MBI Team

Ron Gray, Ph.D.

Ron is a former middle school science teacher, chair of the Department of STEM Education, and Co-Director of the Center for STEM Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University.

He taught in South Central Los Angeles and Salem, Oregon, before earning his PhD in science education at Oregon State University in 2009. His work focuses on providing secondary science teachers with the tools to design and implement effective and authentic learning experiences for their students. Much of this work has been centered on model-based inquiry and the integration of scientific practices in a supportive and structured way. He is also interested in the history of science and science studies, which, taken together, help provide a background for understanding what “authentic” scientific practice in the K–12 context might look like. He is currently Co-Editor of the journal Science Education and has published several articles for science teachers in National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) journals.

Todd Campbell, Ph.D.

Todd is a former high school and middle school science teacher and a professor of science education in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.

His research focuses on cultivating imaginative and equitable representations of STEM activity. This is accomplished in formal science learning environments through partnering with preservice and inservice science teachers and leaders to collaboratively focus on supporting student use of modeling as an anchoring epistemic practice to reason about events that happen in the natural world. This work extends into informal learning environments through a focus on iterative design of such spaces and equity-focused STEM identity research. He is formerly the co-editor in chief for the Journal of Science Teacher Education. He has also published numerous articles in the NSTA journals and has served as a guest editor for a special issue of The Science Teacher focused on developing and using models in September 2017.

Contributing Science Teachers

Laurie Abo

Laurie received a BA in biological sciences education from the University of Delaware, an MA in biology from Central Connecticut State University, and an MA in curriculum and instruction from the University of St. Joseph. A secondary science teacher for 22 years at in Connecticut, she has participated in the UConn Mentor Teacher Collaborative for several years developing tools to help teacher candidates implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in their classrooms. Laurie continues to seek out and participate in opportunities to learn and spread her love of student-driven, NGSS-based classrooms.

Jennifer Askew

Jennifer received a BA in zoology with a minor in ecology from Idaho State University. She also earned a MA in secondary science teaching from Northern Arizona University (NAU). She has been teaching chemistry in Arizona for the last decade. She enjoys continued collaboration with NAU’s Center for STEM Teaching and Learning, while working with practicum students and discovering how model-based inquiry can be used in the classroom.

Audrey Baird

Audrey received a BS in secondary education with a concentration in Earth science and biology and an MA in secondary science teaching from Northern Arizona University (NAU). They have been teaching secondary science, from middle school up through AP-level courses, for a decade in Arizona. Audrey has been working in conjunction with NAU’s Center for STEM Teaching and Learning, providing mentorship to practicum students pursuing secondary science education degrees. Audrey currently teaches biology, physics, and environmental science at Flagstaff High School.

Jonathan Griffith

Jon works for the University of Colorado–Boulder as a curriculum developer for the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). He is the lead developer of Data Puzzles, resources that combine classroom-friendly data with Ambitious Science Teaching practices to support students make sense of earth and climate science phenomena. Previously, Jon was a middle school life science teacher at Mount Elden Middle School in Flagstaff, Arizona. Before becoming a classroom teacher, he was a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, where he received both an MS in geology studying lake sediments as a proxy for past climate and environmental change and an MA in science education.

Stacy Leone

Stacy received a BS in marine and freshwater biology from the University of New Hampshire. Following graduation, she went on to earn her teaching certificate at Central Connecticut State University. She has been teaching biology in Connecticut for more than 25 years. During that time, she received an MA in biology from Central Connecticut State University and an MA in education with a concentration in curriculum and instruction from the University of St. Joseph. Most recently, she has been working with the Mentor Teacher Collaborative at UConn, whose work is focused on supporting the implementation of the NGSS with preservice and inservice teachers. Stacy is focused on finding ways to engage and inspire the next generation of scientists and citizens.

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