Department 3374
1000 E. University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-3145
Email: edquest@uwyo.edu
The College of Education at the University of Wyoming celebrates the incredible research, innovation, and engagement efforts of our community. From groundbreaking studies to transformative projects, our faculty, staff, and students address educational challenges and opportunities to make an impact locally and globally. Through collaboration and creativity, our work advances knowledge, improves practices, and fosters meaningful connections with stakeholders in Wyoming and beyond. Explore the depth and breadth of our initiatives and join us in showcasing the meaningful contributions shaping the future of education.
Research Title: Predictors of Native American Children's Social Emotional Outcomes: A Strength-Based Approach
Author: Dr. Amy Encinger
Description: Culture plays an important role in helping children develop resilience and social-emotional skills. For Native American communities, traditions and strong family and community connections provide essential support for children’s growth and identity. However, historical events like the forced removal of Native children to boarding schools caused lasting harm, disrupting families and cultural traditions. Today, many tribes are working to restore their languages and traditions by involving families and schools in the process. This project explores how exposure and engagement with Native language and culture affects young children in AI/AN Head Start programs. By studying family, community, and classroom connections, we aim to understand how cultural engagement influences children’s development and education. These findings will help schools, policymakers, and community leaders create programs that honor Native culture and support families, giving children a stronger foundation for their future.
Research Title: New & Related Services Division WACTE Board Member
Link: https://www.wacte.com/
Description: The New & Related Services Division of the WY Association of Career & Technical Education serves as a platform for school counselors, administrators, industry leaders, and professionals to participate and provide involvement in promoting engagement and advocacy for Career and Technical Education.
Research Title: Early childhood special education stars: A 5-point model for addressing the teacher shortage
Author: Marisa Macy
Link:https://journals.charlotte.edu/dialog/issue/view/147
Description: We have a teacher shortage in Wyoming and in other states. Both of these peer-reviewed journal articles offers ideas for addressing the shortages of teachers for young children, their families, and communities.
Research Title: The way H-O-M-E: Service learning to address early education teacher shortage
Author: Marisa Macy
Link:https://journals.charlotte.edu/dialog/issue/view/147
Description: We have a teacher shortage in Wyoming and in other states. Both of these peer-reviewed journal articles offers ideas for addressing the shortages of teachers for young children, their families, and communities.
Research Title: A self-assessment strategy for writing and publishing a quantitative research article
Author: Marissa Macy
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01829-z
Description: Shows a strategy to write and publish a quantitative research paper. Publishing scholarly papers can be difficult and authors may not get their work published due to technical flaws with their writing (e.g., literature review, methodology, results, or discussion). This article provides a self-assessment strategy for writing a quantitative research article. It outlines ten technical aspects of a quantitative research manuscript and provides a checklist for writing and reviewing a journal article. The final section shares recommendations for supporting the writing process. This article is meant to be used by authors, reviewers, and graduate students for creating scholarly writing that gets published in an academic journal.
Research Title: SEP-Driven Learning Intentions: Writing Learning Intentions That Promote Student Sensemaking and Three-Dimensional Learning
Author: Martha Inouye, Ana Houseal, Clare Gunshenan
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08872376.2024.2433782#abstract
Description: Shifting to phenomenon-based teaching and student-driven learning under the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has transformed classrooms. But how do these changes align with district mandates for clearly articulated learning intentions? Many traditional practices narrowly focus on content goals, unintentionally limiting student sensemaking and three-dimensional learning. This article offers a fresh approach by reframing learning intentions through the lens of Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs). By emphasizing what students should do (SEPs) and understand (crosscutting concepts) within the context of a phenomenon, teachers can maintain clarity while fostering deeper engagement and conceptual understanding. This strategy balances district expectations with the NGSS vision, empowering students to think critically and connect ideas across disciplines.
Research Title: Designing Coherent Three-Dimensional Assessment Prompts to Drive Student Sensemaking Across a Unit
Author: Clare Gunshenan, Ana Houseal, and Martha Inouye
Link: https://innovations.theaste.org/publication/volume-10/issue-1-25/
Description: Across instruction and assessment, best practices for science teaching and learning suggest that teachers ground students’ learning in practices, big ideas, and content to better mimic what scientists and engineers do. All of this learning should be in service of helping students make sense of their world. Aligned instructional and assessment resources have been increasing in number and availability, but they are not yet pervasively accessible due to a number of barriers. Our team proposes a concise process for teacher educators to use in preservice and in-service learning settings to help boost this access and bridge instruction and assessment. The scaffolded process is designed to yield both teacher learning and usable prompts for students. This article describes the process, provides suggestions for teacher educators to use it, and embeds an example middle school prompt set collaboratively developed by teacher educators and a teacher.
