. Symposium presentation submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference [accepted, presented virtually due to COVID-19].
• Bartel, A. N., Silla, E. M., Vest, N. A, Nagashima, T., Vincent, V. A., & Alibali, M. W. (2020, August). Reasoning about equations with tape diagrams: Do differing visual features matter? Poster presented at the 42nd Annual Virtual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.
• Palaguachi, C.*, Bartel, A., Silla, E., & Alibali, M. (2020, November). Incorporating interventions in intelligent tutoring systems to enhance conceptual knowledge of mathematics. ePoster presented at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students 2020.