NEPC Topic Experts on Science Education

Margaret Eisenhart is a Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder. She holds the Bob and Judy Charles Endowed Chair of Education. Her research focuses on the application of anthropological concepts and methods to educational settings. In particular, Dr. Eisenhart has studied culture, gender relations, and women’s experiences in education, as well as women in science and technology. During the past five years, she has been directing outreach programs and research studies related to opportunities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) among high school students. She is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the American Educational Research Association. In 2004 she was elected to the National Academy of Education and currently serves on the Academy’s Board of Directors.

Email Margaret Eisenhart at: margaret.eisenhart@colorado.edu

Dr. Elizabeth Birr Moje is the George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty associate in the Institute for Social Research and in the Latino/a Studies program. Moje began her career teaching history, biology, and drama at high schools in Colorado and Michigan. In her current research and community engagement work, Moje uses an array of methods to study and support young people’s literacy learning in Detroit, Michigan. She is particularly interested in the intersections between disciplinary literacies of school and the literacy practices of youth outside of school studies how youth draw from home, community, ethnic, popular, and school cultures to make cultures and to enact identities. In related work focused on teacher learning, Moje developed and co-directs Teaching and Learning the Disciplines through Clinical Practice Rounds, with colleagues Robert Bain and Emily Rainey. The Rounds Project advances discipline-based literacy teacher education and was awarded the provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize at the University of Michigan in 2010. Moje is a member of the National Academy of Education and serves as AERA vice president for Division G (research on the social contexts of education).

Email Elizabeth Moje at: moje@umich.edu

William R. Penuel is a Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research focuses on teacher learning and organizational processes that shape the implementation of educational policies, school curricula, and after-school programs. His research has appeared in the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, the American Journal of Evaluation, Science Education, and the Journal of the Learning Sciences. He is on the editorial board for Teachers College Record, American Journal of Evaluation, and Cognition and Instruction. Prior to joining the faculty at CU Boulder, Penuel was Director of Evaluation Research at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International for 13 years.

Email William R. Penuel at: william.penuel@colorado.edu

Joe Polman is a Professor in Learning Sciences and Science Education, as well as Associate Dean for Research, in the School of Education at University of Colorado Boulder. He designs and studies project-based learning environments for youth in schools and community programs. He focuses on learning and identity development connected to practices of science, literacy and journalism, with a particular focus on fostering more engaged democratic participation. He is an Executive Editor of Cognition and Instruction, serves on the editorial board of Journal of the Learning Sciences, and is on the board of the International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Email Joe Polman at: joseph.polman@colorado.edu