Gillian Roehrig

Degrees

BS Chemistry and Mathematics, University of Southampton, U.K., 1990

MS Chemistry, University of Arizona, 1993

PhD Teaching and Teacher Education (Science Education), 2002

What students can expect from me

As an advisor, I aspire to support students in becoming independent learners and thinkers
capable of taking ownership of their career goals. These goals are the student’s goals, so
my role is to “meet students where they are at” and work together to provide the
appropriate experiences and support. Wherever possible, I strive to provide a diverse set of
teaching and research experiences to help students on their graduate pathway. Every
student needs someone to be their advocate, that is my central role as advisor. This does
not always mean that I have the answers or necessary resources, so I also provide students
have access to my professional network who can also serve as mentors and advocates.
Through this networked mentoring program approach, students have more opportunities in
teaching and research than I can offer as an individual advisor.

Practically, I live into this vision of advising through ongoing conversations with students
about their goals and research. However, I expect students to advocate for themselves and
be proactive in scheduling meetings and to have an agenda for the meeting. At these
meetings, students need to be clear about what learning experiences that need to be
successful so I can work to provide the necessary support and experiences. I am happy to
include students on my research projects, so they have an opportunity to learn how to
conduct educational research and write academic papers. I am also happy to support
independent research agendas. For example, for some students I serve as a coder under
their direction to help move their work forward. Other students want teaching experiences,
while these cannot also be paid instructor positions, I try to provide co-teaching
experiences with preservice and inservice teachers.

I know I have made a difference when my students have accomplished their academic
goals. My greatest source of pride is seeing my students go on to successful careers
(ranging from tenured-track and teaching positions at universities across the world to
teacher leaders in their districts and schools) and watching them teach and mentor their
own students.

Science Teacher Development

My research and teaching interests are centered on understanding how teachers translate national and state standards into their classrooms. Of particular interest is how teachers, from preservice through induction and into the in-service years, implement inquiry-based teaching and how different induction and professional development programs can influence teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and classroom practices.

One outcome of this work has been the development of an online induction program for secondary science teachers, the Teacher Induction Network (TIN). TIN was developed through a National Science Foundation Noyce grant and was recognized as a Promising Practice by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities in 2012. This work is now funded by an NSF Noyce Track 4 grant - A Study on Promoting Reflective and Equitable Practice Through Science Teacher Induction.

Sample Dissertations:

Ellis, J., Polizzi, S., Roehrig, G., & Rushton, G. (2017). Teachers as leaders: The impact of teacher leadership supports for beginning teachers in an online induction program. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 25(3), 245-272

Ellis, J., McFadden, J., Anwar, T., & Roehrig, G. (2015). Investigating the Social Interactions of Beginning Teachers Using a Video Annotation Tool. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education, 15(3). Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/vol15/iss3/general/article1.cfm 

McFadden, J., Ellis, J., Anwar, T., & Roehrig, G.H. (2014). Beginning Science Teachers’ Use of a Digital Video Annotation Tool to Promote Reflective Practices. Journal of Science Education and Technology 23(3), 458-470. 

STEM Integration

National policy documents call for the need to increase the number of students entering STEM fields have created an urgent call for improving science education through new educational approaches that focus on the hands-on, interdisciplinary, and socially relevant aspects of STEM, specifically highlighting the role of engineering. However, there is no common understanding on the nature of STEM education as an integrated or multidisciplinary endeavor. One of the biggest educational challenges for K-12 STEM education is that few general guidelines or models exist for using STEM integration approaches. My work in this area has focused on understanding teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration and professional development models to assist teachers in implementing new STEM standards.

This work is supported by an $8 million NSF Mathematics and Science Partnership grant, EngrTEAMS: Engineering to Transform the Education of Analysis, Measurement, and Science. In addition, funding from the Cargill Foundation supports the exploration of inclusive STEM Middle Schools in Minneapolis Public Schools. Given the international focus on STEM Education, I also collaborate with researchers and graduate students interested in integrated STEM and STEM schools in Japan, South Korea, and Egypt.

Sample Dissertations:

Elizabeth Ring (2017). Teacher Conceptions of Integrated STEM Education and How They Are Reflected in Integrated STEM Curriculum Writing and Classroom Implementation (currently faculty at St. Catherine University).

Emily Dare (2015). Understanding Middle School Students' Perceptions of Physics Using Girl-Friendly and Integrated STEM Strategies: A Gender Study (currently faculty at Michigan Tech).

Constantine, A., Rozowa, P., Szostkowski, A., Ellis, J.  & Roehrig, G. (2017) The “T” in STEM: How Elementary Science Teachers’ Beliefs of Technology Integration Translate to Practice During a Co-Developed STEM Unit, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 36(4), 339-349.

Ring, E. A., Dare, E. A. , Crotty, E. A. , & Roehrig, G. H. (2017). The Evolution of Teacher Conceptions of STEM Education Throughout an Intensive Professional Development Experience. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 28(5), 444-467.

STEM Education in Native Communities

Of particular interest is how culturally-relevant STEM integration approaches to teaching and learning can improve educational outcomes for American Indian youth. Three grant-funded projects developed in partnership with reservation schools in northwestern Minnesota have guided this work:

Reach for the Sky: Integrating Technology into STEM outcomes for American Indian Youth (RFTS), a partnership with schools on the White Earth Indian Reservation providing informal STEM learning experiences for American Indian youth, funded by an NSF-ITEST grant. 

Ah neen dush, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, was designed to support and mentor Head Start teachers on the White Earth Indian Reservation as they created engaging learning environments, that integrated inquiry-based science and mathematics activities with Ojibwe philosophy and tradition. 

CYCLES, funded by NASA, provided professional development for reservation teachers to support the implementation of culturally-relevant approaches to climate change education in Minnesota.

Sample dissertations:

Brant Miller (2010). Snow snakes as a means to science agency: Empowering American Indian students through a culturally relevant STEM curriculum (currently faculty at University of Idaho). 

Devarati Bhattacharya (2015). Conceptualizing In-service Secondary School Teachers' Knowledge Base for Promoting Understanding about the Science of Global Climate Change (currently a post-doc at University of Nebrasks). 

Chemistry Education

As a former high school and college chemistry instructor, I continue to be interested in chemistry education. My work in chemistry education has focused on students’ understanding of the particulate nature of matter, with a specific focus on students’ particulate-level understanding of bonding through the use of a particulate drawing assessment tool.

Sample Dissertations:
Abdi Warfa (2013). Student Conceptions of Ionic Compounds in Solution and the Influences of Sociochemical Norms on Individual Learning (currently faculty at the University of Minnesota).

Warfa, A., Roehrig, G., Schneider, J., & Nyachwaya, J. (2014). The Role of Teacher-Initiated Discourses in Students’ Development of Representational Fluency in Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 91(6), 784–792.

Awards

Association for Science Teacher Education Award IV, Innovations in Teaching Science Teachers, 2014 

CEHD Marty and Jack Rossman Award, University of Minnesota, April 2014 

Outstanding Mentor Award, Association for Science Teacher Education,  2013 

Promising Practice Award, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, May 2012

Council of Graduate Students Outstanding Faculty Award, University of Minnesota, April 2010 

Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, University of Arizona, May 2002 

Associations/Memberships

• AERA
• American Society for Engineering Education
• Association for Science Teacher Education
• Australasian Science Education Research Association
• European Science Education Research Association