Virtual Events and Webinars

Virtual Events and Webinars

Scheduled and Recent Events

 

Inquiring into the School: Case Studies on Place-Based Education

October 13, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET

This session examines how the school itself can become a primary subject and dynamic field of scientific inquiry, rather than merely a physical venue for lessons. Drawing on five qualitative case studies of place-based education (PBE) in school science contexts, the presenter will demonstrate how investigating students' immediate living environments deepens their engagement with science and reshapes their understanding of school space.

The session introduces five case narratives constructed from students' essays and interview transcripts, followed by research conclusions and a discussion derived from a cross-case analysis.

To accommodate international participants, the session is structured asynchronously: it includes a 30-minute pre-recorded presentation (PPT with English narration) and an interactive online Q&A forum via Padlet, which will remain open throughout the event period.

Meet Your Speakers:
Solhee Lee, Seryun middle school 
Miyoun Lim, Ewha Womans University

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/InquiringIntoTheSchool-CaseStudies

Welcome To NARST Webinar

October 16, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET

The Graduate Student Committee invites you to the "Welcome to NARST" session, an orientation designed to introduce incoming graduate students and newly joined members to the resources, communities, and opportunities available through NARST.

This session is designed to clarify membership benefits, committee structures, and practical pathways for engagement within the NARST community. During the session, committee leaders will outline opportunities including awards and scholarships, the Graduate Student Forum, the Graduate Student Research Symposium, and regular networking and communications initiatives. The committee will propose conference sessions to attend, provide concrete guidance on how to get involved, how to submit and present research, and where to find mentoring and community support. The event concludes with a live Q&A.

Hosted by the Graduate Student Committee

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/WelcometoNARST

Pláticas: Knowledge construction through conversations to disrupt hegemonic practices in qualitative science education research

October 19 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET

The Pláticas methodology arises from critical theories as a way to challenge hegemonic practices in qualitative research. To disrupt the extractive and inequitable power dynamic of research, the participant is positioned as a co-constructor of knowledge, creating awareness of the importance of their contributions to advancing the field of education. Pláticas, as its name implies, is a series of conversations in which participants are invited to contribute to answering research questions through story sharing and building bonds with other project contributors. Pláticas is an important methodology that centers participant contributions through a redistribution of power and affords often silenced voices and stories a space to be heard.

This session is designed to explore the Pláticas methodology, which centers Latinx participants using culturally relevant practices that are holistic and reflexive. The speakers will share examples from their research with undergraduate students to illustrate how Pláticas has been used across different research contexts. Katherine will share how she developed Pláticas in her doctoral research with undergraduate pre-med students and later adapted the methodology within an NSF-funded mixed-methods project. Maraliz will share how she is using Pláticas in her doctoral research with community college students, focusing on data collection. Together, their experiences will highlight how methodological tools can evolve in response to different research questions, participants, and contexts.

The audience is invited to join the presenters in recognizing the value in challenging traditional power dynamics in the researcher-participant roles. Disrupting the perceived objectivity of normative qualitative research methodologies can be beneficial to a growing number of students and researchers in science education.

Meet Your Speakers:
Katherine Arias Gracia, University of California San Diego School of Medicine
Maraliz Fischler-Barraza, University of California San Diego and San Diego State University

Hosted by: Contemporary Methods for Science Education Research RIG

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/events/event_list.asp

What Should RAISE Be? An Open Check-In on AI Research in Science Education

October 21 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET

RAISE members told us in a survey what they value about the RIG, what they expect from it, and what they want it to achieve. This virtual event shares those results and hands the floor to the room. Everyone is welcome — members, prospective members, and anyone simply interested in research on AI in science education. We will discuss which activities deserve the RIG's attention and which gaps it should fill, and close by identifying a small set of priorities to pursue before the annual meeting. We open with a short presentation of the survey results where responses converge, and, more interestingly, where they pull apart. The bulk of the session then belongs to the room. In facilitated small-group discussion we will work through a few concrete questions: Which activities are worth the RIG's limited volunteer capacity? What do doctoral students and early-career researchers need that the RIG is not currently providing? Where does RAISE duplicate what NARST already offers, and where does it fill a genuine gap? Newcomers often see those gaps most clearly, so we are as interested in what brought you to the session as in what keeps existing members here.

