Bill is Distinguished Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development in the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder and a co-founder of the inquiryHub research-practice partnership. He designs and studies curriculum materials, assessments, and professional learning experiences for teachers in STEM education, primarily in science. He also studies how contemplative practices and critical inquiry can support educators in cultivating more compassionate learning environments and schools. A third line of his research focuses on how long-term research-practice partnerships can be organized to address systemic inequities in education systems linked to race, gender and sexual diversity, and language.

Tammy is the Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science and a Professor in Computer and Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She co-founded the inquiryHub research-practice partnership. She leads interdisciplinary research studying how advanced technologies including artificial intelligence can improve teaching practice, learning outcomes and learner engagement in STEM.

Kate is the Director of K-12 STEM Teaching and Learning for inquiryHub at the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work focus on the design and implementation of science curriculum. She is passionate about science teacher professional learning and how districts can design systems to implement high quality instructional materials in science. Her work is informed by more than a decade in the high school science classroom and by her work as a practicing scientist.

Greg is the Director of K-12 Computing and AI Initiatives for inquiryHub at the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. He leads the scaleup of SchoolWide Labs to bring their innovative program to districts across the U.S. Previously, Greg worked in schools as a teacher and administrator for 25 years. He led professional learning sessions in Science, STEM and CS globally. In 2010 he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science & Mathematics Teaching from Barack Obama.

Monica is an Assistant Research Professor at the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work focuses on promoting and studying classroom interactions that support students' engagement in disciplinary practices. She facilitates collaborative research activities on interdisciplinary teams that involve experts in the fields of learning sciences, science education, educational assessment, and disciplinary literacy. She also has extensive experience in designing and facilitating professional learning for teachers. Monica's work is informed by her prior experience as a high school biology teacher.

Jennifer Jacobs is an Associate Research Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Institute of Cognitive Science. Her research focuses on classroom teaching and learning of mathematics and science, and models of professional development to support teachers and their students. She works on a variety of iHub projects including SchoolWide Labs and the 5D assessment project.

Erin is the Program Manager for inquiryHub at the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She supports multiple projects, including curriculum development, professional learning, and communications. Erin developed new education programs for school districts and universities, with particular emphasis on authentic learning and new teacher mentorship. Previously, as a high school teacher in Denver, Erin’s favorite course to teach was Senior Capstone, where students could dive deeply into topics of their choice and create projects with real impact.

Quentin is an Assistant Research Professor in the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. He works across the following teams: Schoolwide Labs, STEMCC, iSAT, and iHUB. Projects include researching and developing open-source, co-designed storylines and resources to support high school and middle school science teachers. Those projects integrate computational thinking, physical computing, and AI. His research focuses on effective science learning and teaching, Phenomena-Driven learning, NGSS aligned 3D Learning and formative assessment, CT and AI integration, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and teacher professional learning.

Jeffrey is an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Colorado’s Institute for Cognitive Sciences. His research focuses on the intersection of technology, STEM teacher learning and professional development with sub-topics of mathematics education, computational thinking, physical computing, formative assessment, complex instruction, Artificial Intelligence, user experience research, compassion, and equity. Recent work focuses on the use of AI-based tools to promote humanizing and compassionate pedagogy and collaborative interactions in authentic learning environments.

Annie is a research scientist in the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research is focused on research-practice partnerships as a strategy to support teacher learning, equity-focused classroom practice, and evidence-based policy-making in school districts. She has worked with children, youth, and educators in and out of schools, and is committed to collaborative research and learning.

Durango School District hosts updated science standards seminar for regional educators

Colorado educators attend state science teacher training workshop in Boulder

Free Colorado academic standards workshops for K-12 science teachers offered through October

New, open-source science curriculum out of CU has high school students learning through real-world situations…

Penuel, W. R. (2025). From judging to attuning: Movements toward culturally sustaining assessment. Journal of the Learning Sciences.

McElhaney, K. W., Hodkowski, N. M., McMahon, L., Henson, K., Penuel, W. R., Jacobs, J., & Baker, A. (2025). Designing supports for science teachers to integrate mathematics into storyline science units. In A. Rajala, A. Cortez, R. Hofmann, A. Jornet, H. Lotz-Sisitka, & L. Markauskaite (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 2822–2824). International Society of the Learning Sciences. 

