Transforming science education through research-driven innovation

Abe Lo

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Bio

Science Educator

Abe Lo is a Science Educator at BSCS Science Learning, where he designs NGSS-aligned instructional materials and professional development programs to promote the pedagogical and epistemic shifts involved with implementing NGSS-aligned teaching and learning. Since joining BSCS in January 2018, he has redesigned instructional units using the NextGenStorylines Approach through the OpenSciEd project and co-designed the professional learning program to support the implementation of these high-quality instructional materials in classrooms. He is working with district and state partners to develop programs to facilitate statewide implementations of OpenSciEd.

Lo’s research interests involve designing professional development tools and processes to promote student agency and enhance the meaningfulness of students’ use of scientific practices to construct scientific knowledge. He is co-PI on the NSF-funded Preparing Teachers to Design Tasks to Support, Engage, and Assess Science Learning in Rural Schools project with University of Colorado at Boulder, which seeks to develop an online course to enhance rural teachers’ access to high quality professional learning to promote the desired shifts called for by the NRC Framework, NGSS, and Colorado Academic Standards for Science. As part of the STeLLA CO2 project: Communities Supporting Teacher Learning: Using Videocase Analysis of Teaching and Learning to Support Undergraduate Preservice Secondary Science Teachers, Lo is working with education faculty, science faculty, and mentor teachers from three Universities to develop a common vision for effective science teaching and learning using the STeLLA Framework and enhance the coherence of their pre-service science teacher programs.

Lo has 20 years of experience in education and earned his Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University and B.A. and M.S.Ed in Science Education from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a middle and high school science teacher and has expertise supporting teachers in using NGSS-aligned instructional materials and pedagogy. Most recently, he was an instructional coach in San Francisco Unified School District, where he was responsible for co-developing the secondary science professional development program, supporting the district-rollout and field testing of their middle school science curriculum, and coaching teachers in high-need middle schools. At Northwestern, he helped develop the tools and processes used in the NextGenStorylines Approach and co-taught courses and led workshops that supported teachers in using the tools and routines to adapt existing materials and design NGSS-aligned units. As a researcher at UC Davis, he contributed to the development of a model-based biology curriculum and designed a video-based resource to support teachers in understanding what science and math practice-based instruction looks like in the classroom and how to support that work in classrooms.