Hosted by: NARST RAISE RIG

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/What_Should_RAISE_Be

Award Talk: The Evolution of a Socio-Scientific Issues Research Agenda: Evidence for Teaching and Learning Science with Complex Societal Issues

October 22 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET

Education ought to help prepare students for reasoning about complex problems, exploring the intersections of their own values with scientific ideas and principles, and considering evidence from science as they make decisions. Socio-scientific issues (SSI) based teaching is an approach to science education aligned with this progressive set of goals. For the past 25 years, my colleagues and I have explored how students think about SSI, how to teach with SSI, and how to improve SSI teaching and learning. This presentation traces some of the insights gained through these research efforts. Findings from this work include student reasoning patterns when confronted with ethically challenging SSI, how teachers approach SSI education, what students can learn through SSI-based experiences, and how students can engage in science practices as they explore SSI. Implications and applications from this body of research include frameworks for 1) SSI teaching, 2) development of curriculum for SSI learning, and 3) conceptualizing and assessing the reasoning skills, that students can develop through SSI learning experiences, and apply as they confront issues beyond school. The presentation describes the evolution of an SSI research agenda with an eye toward where science education research can go in the future.

Meet Your Speaker:
Troy Sadler, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/AwardTalk

The Web of Intersectionality: A reflective tool for exploring identity - Part One

October 23 2026
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM ET (2 hrs)

This two-part virtual workshop explores identity formation, intersectionality, and the impacts of structural power on research and practice through creative expression. Participants will move from abstract theory into something more tangible. Through physical crafting and collaborative inquiry, participants will investigate how privileged and marginalized identities manifest in their practice as a researcher or educator.

Attendees will be guided through four phases across the two sessions: contextualizing intersectional frameworks, grounding identity through hands-on creative expression, navigating critical interruptions, and synthesizing practical applications. By the end of the two-part workshop, attendees will be able to: (1) deconstruct traditional identity models by weaving a multi-dimensional identity web; (2) analyze how shifting environments or policies alter identity relationships over time; (3) evaluate dimensions of privilege and marginalization in daily professional practice; and (4) adapt the framework to facilitate critical identity dialogues at their home institutions.

Meet Your Speakers:
Alisa H. Chung, Purdue University
Kaley Mumma, Purdue University
Catlin M. Goodwin, University of Arkansas
Tiffany A. Marzolino, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/The_Web_of_Intersectionality-pt1

Behind the Editor's Desk: Learning to Publish and Review for JRST

October 29 2026
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET (2 hrs)

Learn how to publish and review for JRST!

Meet Your Speakers:
Dana Vedder-Weiss, JRST
Edna Tan, JRST
Matt Kloser, JRST
Elif Ozulku, JRST
Gur Arie Livni Alcasid, JRST

Hosted by: JRST Editorial Team

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Behind_the_Editors_Desk

The Web of Intersectionality: A reflective tool for exploring identity - Part Two

October 30 2026
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM ET (2 hrs)

This two-part virtual workshop explores identity formation, intersectionality, and the impacts of structural power on research and practice through creative expression. Participants will move from abstract theory into something more tangible. Through physical crafting and collaborative inquiry, participants will investigate how privileged and marginalized identities manifest in their practice as a researcher or educator.

Attendees will be guided through four phases across the two sessions: contextualizing intersectional frameworks, grounding identity through hands-on creative expression, navigating critical interruptions, and synthesizing practical applications. By the end of the two-part workshop, attendees will be able to: (1) deconstruct traditional identity models by weaving a multi-dimensional identity web; (2) analyze how shifting environments or policies alter identity relationships over time; (3) evaluate dimensions of privilege and marginalization in daily professional practice; and (4) adapt the framework to facilitate critical identity dialogues at their home institutions.

