Katherine L. McNeill
What was your M.A. and/or Ph.D. specialty area?
Ph.D in Science Education
, 2006
M.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2005
M.S. Science Education, 2005
What is your present position?
Assistant Professor in Science Education at Boston College
What is the title of your dissertation?
Dissertation title: Supporting students’ construction of scientific explanations through curricular scaffolds and teacher instructional practices
Overview:
My dissertation investigated how two different curricular scaffolds (context-specific vs. generic), teacher instructional practices, and the interaction between these two types of support influenced middle school students learning of how to write scientific explanations.
What did you learn in the program? Why was the program of value to you?
The program provided me a strong foundation in the science education literature, allowed me to connect that literature and theory to practice in my work with the Detroit public schools, and introduced me to the science education community at a national level through various collaborations and presentations at conferences. I worked as a research assistant for my advisor Joseph Krajcik on a National Science Foundation grant for instructional materials development and research. During the project, Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology (IQWST), I collaborated with an interdisciplinary group of professors, post-docs, and graduate students at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University to develop a learning-goals-driven design model for middle school science curriculum materials. I was the lead curriculum developer of the 7th grade chemistry unit entitled “How can I make new stuff from old stuff?” or “Stuff.” I worked with over 45 teachers and 5400 students during the enactment and research of the Stuff unit. The IQWST project was also synergistic with the goals of the Center for Curriculum Materials in Science (CCMS) where I was a graduate fellow from 2002 - 2006. Being a part of CCMS further supported cross-institution collaborations including connections with Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. These connections with various members of the science education community and my experiences in urban schools have continued to be invaluable in my work after graduating from the University of Michigan.
Prior to coming to the SOE what did you do?
Before coming to SOE, I taught 6th and 7th grade science in Pittsburgh, PA.
