News & Insights
STEM education continues to change rapidly, bringing new questions, ideas, and opportunities for learning. We share our perspectives on current topics in STEM education, highlight research and resources, and showcase our work with educators and communities. You’ll also find press coverage of our events and programs, along with stories and insights from our team—all connected to our commitment to more equitable and meaningful STEM learning experiences for all students.
Our Work in the Spotlight
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November 3, 2025
Durango School District hosts updated science standards seminar for regional educators
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July 31, 2025
Colorado educators attend state science teacher training workshop in Boulder
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July 8, 2025
Free Colorado academic standards workshops for K-12 science teachers offered through October
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July 25, 2024
New, open-source science curriculum out of CU has high school students learning through real-world situations…
inquiryHub Insights
Publications
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.