Timothy Nokes-Malach
Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology
Research Scientist, Learning Research & Development Center
Research Interests
My research examines human learning, problem solving, and motivationwith an aim to understand, predict, and promote knowledge transfer. Specific topics include: 1) identifying the cognitive and metacognitive processes underlying transfer success and failure, 2) exploring the relations between instruction, motivation, cognition, and transfer, 3) examining social and ecological processes that support or inhibit transfer, and 4) investigating the effects of mindfulness meditation on cognition, learning, and transfer. An overarching goal is to develop instructional theories to promote learning and transfer in mathematics and science.
Pelakh, A., Good, M. L, Kuo, E., Nokes-Malach, T., Tumminia, M. J, Jamal-Orozco, N., Diamond, M.S., Adelman, A., & Galla, B. (2021). The Relationship Between Intelligence Mindset and Test Anxiety as Mediated by Effort Regulation. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 43.
Jaramillo, S., Kuo, E., Nokes-Malach, T., & Rottman, B. (2021). Using Causality to Map Difficulties in a Qualitative Physics Problem. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 43.
Whitcomb, K. M., G Kalender, Y., Nokes-Malach, T. J., Schunn, C., & Singh, C. (2020).Engineering students’ performance in foundational courses as a predictor of future academicsuccess. International Journal of Engineering Education, 36 (4), 1340-1355.
Zepeda, C.D. & Nokes-Malach, T.J. (2020). Metacognitive study strategies in a college course and their relation to exam performance. Memory & Cognition, 48(7).
Kalender, Z. Y., Marshman, E., Schunn, C. D., Nokes-Malach, T. J., & Singh, C. (2020). Damage caused by women's lower self-efficacy on physics learning. Physical Review Physics Education Research.
Miele, D.B., Nokes-Malach, T. J., & May, S. (2020). Motivation and the processing of multiple inputs. In P. V. Meter, A. List, D. Lombardi, & P. Kendeou (Eds.), Handbook of Learning from Multiple Representations and Perspectives. Rutledge.
Whitcomb, K. M., Kalender, Z. Y., Nokes-Malach, T. J., Schunn, C. D., & Singh, C. (2020). Laying a foundation for success in engineering coursework: A predictive curriculum model. International Journal of Engineering Education, 36(4).
Whitcomb, K. M., Kalender, Z. Y., Nokes-Malach, T. J., Schunn, C. D., & Singh, C. (2020). Comparison of self-efficacy and performance of engineering undergraduate women and men. International Journal of Engineering Education, 36(6),1996–2014.
Kalender, Z. Y., Marshman, E., Nokes-Malach, T., Schunn, C. D., & Singh, C. (2020). Beliefs about competence: The story of self-efficacy, gender, and physics. In A. Murrell (Ed.), Diversity across disciplines: Research on people, policy, process and paradigm. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Nokes-Malach, T. J., Zepeda, C. D., Richey, J. E., & Gadgil, S. (2019). Collaborative learning: The benefits and costs. In J. Dunlosky & K. A. Rawson (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of cognition and education (p. 500–527). Cambridge University Press
Nokes-Malach, T., Kalender, Y., Marshman, E., Schunn, C., & Singh, C. (2019). Prior preparation and motivational characteristics mediate relations between gender and learning outcomes in introductory physics. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh.
Kalender, Y., Marshman, E., Schunn, C., Nokes-Malach, T., & Singh, C. (2019). Gendered patterns in the construction of physics identity from motivational factors. Physical Review Physics Education Research.
Richey, J. E., Bernacki, M. L., Belenky, D. M., Nokes-Malach, T. J. (2018). Comparing class- and task-level measures of achievement goals. Journal of Experimental Education.86(4) 560-578
Marshman, E. M., Kalender, Z. Y., Nokes-Malach, T., Schunn, C. & Singh, C. (2018). Female students with A’s have similar physics self-efficacy as male students with C’s in introductory courses: A cause for alarm? Physical Review Physics Education Research, 14(2).
Zepeda, C. D., Hlutkowsky, C. O., Partika, A. C., & Nokes-Malach, T. J. (2018). Identifying teachers’ supports of metacognition through classroom talk and its relation to growth in conceptual learning. Journal of Educational Psychology.
Meigh, K., Shaiman, S., Tompkins, C., Verdolini Abbott, K., & Nokes-Malach, T. (2018). What memory representation is acquired during nonword speech production learning? The influence of stimulus features and training modality on nonword encoding. Cogent Psychology, 5, 1-24.