Meet Your Speakers:
Alisa H. Chung, Purdue University
Kaley Mumma, Purdue University
Catlin M. Goodwin, University of Arkansas
Tiffany A. Marzolino, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Web_Of_Intersectionality_Part_Two

Career Steps Webinar Series #16

October 30 2026
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET

Navigating the transition from graduate studies to a fulfilling career can feel overwhelming. With countless possibilities - academia, industry, government, non-profits, and beyond - graduate students often find themselves uncertain about which path to pursue or how to begin.

The Graduate Student Committee recognizes this challenge and organizes the Career Steps Webinar Series, an engaging, monthly webinar series designed to illuminate multiple career trajectories, offer practical guidance, and foster meaningful connections within the NARST community.

Each session features accomplished professionals who share their academic and career journeys, offering practical advice, personal insights, and lessons learned along the way. Beyond providing career information, the series creates an opportunity for students to explore future possibilities, connect with experienced professionals, and gain the confidence and inspiration to pursue their own career goals.

Meet Your Speaker:
Charlton McIlwain, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; Vice Provost for Faculty Engagement and Development; Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication

Hosted by: Graduate Student Committee

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Graduate_Student_Career_Steps_16

Award Talk: Questions Evolve, Purpose Endures: A Commitment to Meaningful Student Learning

November 9 2026
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

This presentation reflects on my research and service to NARST, guided by a central question: How can we better understand and support students' learning of complex and abstract scientific ideas? My early research examined students’ alternative conceptions and explored how ontological category shifts, analogies, and modeling approaches could support the construction and restructuring of their mental models. Seeking insights beyond cognitive assessments, I investigated facial expressions during counterintuitive phenomena. Decision tree analyses identified micro-expressions of surprise, sadness, and disgust during conceptual conflict as indicators associated with a greater likelihood of conceptual change.

My broader research in assessment and instruction subsequently prompted questions about how AI could help assess scientific explanations and examine conceptual sequencing in textbooks. Recent work explores machine learning for automated scoring and topic modeling of chemistry textbooks to inform assessment and instructional design. Throughout this journey, findings have inspired new questions, while meaningful student learning has remained central. I have learned to evaluate methods not only for the evidence they provide, but also for how that evidence can inform teaching and support students’ conceptual understanding and scientific modeling.

Guided by the Confucian principles of (education for all, without discrimination) and (tailoring instruction to individual learners), I remain committed to equitable, student-centered science education. Drawing on my NARST service, I conclude by reflecting on how professional collaboration and sustained collective effort can strengthen connections between research and practice and advance inclusion within the science education community.

Meet Your Speaker:
Mei-Hung Chiu, National Taiwan Normal University-Graduate Institute of Science Education

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Award_Talk_Mei-Hung_Chiu

Award Talks: Who is Doing the Educating? 
Rethinking Research on Museum Educators and Science Communicators
Toward Meaningful Science Teaching and Learning: A Personal Research Trajectory

November 10 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Who is Doing the Educating? Rethinking Research on Museum Educators and Science Communicators (Megan Innes)
Museums are important sites for science learning, but research has often focused more on audience learning rather than on the people who make those experiences possible. What do we know about the educators, scientists, and science communicators who design programs, facilitate learning, build relationships with communities, and translate science for public audiences? And what do we still need to understand about their experiences, practices, identities, and professional contexts? In my NARST Early Career Research Award talk, I will highlight some of my current research with the people who teach in museums and other informal learning environments. We will discuss gaps and opportunities for further research including the opportunity to spend more attention on informal science educators not simply as program implementers, but as learners, professionals, relationship-builders, and leaders who shape how science is experienced by the public.

Toward Meaningful Science Teaching and Learning: A Personal Research Trajectory (Li Ke)
What makes science learning meaningful to students, and how can classroom experiences connect disciplinary practices with students’ lives, communities, and ways of knowing? In this NARST Early Career Research Award talk, I reflect on the evolution of my research program through these questions. I begin with my work as a graduate research assistant on two large-scale projects examining how to support students’ modeling practices aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). My research then extended into the context of socio-scientific issues (SSI), including the COVID-19 pandemic, where science connects more directly to personal and societal decision-making. I next highlight my current work on teacher co-design with a focus on students’ data practices around wildfires. I conclude with discussing future directions, including arts-based modeling, the integration of translanguaging and modeling for multilingual learners, and international comparative work in science teacher education examining how teachers learn to enact reform pedagogies in relation to local social, political, and cultural contexts.

