While at MIT I co-authored a book, Adventures in Modeling: Exploring Complex Dynamic Systems with StarLogo, that was just published by Teachers College Press. The book introduces people to designing, creating, and investigating models in StarLogo, a modeling tool that enables people to build simulations of decentralized systems, like ecosystems, diseases, and traffic jams.
The book grew out of the professional development workshops that we have been conducting since 1998. That summer, I co-led a StarLogo workshop for teachers and their students at the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico (see article). You can take a look at the final projects. We ran the workshop again during the summer of '99, and twice during the summer of 2000. You can view the 2001 workshop page as well.
In May 1998, I finished my masters thesis on Participatory Simulations, large-scale, computer-supported simulations that enable people to directly experience and study complex systems. Some of that work was published in a journal article.
You can see my resume, a list of papers and presentations, or some old links.
I am a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I earned a degree in Biology. Upon graduation in 1990, I joined Teach For America, a program designed to eradicate teacher shortages in economically deprived neighborhoods and implement multicultural education in predominantly minority communities. I taught middle school and high school biology in East Los Angeles and Brooklyn and focused on developing innovative, student-centered curricula and fostering parent/school collaborations.
In the fall of 1991, I began teaching at the Dwight School, where I became increasingly involved in incorporating advanced computing tools into science classes. While at Dwight I co-founded the Morningside-Westside Bulletin, a newsletter published by formerly homeless psychiatric patients, physicians, and high school students. In 1995, I enrolled in the educational technology department at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. While in school I worked for the Institute for Learning Technologies. Some of the work I did at Columbia is still available online.
My brother, Grant, just received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University and is an avid biker. Check out his home page.
My husband, Giovanni, runs Healinx.
I can be reached at vanessa.colella@alum.mit.edu.
