Hillary Hunsaker and Natalie Reeder, both former Elementary education/General Science BAE students and current teachers in Western Washington, each received the 2023 Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for New Teachers from the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA)!  The NSTA Teacher Awards program recognizes extraordinary K–12 teachers, professors, principals, and science educators for their outstanding achievements in science education. Congratulations Hillary and Natalie!!

Undergrad Spencer Green receives ASTE Award for Implications of Research for Educational Practice!!  WOW!!!

Math Education's Katie Rupe has just been awarded a Mathematics Education Trust (MET) Early Career Research Grant.  Way to go Katie!!

Looking for helpful insights into the potential role of evaluation in current STEM education research projects.  Listen as Data Dan Hanley talks about the Role of Evaluation in Research Projects for the NSF CADRE (Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education).

Debi Hanuscin is a professor jointly appointed between Elementary Education and SMATE.  Spencer Green is an undergraduate student in the early childhood education program.  Together they co-authored a paper, (Re)Learning to Teach Science with a Hearing Impairment: An Autoethnographic Study and presented it at the 2022 ASTE conference. In recognition of the implications of their research for educational practice, they have been awarded ASTE’s Outstanding Paper Award for the conference. Based on their own experiences with hearing loss, their study examines possibilities for rethinking ‘inclusion’ in science teacher education. Congratulations Debi and Spencer!!   

Give a shout out to our 2022 summer research scholarship awardees:

Willa Rowan, Conor Naughton, Christopher O'Dell, Rachael Goodwin, Spencer Green, Emma Leeds, and Andrew Kivlighn.

Way to go!!!

Hanley. D., Miller, M., Sorensen, J., Rogan-Klyve, A. (2022). Preparing University Faculty for Clinically Oriented, Practice-Based Teacher Education in Drew Polly & Eva Garin (Eds.) Preparing Quality Teachers:  Advances in clinical practice. Charlotte, NC:  Information Age Publishing.

Read the article, "Growing Understanding from a SPARK" about their educational partnership with the SPARK museum in the May/June 2022 issue of NSTA's journal, Connected Science Learning

Following a successful model developed in 2021, SCED 490 students with Dr. Caroline Hardin are hosting a virtual science fair for Happy Valley Elementary students.

One of our General Science Elementary graduates (spring 2019) Garrett Feldtman, in his 2^nd year of teaching at Lackamas Elementary in Yelm, WA was awarded the Instructional Innovation Award by his district as well as nominated for his School Bell Award.  Way to go Garrett!!!

WWU students and alumni presented a session titled “SPARK Discovery and Invention” with Abby Whatley from the SPARK Museum. The session showcased NGSS-aligned curriculum modules the team developed in 2019 in collaboration with SPARK, Bellingham Public Schools, and their SCED 480/490 course with Dr. Hanuscin.

Caroline Hardin, Computer Science/SMATE, received a grant from PESB (Professional Educator Standards Board) to engage in-service teachers in professional development on teaching Computer Science! This grant will help SMATE build important partnerships with teachers that can help support the new CS BAE!

SMATE's Hanley, Borda & Warren receive a new NSF grant. The National Science Foundation has funded a study at Western Washington University, entitled Building educational theory through enacting reforms (BETTER) in STEM. BETTER in STEM is a $3 million collaborative research project across three institutions to embed the use of inclusive, research-based instructional strategies within undergraduate STEM courses and departments.

SMATE/Computer Science faculty Hao and Hardin, were successful in getting PESB to add a Computer Science Endorsement!!

May 5th and 6th saw our first Virtual Slesnick Symposium.  Dr. Bryan Dewsbury gave an exceptional keynote and workshop attended by over 100 participants.  Watch the recording of the keynote or explore Dr. Dewsbury's resource list for faculty development and improving campus practices on inclusion.

A team of SMATE faculty lead by Debi Hanuscin have just published a paper in the International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Supporting the Professional Development of Science Teacher Educators Through Shadowing. 

Annaliese Miller, 2020 recipient of the Summer Research scholarship and SMATE student employee, has published a paper in  Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from her summer research. Check-out the abstract for Orbital and Stellar Parameters for 2M06464003+0109157: A Double-lined Eclipsing Binary of Spotted, Sub-solar Twins.

SMATE's Dimitri Dounas-Fraser and Teaching Assistant Isabel Mills have just co-authored an article for the American Physical Society (APS) Forum on Education (FEd) Spring 2021 Newsletter! The article describes a virtual panel in SCED 201

Erin Duffy (PI), Lina Dahlberg (co-PI), Dimitri Dounas-Frazer (co-PI), and Norda Stephenson (co-PI) will collaborate to study science practices in chemistry, physics, and biology labs.

A project aimed at improving K-6 Science education has been funded by the NSF.  This work will be done in partnership with with high needs schools in four districts in Northwest Washington: Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Nooksack, and Sedro-Woolley.  SMATE's director, Emily Borda, with Debi Hanuscin, Shannon Warren, Dan Hanley & Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez all collaborated on the proposal.

The book chapter submitted by Hanley, Miller, Sorensen, and Rogan-Klyve entitled, Preparing University Faculty for Clinically-oriented, Practice-based Teacher Education, for the book, Advancing Clinical Practice in Teacher Education, by Information Age Publishing was accepted!!

WWU Biologists to Study the Hunting Behavior of Local Seals From the Air

Debi has authored a chapter entitled "Considering the Classroom Assessment of Nature of Science " in the newly published book, Nature of Science in Science Instruction; Rationales and Strategies, edited by William McComas.

Grant Title:

Collaborative Research: A Study of Socio-metacognition, Emotions, and Power Dynamics When Undergraduate Physics Students Engage in Collaborative Activities that Elicit Confusion

MIT student Emily Schumacher, Shannon Warren, Dan Hanley, Ed Geary, and Emily Borda have a new paper out in The International Journal of STEM Education about the work done on the Change at the Core grant.  Initial implementation of active learning strategies in large, lecture STEM courses: lessons learned from a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary STEM faculty development program