Natalie Rusk

I am currently a doctoral student in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University. My research focuses on helping adolescents learn constructive emotion regulation strategies.

I also work in the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Laboratory developing creative learning technologies. I am a lead developer of Scratch and contributed to the design of PicoCrickets. In 1993, I started a model after-school program called the Computer Clubhouse.

Education:

Tufts University, Doctoral student in Applied Child Development, Expected 2011

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ed.M., Specialization in Interactive Technology in Education, 1989

Brown University, B.A., magna cum laude, Concentration in Chinese Language, 1986

Selected Papers

Learning Goals and Prevention of Depression:

Rusk, N. & Rothbaum, F. (Manuscript under review). From stress to learning: Attachment theory meets achievement goal theory.

Rothbaum, F., Morling, B., & Rusk, N. (in press). How goals and beliefs lead people into and out of depression. Review of General Psychology.

Rusk, T., & Rusk, N. (2007). Not by genes alone: New hope for prevention. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 71, 1-21.

Learning Technologies Initiatives:

Rusk, N., Resnick, M., & Cooke, S. (in press). Origins and guiding principles of the Computer Clubhouse. In Y. Kafai, K. Peppler, & R. Chapman (Eds.) The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and creativity in youth communities. New York: Teachers College Press.

Rusk, N., Resnick, M., Berg, R., & Pezalla-Granlund, M. (2008). New pathways into robotics: Strategies for broadening participation. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 59–69.

Maloney, J. H., Peppler, K. Kafai, Y., Resnick, M., & Rusk, N. (2008). Programming by choice: Urban youth learning programming with scratch. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 1, 367-371.