How people learn chemistry and who gets to become a scientist.
We study how people experience and learn science at different points in their lives.Our work includes young children encountering scientific ideas for the first time, undergraduates working through chemistry sensemaking, and graduate students developing as mentors and educators. We are interested in what students bring to these experiences, what happens in the classroom, and how educational institutions shape the opportunities students have.
The work takes place at a Hispanic-Serving, land-grant university. Servingness is one question that runs through all our work: what does it mean for an institution to serve the students it enrolls, and how does that commitment show up in what and how we teach? We are interested in both the institutional conditions students encounter and the curriculum, teaching practices, and classroom experiences through which they learn science.
Three through lines
These three questions connect the different areas of research in our lab. They help us see how studies across different educational settings and using different methods contribute to a broader understanding of science teaching and learning.
Who counts as a scientist?
People begin forming ideas about who can be a scientist long before they enter a college chemistry classroom. Family experiences, community knowledge, language, and early encounters with science all play a role. We study how these experiences shape students’ relationships with science, from young children encountering scientific ideas for the first time to undergraduates deciding whether chemistry is a field where they belong.
This work also examines how science education recognizes, builds on, or overlooks the knowledge students bring from their families and communities.
How chemistry gets taught
We study how chemistry curriculum and teaching practices shape students’ opportunities to learn. This includes examining guided inquiry, teamwork, model-based reasoning, and the role of graduate teaching assistants in facilitating learning.
We are also interested in what gets included in the chemistry curriculum, how scientific ideas are presented, and whether students’ experiences and knowledge have a place in the ways we teach the discipline. We want to understand not only whether a teaching approach works, but what students experience when they encounter it and how it might be improved.
How we measure, and whom it serves
The methods we use to study science education shape what we are able to understand and how we interpret our findings. Research instruments, statistical methods, and institutional measures are not separate from the assumptions behind them.Through QuantCrit and SciCrit, we examine the assumptions embedded in research methods, the ways scientific knowledge is represented, and whose experiences are made visible or overlooked.
We also work on developing and evaluating measures and exploring ways of presenting data that better reflect the experiences being studied.
We study chemistry education not only to understand whether students learn, but also what they experience, how they learn, and what it means to serve them through the way we teach.
Research areas
Our research is organized around four connected areas.
Science Identity, Belonging, and Community Knowledge
How do people develop relationships with science? What role do family, community, language, and educational experiences play in shaping whether someone sees themselves as a scientist?
This research examines science identity and belonging across educational settings, including early childhood and undergraduate education. We are particularly interested in the knowledge and experiences students bring from their homes and communities and how educational environments recognize and build on those resources.
Related work Participatory Belonging · Community Cultural Wealth · Science Identity Development · Early Childhood Science Learning
Chemistry Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning
What happens when students learn chemistry through guided inquiry, collaboration, and model-based reasoning? How do curriculum and teaching practices shape the ways students engage with scientific ideas?
A major part of this work focuses on Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), including student engagement, learning experiences, and graduate teaching assistant development. We also examine how chemistry curriculum represents scientific knowledge and how students’ experiences and ways of knowing can inform the design of teaching and learning activities.
An important question underlying this work is what it means to serve students through the way we teach science.
Related work POGIL · Model-Based Reasoning · Culturally Relevant Curriculum · Place-Based Science Learning · Graduate Teaching Assistant Development
Research Methods, Measurement, and Representation
How do the methods we use shape what we know about science education?
This work examines how educational research measures student experiences and interprets educational outcomes. Through QuantCrit and SciCrit, I examine the assumptions embedded in research methods, the ways scientific knowledge is represented, and whose experiences are made visible or overlooked.
We are also interested in developing and evaluating research instruments and exploring more accessible approaches to scientific communication and data representation.
Related work QuantCrit · SciCrit · Comparative Education · Measurement and Instrument Development · SciSight · Accessibility
Mentoring, Institutions, and Servingness
What does it mean for an institution to serve the students it enrolls? How do relationships, institutional practices, and educational experiences shape students’ opportunities to participate and succeed in higher education?
This research examines mentoring, student support, and institutional approaches to servingness, particularly in Hispanic-Serving Institutions. We examine how servingness is understood and enacted across institutional settings and how it extends into students' everyday experiences.
An important part of this work is examining the relationship between institutional commitments and what students actually experience, including their interactions with faculty, staff, mentors, and academic programs.
Related work Mentoring · HSI Student Experiences · Institutional Servingness · Student Services and Institutional Practices
Servingness in the teaching and learning of science
We are interested in what it means to serve students beyond simply enrolling them. This includes examining how institutions support students, but also what happens in the classroom: what gets taught, whose knowledge is represented, how curriculum is designed, and how students experience learning science.
Servingness scholarship has identified curriculum and pedagogy as important structures through which institutions can serve their students. However,More empirical research is needed examining how these commitments are enacted in the teaching and learning of specific STEM disciplines.
Our research takes up this question through chemistry education. We examine how curriculum, instructional practices, classroom interactions, and opportunities to engage with scientific ideas reflect an institution’s commitment to serving its students.
We are particularly interested in how science teaching can recognize students’ knowledge and experiences while supporting their development of scientific understanding. This work connects institutional servingness with the everyday practice of teaching and learning science.
How we work
Our research brings together qualitative and quantitative methods, classroom-based studies, curriculum development, and research on institutional practices. We work across different educational settings and collaborate with students, graduate teaching assistants, faculty, and community partners.
Rather than treating teaching, learning, identity, and institutional context as separate questions, we examine how they relate to one another. We are interested in understanding what students experience, how educational practices shape those experiences, and how research can inform the design of more meaningful science learning opportunities.
Where to go next