I’m Tess—a science educator & teacher educator.
I’m also Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
I study how the work of teaching unfolds in today’s urban classrooms—environments that are increasingly governed and shaped by computers.
My research questions how the proliferation of education technology in K-12 classrooms has altered the nature of teachers’ instructional and professional practice.
On one end, my work seeks to highlight the features of technologies that expand pedagogical possibilities and add new layers of participation in classroom discourse. Conversely, I investigate how teachers critically engage with digital platforms whose settings often automate, surveil, or contradict their vision for classroom instruction. Using qualitative methods, my dissertation work illustrates how urban science teachers navigate these tensions as they try to enact student-centered and inquiry-rich instruction.
As a former biology teacher and a current science teacher educator, both my teaching and research aim to support teachers’ development of teaching practices that align with the goals of the Next Generation Science Standards. Throughout my teaching and writing, I aim to elevate teachers’ voices as they work collectively towards ambitious visions of instruction and work against digital systems that constrain the beauty and meaning of teaching young people.
My investigations have spanned multiple research projects, including:
Investigating how teachers take up professional development on project-based learning
Working with Penn GSE’s Collaboratory to study the practice of mentor teachers working with student teachers and to design tools to deepen mentors’ collaboration with novices
Supporting school-based learning-labs for in-service teachers’ professional development