2023
SSEY
Estelle Blanquet
Associate Professor, University of Bordeaux (France)
Estelle Blanquet is an associate professor in science education at the Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l’Education d’Aquitaine (INSPE) of the University of Bordeaux (France). Her main research interests are the nature of science at the primary school level and the study of experimental inquiry practices in Kindergarten. She has been training Kindergarten and elementary school teachers in science since 2000. She is a part of the French e-Fran-funded project Perseverons and is co-coordinator of the SIG Early Years Science for the ESERA conference.
Todd M. Milford
Associate Professor, University of Victoria (Canada)
Todd M. Milford is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. He has been teaching at the postsecondary level since 2005 primarily in the areas of science education, mathematics education, and classroom assessment. His research has been and continues to be varied; however, the constant theme is using data and data analysis to help teachers and students in the Pre-K to Grade 12 classroom. He has published most recently about STEM learning in early childhood (Tippett & Milford, 2017), science education in Canada (Tippett & Milford, 2019), the use of mathematical applications in the classroom (Larkin & Milford, 2019) and the design and validation of an early childhood classroom observation protocol (Milford & Tippett, 2015). He is past president of the Science Education Research Group (a special interest group of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education).
Roxana Yanez Gonzalez
Instructor, CÉGEP Heritage (Canada)
Roxana Yanez Gonzalez is an instructor at CÉGEP Heritage in the Early Childhood Care and Education program. Her main research interests are science and STEM in the early years and early childhood education for sustainability. Roxana completed her Bachelor of Education degree in Ecuador, her country of origin, and her master’s degree in Intercultural Education at the Freie Universitat Berlin. After moving back to Ecuador, Roxana worked as a middle school teacher at the German School in Quito where she developed a hands-on teaching approach. After moving permanently to Ottawa, Roxana obtained an early childhood education diploma and has worked in a variety of early childhood settings over the past fifteen years including childcare centres and kindergarten classrooms. Roxana continued her studies at the University of Ottawa where she completed an MEd and a PhD in education, in the concentration of teaching and learning.
Sue Dale Tunnicliffe
Reader in Science Education, University College London (England)
Dr Sue Dale Tunnicliffe is a zoologist as well as a Reader in Science Education, University College London Institute of Education (UCL IOE). She has taught in schools, to all ages, as well as at the university level, and has published widely in the field of science education. Sue was co-founder and first editor of the Journal of Emergent Science. She is presently working on STEM in play and is Chair of the Commonwealth Association for Science, Technology and Maths Educators.
Jenni Vartiainen
University Lecturer and Researcher, University of Helsinki (Finland)
Jenni Vartiainen (Ph.D.) is a researcher and a lecturer at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests are young children’s playful science and math education, scientific literacy, and children’s multiliteracy practices. She is especially interested in pedagogies that utilize stories and play to support young children's inquiry processes. Jenni has ten years of experience in teacher education at the University of Helsinki. She has contributed to several scientific publications and also worked in the field of the popularization of science. Jenni has written fictional science books for children, pedagogical guides for teachers and she has also co-written the manuscripts for four children’s science and math TV-shows and acted in those.
Susan Jagger
Associate Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University (Canada)
Susan Jagger is an associate professor in the School of Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research interests include environmental education, learning gardens, community mapping, poststructuralism and deconstruction, informal learning, science education, children's participation, participatory research, and arts-informed research approaches. Currently she is working with and in an urban elementary school to longitudinally explore the strengths and challenges of urban school gardening, map children's evolving environmental attitudes and actions, and engage children as researchers of their school garden and nature in their community.
Lee-Feng Huang
Assistant Professor, National Pingtung University (Taiwan)
Lee-Feng Huang is an assistant professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at National Pingtung University. She received her Ph.D. from University Tübingen in Germany and her major subjects were Literature and preschool education. She is willing to try interdisciplinary teaching, and is especially interested in the connection between drama/story and early childhood STEM education.
Thijs Eeckhout
Lecturer, Odisee, University of Applied Sciences (Belgium)
Thijs Eeckhout is a researcher and a lecturer in science and STEM education at Odisee, University of Applied Sciences (Belgium). He is an active member of the research group ExploRatio, that focuses on the research fields didactics, science, mathematics, technology, critical thinking, and dialogue. Thijs is also working as a teacher trainer at Odisee. His research interests are teaching and learning in preschool and primary education. He has been focusing on STEM education for several years. One research project for example aims at the professionalization of preschool teachers in providing stimulating STEM-activities, enhancing the needed language skills at the same time. Another research interest lies within the field of outdoor education.
