Pi-Sui Hsu, Ph.D.

Presidential Engagement and Partnerships Professor

Department

Learning Innovation, Leadership and Technology

Research Interests

Hsu's research examines how technology can be leveraged to help middle school students develop scientific argumentation skills in both formal classroom settings and informal science learning environments. Her work has also advanced the conceptual framework for Research-Practice Partnerships.

Education

• Ph.D., Instructional Systems, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
• M.A., Instructional Technology and Media, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY

Recent Papers

Published Within the Last Five Years

Hsu, P.-S., Freedman, R., LaBarbera, D., Kluga, B., Zhang, R., Berrios, C., and Sharma, S. (2025). Development of A Gamified Computer-Assisted Program for Collaborative Argumentation. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 16(1), 23-32 .

Hsu, P.-S., Lee, E. M. and Smith, T. J. (2024). Exploring non-dominant youths' engineering identity through productive struggles in a Making summer program. Educational Technology Research and Development, 72, 83-107 . (Special issue: Learning through design and maker education)

Hsu, P.-S., Lee, E. M., Smith, T. J. and Kraft, C. (2023). Exploring youths' attitudes toward science in a Makerspace-infused after-school program. Interactive Learning Environments, 31(1), 355-369.

Hsu, P.-S., Lee, E. M. and Smith, T. J. (2023). Designing an online undergraduate engineering course in response to the COVID-19 epidemic using a Community of Inquiry framework. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 41(3), 1-29.

Hsu, P.-S., Freedman, R., ^{(Student co-author)}Brockmann, D., Hueneke, Z., La Barbera, D., Kluga, B., ^{(Student co-author)}Zhang, R., ^{(Student co-author)}Sullivan, I. and Van Dyke, M. (2022). Development of a gamified tool for middle school students. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 13(1), 114-125.

Hsu, P.-S., Lee, E. M. and Smith, T. J. (2022). Exploring the influence of equity pedagogy on non-dominant youths' attitudes toward science through Making. RMLE Online: Research in Middle Level Education, 45(8), 1-16.

Hsu, P.-S. (2021). Using technology to support collaborative argumentation in science classrooms. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 40(2), 103-110.

Hsu, P.-S. and Van Dyke, M. (2021). A case study of exploring learning experiences in a science summer camp for middle level students from Taiwan and the United States. RMLE Online: Research in Middle Level Education, 44(5), 1-17.

Hsu, P.-S., Al-Ararah, R. and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2020). Exploring collaborative scientific argumentation in science classrooms. Middle Grades Review, 6(1), Article 6.

Externally Funded Projects

Funded Within the Last Three Years

National Science Foundation (Discovery Research PreK-12 # 2509226). Co-constructing strategies to enhance support and effectiveness in teaching scientific argumentation with technology: $100,000. Role: Principal Investigator. 08/2025-

Rockford School District (R2603312). Computational Thinking and Making in SAITIS 2.0. $99,967. Role: Principal Investigator. 08/2025-08/2026.

Rockford School District (R2502573). Computational Thinking and Making in SAITIS. $91,500. Role: Principal Investigator. 08/2024-08/2025.

Rockford School District (R2401660). Computational Making in SAITIS. $87,113.53. Role: Principal Investigator. 08/2023-08/2024.