I’m Tess—a science educator & teacher educator.

My research questions how the proliferation of education technology in K-12 classrooms shapes teachers’ and students’ experiences in public schools. I use qualitative research methods borrowed from scholars of media studies and science and technology studies to describe tensions around technology integration in the modern classroom.

In my current postdoctoral research, I am working to understand how digital platforms sold by unaccountable private companies such as Google Classroom, ClassDojo, and GoGuardian—have come to serve as intermediaries in how students, teachers, parents, and administrators build relationships in school communities.

My past dissertation project illustrated how, contrary to popular narratives of technology ushering in ease and efficiency, teachers experience digital platforms as adding complicated layers of administrative work to their plates.

I am a former biology teacher and a current science teacher educator. In my teaching, I work to support teachers’ to development of instructional practices that make classrooms more collaborative and less hierarchical. In doing so, I aim to help teachers actively engage students in ways aligned that are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

Across my teaching and writing, I aim to elevate teachers’ voices as they work collectively towards more ambitious visions of instruction and work against digital systems that constrain the beauty and meaning of teaching young people.