Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices

Christina V. Schwarz is an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University (MSU). She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in science and science education and has been the elementary science subject area leader for MSU’s teacher preparation program for the past decade. She received her PhD in science, math, and technology education from the University of California at Berkeley and her undergraduate degree in Earth, atmospheric, and planetary science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her background includes conducting research in astronomy, designing curriculum materials for science learners, and working in classrooms with students and teachers. Her research primarily focuses on enabling students and teachers (preK–16) to understand and engage in scientific practices, particularly model-based scientific inquiry. She also works with beginning teachers to support and enhance their practices such as noticing and responding to scientific sense-making. She is the principal investigator for the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant Studying How Beginning Elementary Teachers Notice and Respond to Students’ Scientific Sense-Making, the co-principal investigator for the NSF-funded project Supporting Scientific Practices in Elementary and Middle School Classrooms, and the principal investigator for the former Learning Progression for Scientific Modeling project. She is also co-principal investigator of the NSF-funded Head Start on Science preschool science project and was co-principal investigator for the Modeling Hydrological Systems in Elementary Science project. She has been an associate editor for the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and has published articles in journals such as Cognition and Instruction, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Journal for Science Teacher Education, Science and Children, and Science Education. She has facilitated several National Science Teacher Association professional development webinars about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) practices over the past few years.