Summary
Dr. Li Ke joined the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno as an assistant professor of science education in 2022. His research centers around fostering meaningful science teaching and learning from elementary through high school classrooms. He is interested in how students negotiate socio-scientific issues such as climate change and how issue-based learning experiences support students’ development in scientific literacy. His work also explores co-design as an effective way of teacher professional development to promote teacher agency.
Dr. Ke’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, including an grant aimed at exploring how data science can be meaningfully incorporated into K-12 science education in the context of the issue of wildfires, and another to examine how middle school students coordinate different types of models to learn about viral pandemics.
Areas of expertise
- Science education
- Scientific modeling and model-based instruction
- Socio-scientific issues and issue-based teaching
- Science teacher education
- Epistemology
Selected Publications
Ke, L., Friedrichsen, P., Rawson, R., Sadler, T. (2023). Teacher learning through collaborative curriculum design in the midst of a pandemic: A cultural historical activity theory investigation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 122, 103957.
Schwarz, C. V., Ke, L., Salgado, M., & Man, E. (2022). Beyond assessing modeling knowledge: Moving towards expansive, equitable, and meaningful modeling practice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 59(6), 1086-1096.
Ke, L., & Schwarz, C. V. (2021). Supporting students’ meaningful engagement in scientific modeling through epistemological messages: A case study of contrasting teaching approaches. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 58(3), 335-365.
Ke, L., Sadler, T., Zangori, L., & Friedrichsen, P. (2021). Developing and using multiple models to promote scientific literacy in the context of socio-scientific issues. Science & Education, 30(3), 589-607.
Friedrichsen, P., Ke, L., Sadler, T., & Zangori, L. (2021). Enacting co-designed socio-scientific issue-based curriculum units: A case study of secondary science teacher learning. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 32(1), 85-106.
Ke, L., Sadler, T., Zangori, L., & Friedrichsen, P. (2020). Students’ perceptions of engagement in socio-scientific issue-based learning and their appropriation of epistemic tools for systems thinking. International Journal of Science Education, 42(8), 1339-1361.
Ke, L., & Schwarz, C.V. (2019). Using epistemic considerations in teaching: Fostering students’ meaningful engagement in scientific modeling. In Upmeier zu Belzen, A., Krüger, D. & Van Driel, J. (Eds.), Towards a competence-based view on models and modeling in science education (pp. 181-199). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Education
- Ph.D. Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education, Michigan State University
- M.S. Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- B.S. Chemistry, Fudan University