December 10, 2020
Kirsten is an advocate for equitable and engaging STEM education. She is the founder and director of Making Sense of SCIENCE — a teacher centric and respectful way for K–12 educators to learn the complex art of teaching. This impactful model of professional learning strengthens classroom practices and has a proven track record of increasing student achievement, especially for multilingual learners.
Her research interests and publications are internationally known and focus on professional learning to support teacher pedagogical content knowledge, children’s science thinking, and science leadership development. Current areas of emphasis and innovation include using a lens of equity for boosting data fluency, integrating science and literacy, implementation of standards, supporting administrator and leadership development, formative assessment, program evaluation, and out-of-school time learning.
Kirsten began as a high school chemistry and physics teacher, and is always a teacher at heart. She holds a BA in chemistry from Wellesley College and an MA in secondary science education from San Francisco State University. When she isn’t doing something sciency in education, you can find her playing ultimate frisbee, charging around a soccer field, traveling with family and friends, and serving her community.