Research
Libby Gerard, EdD, is an Associate Adjunct Research Professor in the University of California, Berkeley School of Education and a Research Director for the Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) Center. Her research examines how innovative learning technologies can capture student ideas and help teachers and principals use those ideas to make decisions about classroom instruction. Gerard’s recent projects explore the use of automated assessment of student written essays embedded in inquiry science projects to promote students' integrated revision and lifelong learning. Gerard leverages the logged data generated as students revise their science essays to create representations of patterns in students' science reasoning to foster teachers’ learning about their students' ideas and responsive customizations to instruction. Gerard designs and leads teacher and principal professional development by using student embedded assessment data and the knowledge integration framework to inform instructional customization and resource allocation. Gerard’s research is published in leading peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Educational Psychology, Science and the Review of Educational Research.
Background
Libby Gerard was a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Berkeley with the TELS Center. She also taught preschool and elementary school in Oakland, California, and in Alessandria, Italy. In Italy, she taught in a Reggio-Emilia inspired elementary school that focused on developing mixed-media documentation to make students’ thinking visible. Students teachers and community members used the documentation to reflect on and adapt instructional practices to better respond to student’s interests and lines of reasoning. Gerard continued this effort as a teacher in Oakland, incorporating novel uses of technology to create documentation to support teacher professional learning communities. Prior to teaching, Gerard worked in news production at the CNN Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Selected Publications
Selected Refereed Journal Articles
Gerard, L., Holtmann, M., Riordan, B., & Linn, M.C. (2025). Impact of an AI Adaptive Dialog that Uses Natural Language Processing to Detect Students’ Ideas and Guide Knowledge Integration. Journal of Educational Psychology, 117(1), 63–87
Bradford, A, Gerard, L., Tate, E., & Linn, M.C. (2023). Incorporating Investigations of Environmental Racism into Middle School Science. Science Education, 107, 1628–1654
Gerard, L., Bradford, A., & Linn, M.C. (2022). Supporting teachers to customize curriculum for self-directed learning. Journal of Science Education & Technology, 31, 660-679
Gerard, L., Bradford, A., Wiley, K., Debarger, A., & Linn, M.C. (May/June 2022). Cultivating Teacher Efficacy for Social Justice in Science. Science Scope, 45(5), 35-43
Gerard, L. & Linn, M.C., (2022). Computer-based guidance to support students’ revision of their science explanations. Computers & Education, 176
Gerard, L. Kidron, A., & Linn, M.C. (2019). Teacher guidance for collaborative revision of science explanations. International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, 14(3), 291-324.
Tansomboon, C., Gerard, L., Vitale, J., & Linn, M.C. (2017). Designing Automated Guidance to Promote Productive Revision of Science Explanations. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (IJAIED), 1-29.
Gerard, L. & Linn, M.C. (2016). Using automated scores of student essays to support teacher guidance in classroom inquiry. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 27(1), 111-129.
Liu, L., Rios, J., Heilman, M., Gerard, L., & Linn, M. (2016). Validation of automated scoring of science assessments. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53(2), 215-233.
Gerard, L., Ryoo, K., McElhaney, K., Liu, L., Rafferty, A., & Linn, M.C. (2015). Automated guidance for student inquiry. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(1), 60-81.
Gerard, L., Matuk, C., McElhaney, K., Linn, M.C. (2015). Automated, adaptive guidance for K-12 education. Educational Research Review, 15, 41-58.
Linn, M.C., Gerard, L., Ryoo, K., McElhaney, K., Liu, L., & Rafferty, A., (2014). Computer-guided inquiry to improve science learning. Science, 344 (6180), 155-156.
Liu, O. L., Brew, C., Blackmore, J., Gerard, L. F., Madhok, J., & Linn, M. C. (2014). Automated Scoring in Inquiry Science Assessment: Application of c-rater. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 33(2), 19-28.
Current Funded Research Projects
2021 - 2025: Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings, DRK-12, Natural Language Processing - Technologies to Inform Practice in Science (TIPS)
2018-2026: Principal Investigator, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Anti-Racism Inquiry Science Education: Opportunities for a Preservice Education Network (ARISE OPEN)
2019-2026 Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Track 1, Digging Deeper with Data at Berkeley: Promoting Data Literacy for Future K-12 STEM Teachers
2025-2026Research Director,Peder Sather Center for Advanced Study,Integrating Perspectives of Norwegian and American Teachers on the Design and Facilitation of AI Enhanced Classroom Science Dialogs
Teaching
Research Methods for Science and Mathematics Teachers, Educ 122c, Spring
The goals of this course are to develop the knowledge and skills to utilize data to inform your practice as both a STEM disciplinary expert and a STEM educator. You will use this knowledge to conduct investigations in STEM and STEM education and formulate criteria to review and customize curriculum designed to support secondary school students in data-based STEM research projects.
Apprentice Teaching in Science and Mathematics, UGIS 303/EDUC 226, Fall and Spring
This course is designed to promote effective, equity-centered teaching methods for science and mathematics classrooms, including strategies for lesson planning, assessment, and responsive customization of instruction. The course supports student and intern teachers of secondary science and mathematics in undertaking an inquiry project on their own teaching practice and earning a credential for teaching in California secondary schools.
