Faculty Directory
Katherine McNeill
Program Director, Curriculum and Instruction, M.Ed.
Professor
Bryk Faculty Fellow
Katherine McNeill
Ph.D.
Contact
Campion Hall Room 122
Telephone: 617-552-4229
Email: katherine.mcneill@bc.edu
ORCID
Education
- Ph.D., University of Michigan
- M.S., University of Michigan
- B.A., Brown University
Courses
Teaching About the Natural World
Dissertation Seminar in Curriculum and Instruction
Design of Learning Environments in the Learning Sciences
Research Interests
Science education; science practices, argumentation; explanation; design of learning environment for students, teachers and instructional leaders
Expertise
- Design of Learning Experiences and Technologies
- STEM Teaching and Learning
- Curriculum & Instruction
Department
Profile
Dr. Katherine L. McNeill (she/her) is the Bryk Faculty Fellow and Professor of science education at Boston College. Her research focuses on the design and scale of curriculum, professional learning and other resources to support students, teachers and instructional leaders in equitable scientific sensemaking. Currently, she is researching the customization and scale up of a highly rated open source science curriculum (OpenSciEd) with schools in Massachusetts. Curriculum serves as an important resource to inform instruction, but teachers need to read, interpret and enact curriculum in responsive ways that adapt the materials for their students and context. She is working with teachers to better understand and support the changes they make to curriculum within their larger organizational context.
Her work has been funded by organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of NY. In 2011 she received the Early Career Research Award and in 2025 the Fellows Award both from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST). In addition, in 2015 she became a Fellow for the International Society for Design and Development in Education (ISDDE). Dr. McNeill has published the findings from her work in over 85+ publications including books, book chapters and journal articles for both educational researchers and practitioners. She has also conducted many workshops at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and for school districts including the Detroit Public Schools, the Denver Public Schools and the Boston Public Schools.
Select Publications
- McNeill, K. L., Affolter, R., Lowell, B. R., Cherbow, K, Gonzalez, C. & Lee, S. (in press). Supporting teachers through curriculum-based professional learning: Shifting teachers鈥� instructional vision of science to empower student voice. Journal of the Learning Sciences.聽
- Fine, C., Lee, S. & McNeill, K. L. (in press). Teachers鈥� beliefs about language in science matter: Customizing science curricula to center emergent multilingual learners鈥� sensemaking. Cultural Studies of Science Education.聽
- McNeill, K. L., Lee, S., Zhang, Y., Moore, A. T., Buell, J., Moreno Vera, M., Reiser, B. J. & Balke, B. (2026). Centering students鈥� resources: Curricular customization for responsive and expansive science teaching. In Terrell, K. L & Pimentel, D. S. (Eds.), Science education and culturally sustaining pedagogies: Research, practices and critical reflections. (pp. 69-102) Hershey, PA: IGI Global.聽
- McNeill, K. L. & Affolter, R. (2024). Teacher expertise makes high-quality curriculum work. The Learning Professional, 45(5), 32-36.聽
- Lowell, B. R., Fogelman, S. E., & McNeill, K. L. (2024). Organizational sensemaking during curriculum implementation: The dilemma of agency, role of collaboration, and importance of discipline-specific leadership. Science Education, 108(5), 1448-1473.聽
- Lee, S. & McNeill, K. L. (2024). Supporting multilingual students鈥� equitable sensemaking in science through multilingual and multimodal instructional strategies. In Love Jones, R. & Proctor. C. P. (Eds.), Pursuing language and metalinguistic awareness in k-12 classrooms: A framework for critical engagement. (pp. 290-298) New York, NY: Routledge.聽
- McNeill, K. L., Affolter, R. & Reiser, B. J. (2023). Anchoring science professional learning in curriculum materials enactment: Illustrating theories in practice to support teacher learning. In Castro Superfine, A., Goldman, S. R. & Ko, M. (Eds.), Teacher learning in changing contexts: Perspectives from the learning sciences. (pp. 47-68) New York, NY: Routledge.聽
- Lowell, B. R. & McNeill, K. L. (2023). Changes in beliefs and confidence over time: A longitudinal study of science teachers engaging in storyline curriculum-based professional development. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 60(7), 1457-1487.聽
- Cherbow, K. & McNeill, K. L. (2022). Planning for epistemic agency in storyline discussions: A revelatory case of student-informed curricular sensemaking. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 31(3), 408-457.聽
- McNeill, K. L. Lowenhaupt. R., Cherbow, K. & Lowell, B. R. (2022). Professional development to support principals鈥� vision of science instruction: Building from their prior experiences to support the science practices. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 59(1), 3-29.
Select Book Chapters
- McNeill, K. L. (2020). Integrating and supporting science practices in elementary classrooms. In Davis, E. A., Zembal-Saul, C. & Kademian, S. (Eds.). Sensemaking in elementary science: Supporting teacher learning. (pp. 87-94) New York, NY: Routledge.
- Gonz谩lez-Howard, M., & McNeill, K.L. (2019). Supporting linguistically diverse students in scientific argumentation across writing and talking. In Spycher, P. & Haynes, E. (Eds.). Culturally and linguistically diverse learners and STEAM: Teachers and researchers working in partnership to build a better path forward. (pp. 77-94). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
- Loper, S., McNeill, K. L. & Goss, M. (2018). Developing multimedia educative curriculum materials to support middle聽school science teachers' PCK for argumentation. In Uzzo, S. M., Graves, S., Shay, E., Harford, M, & Thompson, R. (Eds.). Pedagogical Content Knowledge in STEM. (pp. 241-264) New York, NY: Springer.
- McNeill, K. L., Berland, L. K. & Pelletier, P. (2017). Constructing explanations. In Schwarz, C., Passmore, C., Reiser, B.J. (Eds.). Helping students make sense of the world using next generation science and engineering practices. (pp. 205-228) Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association Press.
- Berland, L. K., McNeill, K. L., Pelletier, P. & Krajcik, J. (2017). Engaging in scientific argumentation. In Schwarz, C., Passmore, C., Reiser, B.J. (Eds.). Helping students make sense of the world using next generation science and engineering practices. (pp. 229-258) Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association Press.
Honors & Awards
- 2025 National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Fellows Award聽
- 2015 International Society for Design and Development in Education (ISDDE) Fellows Award
- 2011 National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Early Career Award
Grants & Fellowships
SELECTED GRANTS
- Principal Investigator. Supporting teacher customizations of curriculum materials for equitable student sensemaking in secondary science. $2,950,864. National Science Foundation 鈥� DRL-2101384, July 2021 鈥� June 2026.聽
- Principal Investigator. Elementary school OpenSciEd field test coordinator and scale-up. $382,301. National Center for Civic Innovation, Inc. May 2023 鈥� June 2026.聽
- Principal Investigator. OpenSciEd Equitable Instruction Initiative. $5,049,435. One8 Foundation. July 2021 鈥� June 2024.聽
- Principal Investigator. Massachusetts Scale-up of the OpenSciEd Curriculum. $392,964. STEM Council Grant. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. May 2022 鈥� June 2024.