Meet Your Speakers:
Megan Ennes, Ph.D. (she/her), Associate Curator of Museum Education, Museum Education Research Group, Florida Museum Natural History, University of Florida

Li Ke, Assistant Professor of Science Education at the University of Washington College of Education

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Award_Talk-Megan_Ennes_and_Li_Ke

AI4STEM Education Center's Distinguished Guest Speaker Series: Advancing AI in Science Education

November 12 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

How is artificial intelligence reshaping the goals, practices, and possibilities of science education, and how can we ensure that these changes remain responsible, equitable, and human-centered?

This Distinguished Guest Speaker Series hosted by the AI4STEM Education Center brings together leading scholars featured in the book Advancing AI in Science Education: Envisioning Responsible and Ethical Practice, edited by Xiaoming Zhai and Kent J. Crippen. Across a series of engaging presentations and conversations, chapter authors will share cutting-edge research and practical insights into how AI is transforming science teaching and learning.

Speakers will explore topics such as AI-enhanced science literacy, scientific inquiry, teacher learning, instructional materials, assessment, and the preparation of students for an AI-infused world. The series will also examine critical questions involving fairness, transparency, privacy, accountability, scientific integrity, and the preservation of human judgment. Designed for researchers, educators, students, developers, and others interested in the future of science education, the series provides an opportunity to engage directly with prominent scholars and consider how AI can serve as a meaningful partner rather than a replacement in teaching, learning, and scientific practice.

Meet Your Speakers:
Kent Crippen, Xiaoming Zhai, and Okhee Lee

 

Hosted by: AI4STEM Education Center's Distinguished Guest Speaker Series: Advancing AI in Science Education

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/AI4STEM_Education_Center_Guest_Speaker_Series

Teaching Science to Deaf Students: A Mixed-methods Investigation of Teacher's Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Reimagining Science Teacher Learning through Core Practices of Storyline Instruction

November 17 2026
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Teaching Science to Deaf Students: A Mixed-methods Investigation of Teacher's Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Scott Cohen)
Recent research highlights the necessity of integrating research-based practices in science teaching within deaf education to equip teachers with resources and materials to enhance science instruction in deaf education. This study employed a mixed method explanatory sequential design to assess the current state of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) on teachers' professional knowledge and skills in science teaching with deaf students. Utilizing the Refined Consensus Model (RCM) of PCK, the study empirically examined how teachers leverage content and pedagogical knowledge to support deaf students' conceptual understanding in science classroom. The PCK Grand Rubric was instrumental in developing research instruments and analyzing data. A survey disseminated to qualified participants yielded thirty responses, forming the basis for a rubric on collective PCK in teaching science to deaf students. Additionally, two survey participants were selected for case studies involving interviews and observations to evaluate their personal and enacted PCK with the rubric. Findings revealed a diverse range of knowledge and skills among science teachers, highlighting various strengths and challenges. The discussion juxtaposes this group with national survey data on science teachers and proposes future directions to advance their PCK knowledge and skills.

Reimagining Science Teacher Learning through Core Practices of Storyline Instruction (Sage Anderson)
In this three-paper dissertation, I focus on how we might reimagine preservice science teacher learning to realize the transformative potential of storyline instruction through Core Practices of Storyline Instruction. In the storyline approach, students work together to figure out and explain a meaningful phenomenon across a unit, with learning driven and motivated by their own questions. Storylines position students as agentic, scientific sensemakers, whose ideas, questions, and experiences are valuable and generative and who are empowered to use science as a way of knowing about and taking consequential action in our world. When taken up with critical intentionality for equity and justice, this model of instruction has the potential to be truly transformative. Grounded in sociocultural theories of learning and practice-based teacher education, I first conceptualized six Core Practices of Storyline Instruction through a theoretical document analysis of existing scholarship and curriculum resources. I, then, examined how preservice teachers, participating in a redesigned science methods course, took up and leveraged these core practices with critical intentionality in their planning and rehearsals of instruction. Finally, I developed a practical rubric to help teachers evaluate and strengthen existing curricula toward more coherent, phenomenon-driven, and justice-oriented science teaching. Together, these studies contribute a coherent framework for supporting teacher learning that keeps teaching practice and justice-oriented visions of science education in sustained conversation. This work advances research on practice-based teacher education and offers concrete tools for fostering more equitable and transformative possibilities in K–12 science classrooms.

