ABOUT US
The resources on this website were developed through two different projects: 1) The OpenSciEd Equitable Instruction (OEI) Initiation and 2) The Curricular Customization Project.
The OEI Initiative was created at Boston College to support the scale up and enactment of the OpenSciEd curriculum in Massachusetts. Over three years, the OEI team designed resources, developed relationships with schools, provided professional learning for teachers and instructional leaders, as well as coached teachers as they implemented the curriculum for their classrooms and students. The OEI team worked with over 130 schools, 650 teachers and 225 leaders engaged in the MA OpenSciEd K-12 community.
The Curricular Customization Project is a collaboration across Boston College and Northwestern University. The goal of this project is to research and design professional learning experiences and tools to support teachers in customizing the OpenSciEd curriculum for their specific students and context. The resources shared on these pages can be utilized not only by others using the OpenSciEd curriculum, but also other reform-oriented storyline science curriculum and high quality instructional materials.
Funding
This material is based upon work supported in part by the One8 Foundation, the National Center for Civic Innovation, Inc., the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary education and the National Science Foundation (under grant DRL-2101384). This project consists of the research and development of resources to support schools in the implementation of NGSS aligned storyline science curriculum, such as the OpenSciEd curriculum materials. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies, Boston College or Northwestern University.
Meet the OEI Team
Katherine McNeill
Co-Director
Dr. Katherine L. McNeill (she/her) is the Bryk Faculty Fellow and Professor of science education at Boston College. A former middle school science teacher, she received her doctorate in science education from the University of Michigan. She has worked on projects designing and researching curriculum, assessments, professional development and other resources to support students, teachers and instructional leaders in equitable scientific sensemaking. She was the Co-Director of OEI. Currently, she is researching the customization and scale up of high quality open-source NGSS aligned instructional materials, such as OpenSciEd. Dr. McNeill has published the findings from her work in over 75+ publications including books, book chapters and journal articles for both educational researchers and practitioners.
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Renee Affolter
Co-Director
Renee has supported K-12 teachers in science education for over 20 years by designing, researching, and delivering professional learning (PL) for teachers and leaders. Renee served as Co-Director of OEI where she supported MA schools as they adopted OpenSciEd and conducted research on supporting teachers as they customized the materials. Previously, as part of the OpenSciEd MS Developers Consortium, Renee helped design, field-test, and revis the full suite of PL materials and served as a unit lead and writer. Renee will draw on these experiences in her new role at OpenSciEd to lead the redesign of OpenSciEd’s PL materials so that all teachers can get the support they deserve. Renee holds a B.A. in Biology from Drake University, a M.A. in Science Education from UC Berkeley , and a Ph.D. in Education from UMass Amherst.
Jana Brinkhaus
Senior Financial Administrator
Jana Brinkhaus joined OEI from Boston College’s Center for Work and Family, with a mission of enhancing the employee experience, increasing employee productivity, and improving the quality of employee lives. As the Senior Financial Administrator, Jana will be working with districts to provide grant funds and manage the operations of the OEI Initiative. Jana holds a B..S in Marketing and Human Resource Management from the Boston College Carroll School of Management and a MBA with a concentration in Finance from Babson College.
Marianne Dunne
Middle School Support Specialist
Marianne Dunne has been a science educator for 30+ years in both formal and informal settings. She worked with the OEI team for two years. Prior to that she worked with Boston Public Schools STE department as a senior project director during the field test, adoption and implementation of the OSE middle school curriculum. Marianne developed additional skills and expertise as an STE specialist at MA Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, with Cambridge Public Schools as a K-8 science instructional coach and teacher, and at the Boston Museum of Science. Her passion is facilitating professional learning experiences with science educators that promote student engagement and equitable access for all learners. Marianne holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Northeastern University, and graduate work from UMass Boston and Salem State University.
Sarah Fogelman
Doctoral Candidate
Sarah E. Fogelman is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Boston College. A former middle school science teacher in New York City and the Boston area, she brings 15 years of classroom experience and a deep commitment to helping all students see themselves in science and recognize its relevance to their lives. Her research explores the intersections of science identity and critical consciousness, with a focus on making science education more inclusive, empowering, and socially meaningful. She especially enjoys mentoring the next generation of educators through supervising student teachers. Sarah holds a B.S. in Food Science from Cornell University and an M.A. in Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Kathleen Golden
Events Specialist
Kathleen began her career in government and politics before transitioning to the private sector and has worked as the Director of Events at a handful of private clubs in Massachusetts before transferring to higher education. She previously worked at Dean College before joining OpenSciEd at Boston College. With over fifteen years of experience in event planning and logistics, she loved helping this dynamic team shepherd the execution of professional development events for science educators all over her home state of Massachusetts. She holds a BA from Emmanuel College in Political Science (Major) and History (Major) with a concentration in Women’s Studies (Minor), a MPP from New York University, and Level I, II, and III WSET certifications from Johnson & Wales University.
