Debi Hanuscin , PhD

Professor

Educational & Professional Experience

Dr. Hanuscin graduated with a BS in Elementary Education from Florida State University and worked as an elementary teacher before pursuing graduate study in science education. She received her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from Indiana University in 2004, and worked from 2004-2017 at the University of Missouri before moving to Western Washington University. 

Recent Publications

Hanuscin, D. & van Garderen, D (2020) Universal design for learning: Re-framing elementary science instruction. NSTA Press.

de Araujo, Z. Otten, S., & Hanuscin, D. (2020) Practices for Mathematics and Science Integration. Teaching Children Mathematics.

Hill, T., Presley, M., Davis, J. & Hanuscin, D. (2020) Introducing the NGSS in preservice teacher education. Innovations in Science Teacher Education, 5(1). 

King, K., Hanuscin, D., & Cisterna, D. (2019) What properties matter? Exploring essential properties of matter. Science and Children, 56 (9), 44-49.

Arnone, K. A., & Hanuscin, D. (2018). An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Survey Study of Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions and Methods of STEM Integration Journal of Research in STEM Education, 4(2), 159-178.

Hanuscin, D. Cisterna, D. & Lipsitz, K. (2018). Elementary teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the structure and properties of matter. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 29(8), 665-692. DOI 10.1080/1046560X.2018.1488486

Cisterna, D., Lipsitz, K., Hanuscin, D., de Araujo, Z., & van Garderen, D. (2018). Supporting science teachers in creating lessons with explicit conceptual storylines. Innovations in Science Teacher Education, 3(1). 

Lipsitz, K., Cisterna, D., & Hanuscin, D.  (2017) The 5E Learning Cycle: What’s the story? Science and Children, 55(4), 76-80.

Research Interests

Dr. Hanuscin's research examines strategies and structures for teacher education and professional development that support elementary science teachers' learning. Information about her current project, funded by the National Science Foundation, can be found at http://cktscience.org. 

Selected Awards & Honors

Dr. Hanuscin currently serves as the Research Director for NSTA. She is a past Board Member of NARST and is the Past President the Association for Science Teacher Education.