Cristina Guarrella
Lecturer, The University of Melbourne (Australia)
Dr Cristina Guarrella combines her experience as a three-year-old kindergarten teacher with pre-service teacher education and research on early childhood science at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She strives to make the link between research and practice accessible for educators and is a co-author of the Northern Territory Preschool STEM Games. Cristina’s doctoral research investigated teachers’ enactment of science games in metropolitan and regional early childhood settings, with a specific focus on teachers’ assessment practices, playful learning, and classroom quality. Her ongoing research interests include early childhood and primary STEM education, science outreach and Assessment for Playful Learning.
José Cantó
Associate Professor, University of Valencia (Spain)
José Cantó is an associate professor in science education at the University of Valencia, Spain. He has a PhD in Physics and PhD in Science Didactics His main research interests are initial training of early childhood education teachers in science, educational transformation in centers and school-university relations for promoting the science in Kindergarten. He is Treasurer of APICE (Spanish Association of Teachers and Researchers in Didactics of Experimental Sciences) and member of ESERA’s Early Years Science SIG. He participates in projects funded by the Spanish government and European authorities on various research topics and scientific dissemination in education.
Elena Calderón-Canales
Researcher, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico)
Elena Calderón-Canales (PhD) is an educational psychologist at the UNAM. Her research focuses on learning in different specific domains of knowledge (physics, chemistry, biology and psychology), the development of teaching and learning strategies and materials for students of different educational levels, as well as various projects related to teacher training.
Hagit Mano
Professor In Residence, William Paterson University, New Jersey (US)
Hagit Mano MEd, MSc, is an adjunct professor and teacher coach, specializing in Early Childhood STEM, at the William Paterson University (WPU) in New Jersey. With a background in biology and in early childhood education, and over 20 years of experience teaching young children, Hagit strives to provide current and future educators with the tools and knowledge they need to implement inquiry and play based STEM experiences in their classrooms. In addition to publishing articles in the journals of Science & Children and Teaching Young Children, she also co-authored a 2019 book, Teaching STEM in the Preschool Classroom: Exploring Big Ideas with 3- to 5-Year-Olds. Prior to joining WPU, Hagit worked at the National Institute for Early Childhood Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University as part of a National Science Foundation-funded preschool STEM professional development project under the leadership of Dr. Alissa Lange.
Christine D. Tippett
Associate Professor, University of Ottawa (Canada)
Christine D. Tippett is an associate professor of science education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. She was an engineer before she obtained her teaching degree, which influences her ways of thinking about science and STEM education. She has taught K–8 students as well as teacher candidates and graduate students. Her research interests include visual representations, science education for all students, and professional development for science educators (preservice, inservice, and informal). Her current focus is early childhood STEM education. She is past president of the Science Education Research Group (SERG, a special interest group of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education) and is actively involved in the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE). Dr. Tippett has co-authored a number of articles on early childhood STEM with Dr. Milford.
Johanna Frejd
Lecturer, Linköping University (Sweden)
Johanna Frejd is a lecturer in preschool teacher training programs with a particular focus on science and technology education. She is interested in context, materials, and interaction in relation to meaning making in science. Her doctoral thesis explored 6-year-old children’s meaning-making processes about evolution in collaborative interactions. Now, Johanna studies how preschool teachers engage in play responsive teaching and how fiction and comics can be used to teach evolutionary concepts in Grades 4-6.
Ya-Ling Chen
Professor, National Pingtung University (Taiwan)
Ya-Ling Chen is a full professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at National Pingtung University. She obtained a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. Her research interests include early childhood science curriculum and instruction; early childhood bilingual education; and school, family, and community partnerships.
Ornit Spektor-Levy
Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the Faculty of Education, Bar Ilan University (Israel)
Ornit Spektor-Levy is the head of the Science Teaching Center at the Faculty of Education, Bar Ilan University, Israel. She is also the director of the National Teacher Center for STEM Education in Preschool, at Bar-Ilan University. Her research foci are science education for all students; professional development of science teachers; development of scientific curiosity and scientific literacy from early childhood to adolescence; early engineering thinking; STEM education in preschool. Her research group consists of graduate students and professionals in early STEM education.
