Kelly is a fourth year doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley in the Learning Sciences and Human Development cluster in the School of Education. As a former science teacher in Oakland, Calif., Kelly’s work is deeply informed by her teaching experience and former students. In pursuing a graduate degree, Kelly hopes to highlight the amazing work Oakland students and STEM teachers are doing to integrate local justice issues into classroom projects and conversations.
Kelly's current research focuses on collaborating with Bay Area teachers to design learning environments that support students in using data science to investigate socio-scientific issues in their communities, including issues of public health, environmental justice, and data privacy. Her work also seeks to understand how structures within teacher-researcher partnerships can increase teacher agency and leadership. She currently works as a graduate student researcher on two projects in the TELS group. The first, called ARISES, focuses on designing anti-racist science curricula. The second, NLP-TIPS, focuses on utilizing natural-language processing to identify student ideas in written science explanations.
Kelly also works as a graduate student instructor in the CalTeach program at Berkeley. Kelly uses her previous experience as a science department lead and mentor teacher to support undergraduate students in her courses to develop their teaching practice and prepare for classroom teaching positions.
Specializations and Interests
Data Science Education, Design Based Research, Teacher Learning, Justice-Centered STEM education