Penuel, W. R., Neill, T. R., & Campbell, T. (2025). Supporting a state in developing a working theory of improvement for promoting equity in science education. Frontiers in Education, 29(10), 1–9.

Glidewell, L., Jacobs, J., Allen, A.-R., Penuel, W. R., & Lo, A. S. (2025). A comparative case analysis of rural science teachers’ experiences with professional learning. The Rural Educator, 46(3), 43–59.

Raza, A., Penuel, W. R., Li, J., & Frank, K. A. (2025). Supporting coherence from students’ perspective in middle school science classrooms using students’ experience data. In A. Rajala, A. Cortez, R. Hofmann, A. Jornet, H. Lotz-Sisitka, & L. Markauskaite (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 2037–2041). International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Raza, A., Penuel, W. R., Li, J., & Frank, K. A. (2025). Enhancing the relevance of science learning: Exploring the potential of the Student Experience Improvement Cycle. In A. Rajala, A. Cortez, R. Hofmann, A. Jornet, H. Lotz-Sisitka, & L. Markauskaite (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 2047–2051). International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Penuel, W. R., Raza, A., Salinas del Val, Y., Salinas-Estevez, R., Williamson, E., Smith, J., & Gill, Q. (2024). Making formative use of student experience data to promote equity. Science Scope, 47(2), 34–39.

Penuel, W. R., O’Connor, K., Allen, A.-R., Jacobs, J., & Lo, A. S. (2024). Examining science teachers’ conceptions of student interest as a consideration in designing assessments. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 36(5), 643–663

Penuel, W. R., Henson, K., Bracey, Z. B., VIck, N., & Rivet, A. E. (2024). Strategies for designing standards-aligned instructional materials that connect to students’ interests and community priorities. The Science Teacher, 91(5), 62–70.

Penuel, W. R., Rubin, A., Henson, K., Puttick, G., & Deverel-Rico, C. (2023). A teaching routine for working with existing data in science classrooms. In P. Blikstein, J. Van Aalst, R. Kizito, & K. Brennan (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences 2023 (pp. 1680–1681). International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Deverel-Rico, C., Penuel, W. R., Rubin, A., Puttick, G., & Henson, K. (2023). Supporting alignments in scientific activity: Moving across question, evidence, and explanation. In P. Blikstein, J. Van Aalst, R. Kizito, & K. Brennan (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences 2023 (pp. 321–328). International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Penuel, W. R., Allen, C. D., Manz, E., & Heredia, S. C. (2022). Design-Based Implementation Research as an approach to studying teacher learning in research-practice partnerships focused on equity. In A. C. Superfine, S. Goldman, & M.-L. M. Ko (Eds.), Teacher learning in changing contexts: Perspectives from the learning sciences (pp. 217–237). Routledge.

Penuel, W. R., Allen, A.-R., Henson, K., Campanella, M., Patton, R., Rademaker, K., Reed, W., Watkins, D. A., Wingert, K., Reiser, B. J., & Zivic, A. (2022). Learning practical design knowledge through co-designing storyline science curriculum units. Cognition and Instruction, 40(1), 148–170.

Edelson, D. C., Reiser, B. J., McNeill, K. L., Mohan, A., Novak, M., Mohan, L., Affolter, R., McGill, T. A. W., Bracey, Z. B., Noll, J. D., Kowalski, S. M., Novak, M., Lo, A. S., Landel, C., Krumm, A., Penuel, W. R., Van Horne, K., González-Howard, M., & Suárez, E. (2021). Developing research-based instructional materials to support large-scale transformation of science teaching and learning: The approach of the OpenSciEd middle school program. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 32(7), 780–804.

Reiser, B. J., Novak, M., McGill, T. A. W., & Penuel, W. R. (2021). Storyline units: An instructional model to support coherence from the students’ perspective. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 32(7), 805–829.

Raza, A., Penuel, W. R., Allen, A.-R., Sumner, T., & Jacobs, J. K. (2021). “Making it culturally relevant”: A visual learning analytics system supporting teachers to reflect on classroom equity. In E. de Vries, Y. Hod, & J. Ahn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 442–449). International Society of the Learning Sciences.