Ji Sun Ham
Middle School Support Specialist
Ji-Sun has served in education in various roles over the last 9 years, including teaching middle school science in New Haven, CT and Taunton, MA and leading the children and families programming branch for a Boston non-profit organization. After implementing OpenSciEd in her 7th grade science classrooms, Ji-Sun joined OEI as a School Support Specialist to support schools and districts in their own OSE journeys. Ji-Sun is excited to return to the classroom to teach 7th grade science with the OpenSciEd curriculum. Ji-Sun holds a B.A. in Child Development from Tufts University and a M.Ed in from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Bruce Kamerer
Middle School Support Specialist
Bruce taught for 18 years in Boston Public Schools, teaching middle math and science. He also worked in inclusion classroom settings. He was part of the 3 year field test of OpenSciEd, focusing on the 6th grade units. During his time with OEI, he worked with the district and school champions, as well as classroom teachers, to support the implementation of OpenSciEd at the district, school and classroom levels. Bruce has a Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering from University of Delaware, a MBA from University of North Carolina - Wilmington, and a JD from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. After careers in engineering, patent law, and education, Bruce is looking forward to enjoying his (second?) retirement.
Grace Lugo
Middle School Support Specialist
Grace started her journey in the field of education as a TFA Corp member serving Passaic Public Schools in Passaic, NJ. She then went on to become an Instructional Elementary and Middle School Science Coach in New Brunswick Public Schools in New Brunswick, NJ. In her role, she implemented reflective coaching practices to support teachers in the enactment of NGSS aligned instructional materials and storylined curricula. At the district level, she coordinated and co-led 3D assessment initiatives and developed PBL curricula for the summer enrichment program. She also supported the MS OpenSciEd (OSE) pilot as an instructional coach. Grace has a B.S in Biology and Secondary Education from The College of New Jersey and is currently pursuing a M.Ed in Educational Leadership.
Regan McKinnon
High School Support Specialist
Regan began his teaching career through the Boston Teacher Residency after serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer in an elementary school. He went on to teach both middle school science and high school physics for five years in Boston Public Schools. He was a part of the middle school OpenSciEd field test and taught it during the pandemic. He then went on to pilot the high school OpenSciEd Physics curriculum. As a School Support Specialist, he leveraged his experiences with both curricula to support HS field test high school teachers with instructional implementation, as well as school/district leaders. He also supported the MA Adaptations and HS STE HQIM Leadership projects. Regan has a B.S. in Chemistry from Boston College and a M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
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Hillary Paul Metcalf
Program Manager
Hillary Paul Metcalf served as the Program Manager for OEI, supporting school teams in their preparation for adopting OpenSciEd and leading the OEI school support team. Prior to her time with OEI, Hillary was a Science and Technology/Engineering Support Specialist with the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and a high school science teacher. Hillary is passionate about providing tools and professional learning that support teachers and leaders to disrupt inequities in their contexts. Hillary has joined the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching at Stanford University as part of the design teams developing the next iterations of OpenSciEd professional learning. She holds a B.E. in Biomedical Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology and a M.A. in Science Teaching and Supervision from Columbia University Teachers College.
Patricia Remigio
Middle School Support Specialist
Patricia began her education career through Teach For America New York. Upon her return home to Lawrence, Massachusetts, she taught 9 years at the middle and high school level, mostly teaching ELA and science, both in the general and special education setting. Her passion for education led her to take on the role of school support specialist with the OEI team at Boston College. At the district, school, and classroom level, she worked alongside district, and school leaders, and also teachers implementing the OpenSciEd curriculum. Patricia is excited for her new role as a leadership consultant for the Massachusetts DESE’s Statewide System of Support where she will continue supporting districts in MA. Patricia has a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Northeastern University, and her Master’s degree in Education with a concentration in Special Education from Brooklyn College.
