I am engaged in post-secondary teaching in a variety of contexts.  First, I have and continue to teach courses designed for preservice and inservice teachers.  For many years I taught undergraduate science teaching methods courses for prospective elementary, middle, and secondary science teachers. In the fall semester of 2013, I had the opportunity to develop and lead an instructional team for a new elementary science methods course, Teaching and Learning in the Biological Sciences, offered as part of the revised UI undergrad elementary teacher education program. In summer of 2013, I taught a 3-day block seminar for 25 prospective primary teachers at the University of Augsburg.  I have also taught graduate-level courses for teachers in professional development programs associated with the MoHSES/NE WETS, WELS2, PIESC3, RAES, and CliMES projects. A primary goal of these courses has been to promote teachers’ learning about effective, student-centered science instruction and student learning, disciplinary knowledge of science, and to translate both into classroom practice.

Second, I taught undergraduate STEM courses at UNL as part of Science Literacy efforts and the CASNR Food, Energy, & Water in Society minor.  Between 2017-2021, I served as instructor for SCIL/AECN/ENVR/GEOG/NRES 109 Water in Society, a new, interdisciplinary, introductory-level water science course for both STEM majors and non-majors. The course is designed to equip students, or tomorrow’s global citizens, with the skills and abilities necessary to effectively navigate water-related issues at the intersection of STEM and everyday life. This course is the foundation of the WELL project.  Between 2014-2016 I contributed to collaborative efforts to revise and teach the SCIL 101 Science and Decision-Making for a Complex World course.  The course focuses on reasoning and decision-making about agriculture and natural resource-related issues and is designed around four modules, each focusing on a challenging socioscientific issue (biofuels, water resource use, etc.).  Across these undergraduate teaching experiences, I have worked with and led teams of faculty, graduate student instructors, and undergraduate learning assistants to serve over 600 undergraduate students, both STEM and non-STEM majors.

Finally, third, I teach graduate classes in science education, educational research, and the learning sciences. I developed and taught graduate-level courses for science education graduate students, including Inquiry in Science Learning Environments and Theory and Research on Curriculum Materials for Science. In the spring semesters of 2011 and 2013, graduate students in my Research Apprenticeship course analyzed data from the PIESC3 and RAES projects to develop knowledge and skills with both qualitative and quantitative research methods. I also developed graduate courses Qualitative Research with Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software and The Design of Learning Environments, and taught graduate seminar courses. I have also been involved in extensive mentoring of masters and doctoral students in STEM education research as graduate advisor, dissertation and thesis chair, co-chair, and committee member, as well as supervisor of independent studies.  These experiences were all designed to build students’ capacities to participate in their professional communities, thus becoming more productive STEM education researchers.