Research Title: Teacher mental health and district employee support in rural communities: A sequential exploratory mixed methods study
Author: Amanda DeDiego
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048241305528
Description: Although existing research explores the need for mental health for students in P-12 schools, scholarship regarding mental health needs and support for teachers is lacking, particularly in rural contexts. This study used sequential exploratory mixed methods to explore mental health needs and support in school districts in a predominantly rural state. Analysis included qualitative survey data from P12 teachers in school districts about how teaching impacts mental health, and a quantitative analysis of employee assistance programs in participant school districts. Findings demonstrated teachers struggling with mental health, and a lack of employee support available. Implications and exploration of district policy are discussed.
Research Title: Child self-regulation and caregiver hope: insights from families navigating Sickle cell disease and pediatric cancer
Author: Amanda DeDiego
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08880018.2025.2480223
Description: This pilot study explored caregiver experiences caring for children with hematologic and oncologic diseases. Survey data were collected from caregivers (n = 85) of children with hematologic and oncologic diseases while participating in therapeutic camp programming. Caregivers of children with Sickle Cell Disease perceived their child’s ability to self-regulate higher than caregivers of children with cancer, which impacted aspects of caregiver hope and wellness. Implications for multi-sector collaborations are provided. In assessing caregiver hope, perception of child self-regulation was associated with higher caregiver hope and wellness, which varied by illness. Caregivers of children with SCD had higher hope scores on both the subscales and total scores compared to caregivers of children with cancer.
Research Title: From Flora to Flyways: Stories of Change and Phenology in Local Communities
Author: Clare Gunshenan
Description: Naturalists, farmers, and ranchers traditionally recorded changing seasons and wildlife in simple nature journals. Today, these journals offer goldmines of baseline phenology data that students can use to make sense of local patterns of change. They can pursue questions like, under changing climate conditions, will some plants bloom sooner? Will migrating birds that rely on those plants shift their migrations? Digging into these historical datasets provides impetus for students to ask locally relevant questions while building their data science skills. A Casper teacher shared a learning progression that combined a historical community dataset with modern climate data and models, bird migration data, and student-led phenology wildflower walks. Developed within the SMTC’s Teacher Researcher Knowledge Exchange program, this teacher’s interdisciplinary approach brought the past to life for students, helped them see value in historical voices, and built data science skills in locally relevant ways.
Research Title: Authentic assessment practices for supporting child development during preschool-to-kindergarten transition: A multiyear comparison of parental and teacher ratings
Author: Marisa Macy
Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10643-025-01884-0
Description:
Takeaways:
1. Individualize the transition from preschool to kindergarten process for each child
and their family.
2. Collaborate closely with the family.
3. Use interpreter if needed.
4. Use assessment tools in the home language of the child and family.
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of the individualized process.
Research Title: Preservice teachers' framing and noticing of elementary students' ways of communicating scientific ideas
Author: Alison Mercier
Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tea.21987?casa_token=kTC2riv1JhgAAAAA%3Ag3cXalC2etGU4OXdBJJdQjwL70N_GtqksJjcZqj6L_KvwtlTn5GXDJEvW-Zs4cM1Q7CmeFSZpUx8uXer
Description: Preservice teachers sometimes do not notice the science in children's explanations of phenomena, especially when deficit-based discourses frame children from minoritized communities. This exploratory case study draws on a noticing framework—framing, attending, interpreting, and responding—to examine how preservice teachers can develop more anti-deficit noticing. The study explores what 44 preservice teachers, enrolled in courses taught by the authors, noticed in elementary students' scientific explanations and how their framing shaped those interpretations. Data sources included preservice teachers’ written definitions of a “good” scientific explanation and reflections from five noticing sessions featuring student videos. Noticing profiles were constructed to capture patterns in their responses. Three themes emerged: conventional noticing with increasing anti-deficit noticing over time; anti-deficit attending interpreted through deficit-based frames; and non-linear shifts toward more equitable noticing. Findings suggest that science teacher education should support the development of anti-deficit noticing through reflective, dialogic practices that make framing visible and shift interpretive habits over time.
Research Title: Designing for More Equitable Noticing: Creating and Refining Protocols to Support Preservice Teaching Noticing
Author: Alison Mercier
Description: Developing teacher noticing practices that foster equitable and inclusive learning environments is essential for K-12 science educators.However, there is limited research on how to support preservice teachers in cultivating these practices. This study investigates how intentionally designed noticing sessions shaped preservice teachers’ equitable noticing practices as they observed elementary students’ scientific explanations. Using a design-based research methodology, the study iteratively refined a noticing protocol implemented across three iterations in teacher preparation courses. The analysis focused on how preservice teachers’ attention to and interpretation of students’ ideas evolved across iterations. Findings indicate that preservice teachers’ noticing practices shifted from surface-level observations to more nuanced, asset-based interpretations that recognized students as producers of scientific knowledge. Protocol refinements, including targeted focus questions and structured small group discussions, sup-ported preservice teachers in attending to students’ diverse sensemaking repertoires. This study contributes to the literature by offering a replicable, research-informed model for preparing preservice teachers to engage in equity-oriented science teaching. Future iterations of the protocol should integrate opportunities for preservice teachers to critically examine their own cultural histories, biases, and ideologies in relation to equitable science instruction.
Department 3374
1000 E. University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-3145
Email: edquest@uwyo.edu