{{Short description|American professor}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Constance Steinkuehler |image = steinkuehler2024.jpg |caption = |birth_name = Constance Steinkuehler |fields = [[Education]]<br />[[Game-based learning]] <br />[[Literacy]] <br />[[Informatics]] |workplaces = [[University of California, Irvine]] <br />[[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] <br />[[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] |alma_mater = [[University of Missouri]], [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] |doctoral_advisor = [[James Paul Gee]] |known_for = [[Game-based learning]] |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |spouse = {{marriage|[[Kurt Squire]]|2006}} |children = 2 }}
'''Constance Steinkuehler''' is an American professor of [[Informatics]] at the [[University of California, Irvine]]. She previously taught at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] before taking public service leave, from 2011-2012, to work as a Senior Policy Analyst in the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] (OSTP) at the [[White House]] [[Executive Office of the President of the United States|Executive Office]], where she advised on policy matters about [[video game]]s and digital media.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/blog/ |title=Constance Steinkuehler |publisher=Website.education.wisc.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023062205/http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/blog/ |archive-date=2013-10-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Steinkuehler studies cognition, culture, and learning in multiplayer online games. She is the co-director of the Games+Learning+Society Center at UC Irvine and teaches courses on games and society.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-05 |title=Constance Steinkuehler {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/constance-steinkuehler |access-date=2025-08-25 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}}</ref>
== Education == Steinkuehler earned bachelor's degrees in [[Mathematics]], [[English language|English]], and [[Religious studies|Religious Studies]] from the [[University of Missouri]] in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sciences |first=UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information & Computer |last2=Bassett |first2=Coby |date=2017-03-10 |title=Steinkuehler, Squire named HEVGA Fellows |url=https://ics.uci.edu/2017/03/09/steinkuehler-squire-named-hevga-fellows/ |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences |language=en-US}}</ref> She completed an MS in Educational Psychology (Cognitive Science) in 2000 and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction in 2005 at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]]. Her dissertation was a cognitive ethnography of Lineage and [[World of Warcraft]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Conklin |first=Aaron R. |date=2012-04-19 |title=UW's Constance Steinkuehler shapes the White House's videogame policy |url=https://isthmus.com/movies/article.php%3Farticle%3D36536 |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=Isthmus {{!}} Madison, Wisconsin |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-12 |title=Constance Steinkuehler |url=https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/contributor/constance-steinkuehler |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=www.wisconsinacademy.org |language=en}}</ref>
== Professional career ==
=== Research === After earning her doctorate, Steinkuehler joined the faculty at University of Wisconsin as an Assistant Professor of [[Digital Media]] in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.education.wisc.edu/ci/faculty/details.asp?id=steinkuehler |title=UW-Madison - Department of Curriculum and Instruction |publisher=Education.wisc.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-10-22}}</ref>
From 2005 to 2013, her research team studied cognition and learning in online games, focusing on scientific reasoning, literacy, and problem-solving within game communities using mixed methods.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/blog/?page_id=73 |title=Constance Steinkuehler » The PopCosmo Research Team |publisher=Website.education.wisc.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023061916/http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/blog/?page_id=73 |archive-date=2013-10-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Between 2007 and 2009, she led an after-school gaming program for disengaged teens to explore the differences between learning in games and in school, including how adolescents read and engage with game-related versus academic texts.<ref>Steinkuehler, C. & King, B. (2009). Digital literacies for the disengaged: Creating after school contexts to support boys' game-based literacy skills. On the Horizon, 17(1), 47-59.</ref>
After a period working in the Obama White House [[Office of Science and Technology]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-05 |title=Constance Steinkuehler {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/constance-steinkuehler |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}}</ref> Steinkuehler returned to academic research with a new focus on field-building efforts. Research projects during this period (2012-2016) include collaborations with Dr. [[Richard Davidson]] through the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds on the design and testing of games for emotional acuity and self-regulation as well as cross-institutional efforts to situate big data (combining telemetry game data exhaust with conversational utterances across small groups of middle school game players) to better understand collaborative learning through game-based interventions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Herold |first=Benjamin |date=2013-08-13 |title=Video-Game Research Delves Into How Children Succeed |url=https://www.edweek.org/leadership/video-game-research-delves-into-how-children-succeed/2013/08 |access-date=2025-07-30 |work=Education Week |language=en |issn=0277-4232}}</ref>
In 2017, Steinkuehler and her partner [[Kurt Squire]] moved to the Department of Informatic at [[University of California, Irvine]] and re-established the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Center as part of the trans-departmental Connected Learning Lab at UCI.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UCI informatics professors relaunch center on computer games, learning and society – UC Irvine News |url=https://news.uci.edu/2021/09/22/uci-informatics-professors-relaunch-center-on-computer-games-learning-and-society/ |access-date=2025-07-30 |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Personal life == In 2006, Steinkuehler married [[Kurt Squire]], former Creative Director at the [[Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/morgridge/research/erca/people/ |title=Discovery Home - Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery |publisher=Discovery.wisc.edu |accessdate=2013-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023062049/http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/morgridge/research/erca/people/ |archive-date=2013-10-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and also a professor at [[University of California, Irvine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.education.wisc.edu/ci/faculty/details.asp?id=kdsquire |title=UW-Madison - Department of Curriculum and Instruction |publisher=Education.wisc.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-10-22}}</ref> They have two children.<ref name="ocr2017">{{Cite web |last=Keith |first=Sharon |date=2017-08-25 |title=Games are changing the world, just ask new UCI professor who worked in the White House |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/25/games-are-changing-the-world-just-ask-new-uci-professor-who-worked-in-the-white-house/ |access-date=2025-07-19 |website=Orange County Register}}</ref>
She appeared in a pilot TV show called ''Brain Trust''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vimeo.com/1871107 |title=BRAIN TRUST on Vimeo |publisher=Vimeo.com |date=2008-10-02 |accessdate=2013-10-22}}</ref> The show was piloted in 2008 and featured a team of thought leaders working collaboratively to solve seemingly unsolvable problems.
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == * [https://www.informatics.uci.edu/explore/faculty-profiles/constance-steinkuehler/ UC Irvine Informatics - faculty profile for Steinkuehler]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinkuehler, Constance}} [[Category:Writers from Madison, Wisconsin]] [[Category:University of Missouri alumni]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education alumni]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:University of California, Irvine faculty]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]