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 Julia Plummer

Dr. Julia Plummer

Professor of Education (SCIED)

Phone: 814-863-8922

149 Chambers Building
University Park, PA 16802

Department(s)

  • Curriculum and Instruction

Program(s)

  • Science Education

Biography

Julia Plummer spent over a decade teaching children and adults in planetariums and other informal settings and continues teaching college-level introductory astronomy and science methods for preservice elementary teachers.

 

Her research interests focus on the design of learning environments that support children's spatial thinking and science practices in the domain of astronomy. This includes investigating both formal environments, such as classrooms, and informal environments, such as planetariums and museums.  Her research has led to the development of astronomy learning progressions focused on explaining celestial motion phenomena and connecting observations of the current Solar System to its formation model.  

 

Dr. Plummer has co-authored middle school astronomy curricula and collaborated on the development of planetarium programs for children.  Dr. Plummer received a combined Ph.D. in Astronomy & Education from the University of Michigan.

 

Dr. Plummer is currently engaged in several collaborative research projects that involve Penn State graduate students, including:

  • My Sky Tonight: Early Childhood Pathways to Astronomy.  As Co-PI on this NSF-funded research and development project, Dr. Plummer has led a team of graduate students, early career researchers, and informal science educators in investigating how informal science educators engage preschool-age children in astronomy and how young children engage in the practices of scientific argumentation through informal astronomy experiences.  This project is in collaboration with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Cal Poly, and UC-Santa Cruz: https://www.astrosociety.org/education/my-sky-tonight/

 

  • ThinkSpace: Thinking Spatially about the Universe: As Co-PI on this NSF-funded research and development project, Dr. Plummer is collaborating with astronomers and astronomy educators at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics to develop astronomy labs that will support spatial thinking in middle school students.  She and her Penn State graduate students are investigating how middle school students who participate in a curriculum designed to support their spatial thinking through physical and computer-simulated models demonstrate improved indicators of spatial thinking.  http://wwtambassadors.org/thinkspace-labs

 

  • Earth and Space Science Partnership: As a senior researcher on this large-scale NSF-funded projectDr. Plummer leads a team that initially focused on the development of a learning progression for the Solar System and its formation, guided by an investigation of a middle school teacher's implementation of targeted curriculum on this topic.  Subsequent investigations from this team have begun to investigate methods of supporting middle and high school students' understanding of science practices in astronomy, with a focus on how astronomers use telescopes and other instrumentation to gather data. http://www.essp.psu.edu/

Areas of Expertise

Age Levels

Childhood
Early Childhood

Learning

Curriculum
Instructional Methods and Design
Learning Sciences

Curriculum Areas

Science Ed

Education Levels

Early Childhood Ed
Middle School/Junior High
Primary/Elementary
Professional Education

Education Types

Private Ed
Public Ed

Methodological Research

Qualitative Research
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