Leticia Gallegos-Cázares
Researcher, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico)
Dr. Leticia Gallegos-Cázares is a researcher on science education and a professor of graduate degrees in education. She is interested in researching children’s ideas and their reasoning processes in science. She is also interested in children's multicultural ideas in science. Dr. Gallegos-Cázares collaborates to design educational proposals for science teaching and developing educational materials.
Fernando Flores Camacho
Researcher, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico)
Dr. Fernando Flores Camacho is a researcher in Science Education and professor of Master and Doctoral degrees in Education. His fields of interest include conceptual and representational change in science education and epistemology of science. His research with young children focuses on representational and reasoning processes about physics topics.
Debra Harwood
Professor, Brock University (Canada)
Dr. Debra Harwood is a professor and researcher of early childhood education at Brock University (Canada). Her research focuses on outdoor and nature pedagogies, early childhood education for sustainability, and inquiry-based learning. Debra uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore the intra-actions of children, communities, flora, and fauna within the ‘common world’.
Alissa A. Lange
Professor, East Tennessee State University (US)
Alissa A. Lange, Ph.D., is the Director of the Early Childhood STEM Lab and the Center of Excellence in STEM Education, and an associate professor of Early Childhood Education at East Tennessee State University. Alissa has led early STEM teaching and learning research and program initiatives for 15 years. Projects include a National Science Foundation-funded preschool STEM professional development project (along with former PI, Kimberly Brenneman) and an Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded initiative, Libraries Count, focused on professional learning for library staff in math for diverse young children and their families. She is an Early Years columnist for NSTA’s Science & Children, a co-facilitator of NAEYC's Early Math Interest Forum, and co-author of the 2019 book, Teaching STEM in the Preschool Classroom: Exploring Big Ideas with 3- to 5-Year-Olds. Prior to joining ETSU, Alissa was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Bogotá, Colombia, a US Department of Education, Institute of Educational Sciences postdoctoral fellow, and an assistant research professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University.
Ibiyinka Ogunlade
Professor, Ekiti State University (Nigeria)
Dr. Ibiyinka Ogunlade is a Professor of Food and Applied Chemistry in the Faculty of Science at Ekiti State University in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria with over two decades of experience in teaching, research, and mentoring in chemical sciences and children’s education. She is a former Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) of Ekiti State University. Dr. Ogunlade is the initiator of Children in Science and Technology, a project she has been coordinating since 1992. This project is designed to reach African children when they are young, to popularize science and technology, and increase children’s self-reliance. She is currently the Director of the Children STEM Centre, where her focus has been on presenting STEM as fun using STEM play cycle, activity-based, community-linked, and integrated approaches. Dr. Ogunlade was a 2020 recipient of the Commonwealth Association of Science, Technology and Mathematics Educators (CASTME) Community Award for popularizing STEM in the community. In 2021 she was certified by the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi) and the African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQAN) as a Certified Accreditor for Programme and Institutional Accreditation.
Jonna Larsson
Senior Lecturer, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)
Jonna Larsson is a senior lecturer in Pedagogy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and holds a PhD in Child and youth studies (2016). Larsson’s research focuses on high quality teaching and learning, mainly associated with science and sustainability. For her, ethical aspects of research with preschool children are imperative. Larsson currently governs two fully financed research projects, one on preschool teachers’ knowledge and children’s creativity in relation to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM in preschool - creativity, competence, and quality, 2021-2024), and one on science and children’s literature as a means for learning in and about science (Exploratory reading activities about science, 2021-2022). Larsson is active in international communities such as EECERA, WEEC, NERA, and OMEP and has published several articles and book chapters in her field of expertise.
Poh Tan
Stem cell scientist, PhD candidate, Simon Fraser University (Canada)
Poh Tan is currently completing her second PhD in Education from Simon Fraser University where her thesis focuses on decentering dominant ways of teaching and learning science, specifically through an Indigenous Hawaiian framework and storytelling. Her first PhD was obtained from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where she focused on the biology of blood stem cells. She is a research fellow at Science World and Vancouver Botanical Gardens Association, Vancouver's science museum and urban garden. She is founder and CEO of STEMedge Inc., a STEM educational consulting company. Poh has been practicing STEM outreach with K-12 students in the community space for over 20 years and frequently trains science facilitators who bring STEM to the public.