Meet Your Speakers:
Sage Andersen, Ph.D. (she/her), Assistant Professor of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction, Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department, SUNY Cortland

Scott Cohen, Assistant Professor, Undergraduate Program Director, Department of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Lamar University

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Award_Talk_Scott_Cohen_and_Sage_Andersen

 

Award Talk: Why Understanding the Nature of Science Matters More than Ever

November 19
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

What happens to science when artificial intelligence becomes a dialogic partner in scientific knowledge production? What do human scientists need to understand about science when scientific investigations are automated? How can the public navigate misinformation about science when social group identity may bias beliefs leading to hard scientific evidence being ignored? Such questions expose the need to revisit how nature of science is conceptualised for science education in the contemporary era. They signal an ever more pressing need for scientists and citizens alike to understand how science works, not only in terms understanding what scientific knowledge is about, how it is generated and by whom but also about how science works as a social and institutional enterprise mediated by social values and norms. In this presentation we use a systemic account of nature of science where the cognitive, epistemic, social and institutional aspects of science influence one another, demonstrating the relevance of a holistic approach to understanding the nature of science. Recommendations are made for science curriculum reform, teaching and learning, and teacher education.

Meet Your Speakers:
Sibel Erduran, University of Oxford

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Award_Talk_Sibel_Eduran

 

Science Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence

November 19 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

How is artificial intelligence reshaping the goals, practices, and possibilities of science education and how can we ensure that these changes remain responsible, equitable, and human-centered?

This Distinguished Guest Speaker Series hosted by the AI4STEM Education Center brings together leading scholars featured in the book Advancing AI in Science Education: Envisioning Responsible and Ethical Practice, edited by Xiaoming Zhai and Kent J. Crippen. Across a series of engaging presentations and conversations, chapter authors will share cutting-edge research and practical insights into how AI is transforming science teaching and learning.

Speakers will explore topics such as AI-enhanced science literacy, scientific inquiry, teacher learning, instructional materials, assessment, and the preparation of students for an AI-infused world. The series will also examine critical questions involving fairness, transparency, privacy, accountability, scientific integrity, and the preservation of human judgment. Designed for researchers, educators, students, developers, and others interested in the future of science education, the series provides an opportunity to engage directly with prominent scholars and consider how AI can serve as a meaningful partner rather than a replacement in teaching, learning, and scientific practice.

Meet Your Speakers:
Knut Neumann

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/AI4STEM_Part_2

Career Steps Webinar Series #17

November 20 2026
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Navigating the transition from graduate studies to a fulfilling career can feel overwhelming. With countless possibilities - academia, industry, government, non-profits, and beyond - graduate students often find themselves uncertain about which path to pursue or how to begin.

The Graduate Student Committee recognizes this challenge and organizes the Career Steps Webinar Series, an engaging, monthly webinar series designed to illuminate multiple career trajectories, offer practical guidance, and foster meaningful connections within the NARST community.

Each session features accomplished professionals who share their academic and career journeys, offering practical advice, personal insights, and lessons learned along the way. Beyond providing career information, the series creates an opportunity for students to explore future possibilities, connect with experienced professionals, and gain the confidence and inspiration to pursue their own career goals.

Meet Your Speaker:
Julie Luft, University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor, Athletic Association Professor, Science Education Science Education Graduate Coordinator Section Q (Education) Chair, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Hosted by: Graduate Student Committee

Registration Link: https://members.narst.org/event/Graduate_Student_Career_Steps_17