Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Science and Engineering Education

Description

ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC) is committed to creating knowledge, mobilizing people, and fostering actions that improve education. Our programs bring together people and ideas to increase the innovative capacity of individual educators, schools, organizations, districts, and communities. MLFTC is building the Next Education Workforce, grounded in the conviction that if we’re not achieving the learning outcomes or developing the workforce we need, we must redesign the profession, the workplace, and the ways we prepare people for both. As such, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College partners with schools and organizations to:

1. Provide all students with deeper and personalized learning by building teams of educators with distributed expertise; and

2. Empower educators by developing new opportunities for role-based specialization and advancement.

We are seeking two (.75 FTE) postdoctoral scholars to join a multidisciplinary research team on an NSF-funded research project called Professional Learning to Navigate Student Uncertainty for Productive Struggle Around Equity-Oriented Sensemaking.

This project explores the intellectual leverage of enabling middle school students to experience how scientific work grapples with uncertainty. The overall goal of this project is to understand how science teachers can create productive struggle learning environments for culturally and linguistically varied learners using Student Uncertainty for Productive Struggle as a pedagogical model in middle school science classrooms.

The project pursues several interrelated goals. First, it aims to design an evidence-based professional learning program that actively engages teachers in adapting classroom lessons to promote uncertainty-driven sensemaking. This includes developing curricular resources that support productive struggle and meaningful practice. Second, the project is developing a suite of research tools, including reliable and valid measures of students’ dispositions toward uncertainty and their ability to navigate it, an observation protocol for classroom interactions, and assessments of student engagement and learning outcomes. Finally, the project will offer implementation guidance tailored to various educational settings and student populations, culminating in a practical framework to help teachers intentionally incorporate uncertainty as a resource for fostering productive student struggle.

This is an on-site position at the Tempe campus, which may require occasional travel to other college campuses. Remote or hybrid participation is not available. 

This is a benefits-eligible, fiscal year (12-month) position that begins August 4, 2025. The position includes a competitive stipend with health benefits. The initial appointment is for one year, with renewal for one additional year, contingent upon satisfactory performance, the needs of the university, and the availability of resources.

Essential Duties:

The candidate for one position will be focused on quantitative research, and the other will be focused on qualitative or mixed research. Both positions require an interest in science and engineering education that aligns with your career goals.

• Conducting research, collecting and analyzing data, monitoring, and evaluation activities for a middle school productive struggle and science learning initiative,
• Collaborating on the design and implementation of Teacher Professional Development workshops and ongoing teacher support activities,
• Supporting classroom implementations in the Phoenix area

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Earned Ph.D. or Ed.D. in education or a closely related discipline (degree must be awarded by the start date)
• Candidates must be within five years of receipt of their doctoral degree.

 Desired Qualifications:

• Research interests in science and engineering education (esp. K6-8)
• Excellent skills in either quantitative research methods (e.g., EFA, CFA, SEM, partial SEM, HLM) or qualitative research methods (e.g., longitudinal data analysis, discourse analysis, interview data analysis)

Application Instructions

Application Deadline and Procedures

The application deadline is May 23, 2025.  Applications for a reserve pool will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis. Applications in the reserve pool may then be reviewed in the order in which they were received until the position is filled. Only electronic applications will be reviewed.

To apply, submit the following:

• Letter of application or interest that demonstrates how you meet the required or desired qualifications of the position. A statement with specific examples and indications of impact that