Mark Windschitl

Mark Windschitl is a professor of Science Teaching and Learning at the University of Washington. His research interests deal with the early career development of science teachers—in particular their trajectories toward ambitious and equitable pedagogy. His research group has developed a set of high-leverage practices for K-12 science instruction that represent a “’beginner’s repertoire” and has tested the conditions under which these core practices are appropriated as novices begin their professional work in high-needs schools. The core is supported by a set of discourse tools that allow beginners an entry point into expert-like dialogic interactions with young learners. The system of tools is intended to serve as a model for making pre-service teacher training and induction focused on student learning. This work is supported by a 5-year grant from the National Science Foundation.
Work from this and related projects has appeared in The American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Cognition and instruction, Phi Delta Kappan, Science Education, and in white papers commissioned by the National Research Council and the National Academy of Science.
Dr. Windschitl is the PI on a Noyce Teaching Scholars grant and has supported approximately 30 teachers in that program in their transitions to urban schools. He also co-administrates the Annenberg Fellowship program—also known as the Rhodes Scholarships of Teaching— for teachers at the UW.
He is the recipient of the 2002 AERA Presidential Award for Best Review of Research, the co-author of the chapter on Science Teaching in the new AERA Handbook of Research on Teaching, and the 2011 recipient of the Iowa State University Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award.