Richey, E. J., Nokes-Malach, T. J., & Cohen, K. (2018). Collaboration facilitates abstract category learning. Memory and Cognition, 46(5), 685-698.
Marshman, E., Kalender, Z. Y., Schunn, C., Nokes-Malach, T., & Singh, C. (2017). A longitudinal analysis of students’ motivational characteristics in introductory physics courses: Gender differences. Canadian Journal of Physics, 96(4), 391-405.
Chan, J., & Nokes-Malach, T. J. (2016). Situative creativity: Larger physical spaces facilitate thinking of novel uses for everyday objects. Journal of Problem Solving, 9(1), 29-45.
Bernacki, M., Nokes-Malach, T., Richey, E. J., & Belenky, D. M. (2016). Science diaries: a brief writing intervention to improve motivation to learn science. Educational Psychology, 36(1), 26-46.
Greeno, J. G., & Nokes-Malach, T. J. (2016). Some early contributions to the situative perspective on learning and cognition. In M. A. Evans, M J. Packer, and R. K. Sawyer (Eds.), Reflections on the Learning Sciences (pp. 59-75). Cambridge University Press. New York, NY.
Brian Galla, Timothy Nokes-Malach, LRDC, and Melanie Good, Department of Physics and Astronomy, received an NSF grant for "Collaborative Research: Investigating the Impact of Mindfulness Training to Mitigate Psychological Threat and Enhance Engagement and Learning in Undergraduate Introductory Physics."
August 1, 2021
Erin Walker, SCI, has been named principal investigator for a National Science Foundation grant to study the use of robots in middle school math classrooms. Her co-principal investigators are Diane Litman, Computer Science, and Timothy Nokes-Malach, Psychology, and Adriana Kovashka, (SCI).
November 10, 2020
Erin Walker, Diane Litman, Timothy Nokes-Malach, and Adriana Kovashka received a National Science Foundation award for their study on "Designing Effective Dialogue, Gaze, and Gesture Behaviors in a Social Robot that Supports Collaborative Learning in Middle School Mathematics."
September 14, 2020
Kudos to Brian Galla, Assistant Professor, Education, and Tim Nokes-Malach, Associate Professor, Psychology for receiving an LRDC 2020 internal grant for their study, “Using Mindfulness Training to Support Engagement, Learning, and Retention in Undergraduate Introductory Physics Courses.”
May 15, 2020
Brian Galla and Tim Nokes-Malach were quoted and their research, using mindfulness to improve achievement gaps in introductory physics courses, was cited in Personalizing the Pitt Experience Forge Your Own Path's article, "Using Mindfulness to Boost Low Confidence."
January 8, 2020
Kudos to Natasha Tokowicz and Tim Nokes-Malach for receiving funding from the Pitt Seed Project for their LRDC Undergraduate Summer Internship Program
June 10, 2019
Brian Galla and Tim Nokes-Malach were among the first recipients of the University of Pittsburgh's Personalized Education Grants Program. They received funding for "Personalizing Undergraduate STEM Learning through Mobile Mindfulness Training."
April 16, 2018
Canadian Science Publishing posted a blog related to a physics paper by Tim Nokes-Malach, Chris Schunn, Chandralekha Singh, and co-authors Emily Marshman and Zeynep Y. Kalender, titled "The Experiences of Female Students in an Introductory Physics Course" on December 29, 2017. The paper referred to in the article is "A Longitudinal Analysis of Students’ Motivational Characteristics in Introductory Physics Courses: Gender Differences."
December 29, 2017
Fast Company, an online and in print magazine with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design, referenced a paper written by Tim Nokes-Malach, Associate Professor, Psychology, and LRDC Research Scientist, and Joel Chan, Research Fellow, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, CMU, in the article "Can Steelcase's Office of the Future Make Corporate America Rethink the Drab Modern Workplace?"
August 22, 2017
LRDC Research Scientist and Associate Professor, Psychology, Tim Nokes-Malach is a collaborator on a new grant: Understanding Human Cognition - Collaborative Award from the James S. McDonnell Foundation for “Implementing Science of Learning Principles within Educational Practice.” The collaborators are: University of Iowa (Shana Carpenter, PI), University of Texas Austin (Andrew Butler, PI); Purdue University (Jeffrey Karpicke, PI); Boston College (David Miele, PI); and Texas Christian University (Sarah Uma Tauber, PI).
December 2016
Tim Nokes-Malach, Associate Professor, Psychology, and LRDC Research Scientist was nominated for the Tina and David Bellet Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Pittsburgh.
2016