Selected Publications

  • Lo, A. S. (2017). Epistemic aims, considerations, and agency: Lenses for helping teachers analyze and support students’ meaningful engagement in scientific practices. (Ph.D. Dissertation), Northwestern University, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Order No. 10683645)
  • Berland, L. K., Schwarz, C. V., Krist, C., Kenyon, L., Lo, A. S., & Reiser, B. J. (2016). Epistemologies in practice: Making scientific practices meaningful for students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53(7), 1082-1112. doi:10.1002/tea.21257
  • Edelson, D. C., Reiser, B. J., McNeill, K. L., Mohan, A., Novak, M., Mohan, L., Affolter, R., McGill, T. A. W., Buck Bracey, Z. E., Deutch Noll, J., Kowalski, S. M., Novak, D., Lo, A. S., Landel, C., Krumm, A., Penuel, W. R., Van Horne, K., González-Howard, M., & Suárez, E. (2021). Developing Research-Based Instructional Materials to Support Large-Scale Transformation of Science Teaching and Learning: The Approach of the OpenSciEd Middle School Program. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 32(7), 780-804. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2021.1877457
  • Wingert, K., Jacobs, J., Lindsay, W., Lo, A.S., Herrmann-Abell, C.F. & Penuel, W.R. (under review). Understanding the priorities and practices of rural science teachers: Implications for professional development. Submitted to The Rural Educator.
  • Lo, A. S., Stennett, B., Hvidsten, C., & Askinas, K. (2021, Jan 14). Developing a common vision for supporting coherence in three preservice science teacher education programs. Paper presented at 2021 Association for Science Teacher Education Conference (ASTE).
  • Lo, A. S., Stennett, B., Hvidsten, C., & Askinas, K. (2021). Adapting and Scaling the STeLLA PD Program Conceptual Framework in Preservice Teacher Education Programs. Paper presented at 2021 National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST).
  • Fick, S. J., Arias, A. M., Vo, T., Sherwood, C.-A., Benedict-Chambers, A., & Lo, A. S. (2020). Axes of Support: Explicit to Implicit and Practical to Epistemic. In M. Gresalfi & I. S. Horn (Eds.), The Interdisciplinarity of the Learning Sciences, 14th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) 2020 (Vol. 2, pp. 853-854). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
  • Stennett, B., Hvidsten, C., Lo, A. S., & Slykhuis, D. (2020). STeLLA CO2: A New Vision for Coherent Science Teacher Preparation. Paper presented at the 2020 ASTE International Conference, San Antonio, TX.
  • Lo, A. S. (2020). Using cogenerative dialogues to help teachers support meaningful and coherent sensemaking through consensus. Paper accepted for the NARST 2020 Annual International Conference \[Cancelled conference\], Portland, OR.
  • Lo, A. S., Bean, J. R., Oshry, A., Stuhlsatz, M. A. M., & Marshall, C. R. (2019). Supporting the development of system thinking for explaining global change phenomena. Paper presented at the NARST 2019 Annual International Conference, Baltimore, MD.
  • Penuel, W., Lo, A. S., Jacobs, J., Gardner, A., Stuhlsatz, M. A. M., & Wilson, C. D. (2019). Tools for Supporting Teachers to Build Quality 3D Assessment Tasks. Paper presented at the NARST 2019 Annual International Conference, Baltimore, MD. http://learndbir.org/resources/tools-for-supporting-teachers-to-build-quality-3d-assessmenttasks
  • Lo, A. S., & Lewis, E. (2017) A District’s Approach to Implementing the CA-NGSS Integrated Model in Grades 6-8. Presentation at 2017 California Science Education Conference, Sacramento, CA.
  • Lo, A. S. (2016). Epistemic aims, considerations, and agency: Lenses for helping teachers analyze and enhance students’ meaningful engagement in scientific practices. Paper presented at the NARST 2016 Annual International Conference, Baltimore, MD.
  • Griesemer, C. D., & Lo, A. S. (2016). Successes and challenges in promoting student sense making in modeling classrooms. Paper presented at the NARST 2016 Annual International Conference, Baltimore, MD.
  • Lo, A. S. (2015). Learning to Notice: Supporting students as epistemic agents and meaningful participants in scientific modeling. Poster presented at invited session Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Lo, A. S. (2015). Supporting students as epistemic agents and the meaningfulness of their engagement in modeling. Paper presented at the NARST 2015 Annual International Conference, Chicago, IL.
  • Lo, A. S., Krist, C., Reiser, B. J., & Novak, M. (2014). Examining shifts in teachers’ understanding of NGSS and their impact on planned instruction. Paper presented at the NARST 2014 Annual International Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Lo, A. S. (2014). Learning to notice: Supporting students’ meaningful engagement in scientific practices. In J. L. Polman, E. A. Kyza, D. K. O’Neill, I. Tabak, W. R. Penuel, A. S. Jurow, K. O’Connor, T. Lee & L. D’Amico (Eds.), Learning and becoming in practice: The international conference of the learning sciences (ICLS) 2014 (Vol. 3, pp. 1754). Boulder, CO: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
  • Lo, A. S. (2013). Understanding differences in student participation in persuasive discourse while engaged in scientific modeling. Paper presented at the NARST 2013 Annual International Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  • Lo, A. S. (2013). Examining student attention to epistemologies in practice while evaluating scientific models. Paper presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
  • Reiser, B. J., Lo, A. S., Draney, K., Sussman, J., & Toyama, Y. (2013). Using assessments to capture students’ understanding of epistemologies in practice across content area and time. Paper presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
  • Reiser, B. J., & Lo, A. S. (2012). A framework for supporting and assessing scientific practices. Paper presented at the NARST 2012 Annual International Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
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