Sarah Ridder
Elementary School Support Specialist
Sarah is thrilled to support the OpenSciEd Elementary field test in the state of Massachusetts after relocating from the Denver-metro region of Colorado. While in Colorado, Sarah served as her school district's Secondary Science Coordinator when the state adopted new science standards, which were an adaptation of the Next Generation Science Standards. She also used the OpenSciEd middle school curriculum materials as a classroom teacher. Sarah has a passion for supporting teachers as they implement high quality instructional practices and materials, like OpenSciEd, and is eager to do this work with Massachusetts field test teachers and leaders. Her experience as a member of OpenSciEd's and inquiryHub's national facilitation teams, as a science teacher, and Science Coordinator will help her provide effective support for our teachers. Sarah completed her undergraduate and graduate work at Wright State University in Ohio.
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Nicole Ruttan
Middle School Support Specialist
Nicole spent 15 years teaching in Boston Public Schools, predominantly in the Sheltered English Instruction setting. She was part of the 3 year pilot of OpenSciEd, focusing on the 8th grade units. In her role as OEI School Support Specialist, she worked with district and school champions, as well as classroom teachers, to support the implementation of OpenSciEd at the district, school and classroom levels. Nicole has a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Chicago and an M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Meet the Customize Team
Katherine McNeill
Principal Investigator
Katherine L. McNeill, PhD, is a professor of science education at Boston College. A former middle school science teacher, she received her doctorate in science education from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on designing and researching curriculum, professional development and other resources to support students, teachers and instructional leaders in equitable scientific sensemaking. 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.
Brian J. Reiser
Principal Investigator
Brian J. Reiser, PhD, is the Orrington Lunt Professor of Learning Sciences in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Reiser’s work explores how to make science learning more meaningful in K-12 classrooms as students investigate questions and problems they identify. Reiser’s research examines how to support students in science knowledge-building practices through storyline curriculum materials and teaching approaches, and how teachers learn as they enact these reforms.
Brianna Balke
Doctoral Student
Brianna Balke is a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher committed to realizing the transformative power of education to create a more just world. She taught high school science for over a decade in Colorado and Rhode Island and has served in a variety of roles supporting pre-service teachers in Brown University’s MAT program. She currently leads their Teacher Induction Program, which offers early career teachers opportunities for mentorship, community, and professional learning. Brianna is pursuing her Ph.D. at Boston College, where her research explores how teachers can enact culturally responsive pedagogies, sustain themselves in the profession, and lead for equity—particularly in urban schools.
Jason Y. Buell
Postdoctoral Researcher
Jason Y. Buell is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. He earned his PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder and before that was an elementary and middle school science teacher. He researches how teachers learn to support collective sensemaking and build caring classrooms.
Caitlin G Fine
Assistant Professor
Caitlin G Fine, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of elementary education at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Caitlin is a former science and TESOL teacher at a two-way Spanish-English bilingual elementary school in Arlington, VA. Caitlin earned her doctorate in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity from the University of Colorado Boulder. Caitlin works with multi-generational co-design teams to put theory to work by collaboratively imagining, building, trying out, reflecting upon and refining tools and routines to support translanguaging practices in science classrooms. Her research focuses on exploring how translanguaging pedagogies shift teachers’ language ideologies and how they interpret students’ ideas.
Samuel Lee
Assistant Professor
Samuel Lee, Ph.D, is an assistant professor of science education at California State University, Long Beach. Sam was a former middle and high school science teacher in inclusion classrooms for students with disabilities and multilingual students in Brooklyn, NY. Sam earned their doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Boston College. Generally, Sam’s research focuses on partnering with educators to position racialized bi/multilingual students’ multiple ways of communication as a part of rather than apart from science learning. Specifically, they are curious about how language can be used to expand how we "figure out" the natural and designed world.
Benjamin R. Lowell
Assisstant Professor
Benjamin R. Lowell, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of educational theory and practice at the University at Albany. Ben is a former high school chemistry, biology, and environmental science teacher whose research focuses on the systems and structures that support science teachers to learn to teach science as a process of figuring out the natural world. He previously has worked as a teacher educator at New York University and a postdoctoral research fellow at Boston College on both the OEI and Customize teams. He earned his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at Boston College, where he also worked on the PL design team for OpenSciEd middle school. He also holds an MA in Teaching Science from Stanford University and an ScB in Biochemistry from Brown University.
