Natalie Rusk

teaching photo

I work as a Research Specialist 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.

I am conducting post-doctoral research on adolescents' learning about emotions and motivation in after-school programs, as part of the Pathways Project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Education:

Tufts University, Ph.D., Child Development, 2011

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

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

Publications

Emotion and Motivation

Larson, R. & Rusk, N. (in press). Intrinsic motivation and positive youth development. In R. M. Lerner, J. V. Lerner, & J. B. Benson (Eds.) Positive youth development: Advances in child development and behavior, Vol. 41. New York: Academic Press.

Rusk, N., Tamir, M., & Rothbaum, F. (2011). Performance and learning goals for emotion regulation. Motivation and Emotion, 35, 444-460.

Rothbaum, F., & Rusk, N. (2011). Cultural pathways to internalization of emotion regulation. In X. Chen & K. H. Rubin (Eds.) Socioemotional development in cultural context (pp. 99-129). New York: Guilford Press.

Rothbaum, F., Morelli, G., & Rusk, N. (2010). Attachment, learning, and coping: The interplay of cultural similarities and differences. In M. Gelfand, C. Y. Chiu, and Y. Y. Hong (Eds.) Advances in Culture and Psychology (pp. 153-215). New York. Oxford Press.

Rusk, N. & Rothbaum, F. (2010). From stress to learning: Attachment theory meets achievement goal theory. Review of General Psychology, 14, 31-43.

Rothbaum, F., Morling, B., & Rusk, N. (2009). How goals and beliefs lead people into and out of depression. Review of General Psychology, 13, 302-314.


Learning Technologies Initiatives

Maloney, J., Resnick, M., Rusk, N., Silverman, B., & Eastmond, E. (2010). The Scratch programming language and environment. ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 10, 1-15.

Rusk, N., Resnick, M., & Cooke, S. (2009). 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 (pp. 17-25). New York: Teachers College Press.

Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernandez, A., Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., ...Kafai, Y. (2009). Scratch: Programming for all. Communications of the ACM, 52, 60-67.

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.

Resnick, M., Rusk, N. & Cooke, S. (1999). The Computer Clubhouse: Technological fluency in the inner city. In D. Schön, B. Sanyal, W. Mitchell (Eds.) High technology and low-income communities (pp. 263-285). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Rusk, N., & Slafer, A. (Eds.) (1997). Digital media in museums: Preparing for the post-hype era. Journal of Museum Education, 22 .

Resnick, M., and Rusk, N. (1996). The Computer Clubhouse: Preparing for life in a digital world. IBM Systems Journal, 35, 431-440.