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Austin T. Moore
Doctoral Student
Austin T. Moore is a graduate student dedicated to empowering teachers and supporting their continuous development. With a rich background in urban science education, Austin taught high school chemistry for eight years, creating engaging learning environments and integrating technology to enhance student understanding and interaction. Beyond the classroom, he facilitated and designed professional development for educators, combining his teaching experience with his academic pursuits. Now a graduate student at Boston College, Austin's research focuses on teacher learning and leveraging technology to support teacher professional development.
Maria A. Moreno Vera
Doctoral Student
Maria A. Moreno Vera is a Ph.D. student in Curriculum and Instruction at Boston College. Originally from Mexico, she brings over thirteen years of experience teaching middle and high school science in both formal and informal educational settings across the globe. Passionate about curriculum development, Maria seeks to make science education more relevant to student lives by situating it within social, political, and economic contexts. She is particularly interested in leveraging STEM as a tool to foster human connections and enhance well-being. Currently, Maria collaborates with Dr. Katherine McNeill, supporting educators in customizing high-quality instructional materials to enrich classroom learning.
Yang Zhang
Postdoctoral Researcher
Yang Zhang, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She was a former elementary teacher at a rural school in China. Yang earned her PhD from the University of Rochester in Teaching and Curriculum with a specialization in science education and teacher education. Her research focuses on exploring how to support science teachers’ professional learning toward equitable teaching practices.
Publications
Fine, C., Lee, S. & McNeill, K. L. (in press). Teachers’ beliefs about language in science matter: Customizing science curricula to center emergent multilingual learners’ sensemaking. Cultural Studies of Science Education.
McNeill, K. L., Lee, S., Zhang, Y., Moore, A. T., Buell, J., Moreno Vera, M., Reiser, B. J. & Balke, B. (in press). Centering students’ resources Curricular customization for responsive and expansive science teaching. In Terrell, K. L & Pimentel, D. S. (Eds.), STEM Education and culturally sustaining pedagogies: Research, practices and critical reflections. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Lee, S. DiFrancesco, B., Fine, C. G., & McNeill, K. L. (2024). Expanding language use: Supporting emergent multilingual learners’ sensemaking in science. Science Scope, 47(5), 36-44.
Lee, S. & McNeill, K. L. (2024). Supporting multilingual students’ 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.
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.
McNeill, K. L. & Affolter, R. (2024). Teacher expertise makes high-quality curriculum work. The Learning Professional, 45(5), 32-36.
Presentations
The OEI Team has presented at numerous conferences. You can see their presentations and materials at the annual Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers (MAST) and National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conferences on the landing pages linked to the right.
The Customize Team has presented at numerous conferences including NARST, NSTA and ASTE
Affolter, R.A. & Moore, A. T. (2025, March). Customizing OpenSciEd Middle School: Great Materials + Teacher Brilliance = Magic. Professional Learning Institute presented at the annual conference of the National Science Teaching Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Affolter, R.A. & Moore, A. T. (2025, March). Strategies to adapt curriculum to increase relevance. Workshop presented at the annual conference of the National Science Teaching Association, Philadelphia, PA.
McNeill, K. L., Moore, A. T., Moreno Vera, M. A., Lee, S., & Affolter, R. (2025, March). Teachers’ customization of curriculum: Professional learning to center equity in the customization process. Paper presented at the annual meeting of NARST: A worldwide organization for improving science teaching and learning through research. National Harbor, MD.
Lee, S., Moore, A. T., McNeill, K. L., Reiser, B., Moreno Vera, M. A. Buell, J., & Zhang, Y., (2025, February). Towards equity: Navigating the tensions of curricular customization. Invited presentation for the Promoting Equity through Localization and High-Quality Instructional Materials conference, Berkeley, CA.
Fogelman, S. E., Ham, J., & McNeill, K. L. (January, 2025). Planning and reflection tool for professional learning: Integrating critical consciousness into science curriculum. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Science Teacher Education, Long Beach, CA.
Affolter, R.A. & Moore, A. T. (2024, November). Customizing OpenSciEd Middle School: Great Materials + Teacher Brilliance = Magic. Professional Learning Institute presented at the annual conference of the National Science Teaching Association, New Orleans, LA.
Affolter, R.A. & Moore, A. T. (2024, November). Strategies to adapt curriculum to increase relevance. Workshop presented at the annual conference of the National Science Teaching Association, New Orleans, LA.
Affolter, R.A. & Moore, A. T. (2024, November). Strategies to adapt curriculum to encourage more student voices and ideas. Workshop presented at the annual conference of the National Science Teaching Association, New Orleans, LA.