Jeanna Wieselmann

Dr. Jeanna R. Wieselmann is an Assistant Professor of STEM Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Southern Methodist University. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, M.Ed. in Elementary Education, B.S. in Elementary Education Foundations, and B.A. in Child Psychology, all from the University of Minnesota. She was a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. 

Dr. Wieselmann’s research focuses on integrated STEM education at the PreK-12 levels, including curriculum development, instructional strategies, and support for teachers implementing integrated STEM curricula. Prior to pursuing her graduate degrees, Dr. Wieselmann taught elementary STEM in both formal and informal contexts, and her research continues to maintain a focus on both in-school and out-of-school STEM learning opportunities. She is particularly interested in equity in relation to STEM and maintaining diverse students’ STEM interest and engagement as they progress through elementary and middle school. Dr. Wieselmann is currently conducting research on students’ small group interactions during integrated STEM activities, exploring patterns of participation and how these patterns may vary based on students’ gender, race, ethnicity, first language, and special education needs.

Dr. Wieselmann also conducts research on the development of STEM-focused schools and is involved in the design of the West Dallas STEM School, a collaborative project between SMU, Dallas ISD, Toyota, and the West Dallas community. She serves as the Curriculum Director on this project.

Dr. Wieselmann teaches courses for pre-service and in-service science and STEM teachers and is active in the science education research community through service on committees of international organizations and on numerous editorial review boards for scholarly journals.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

Wieselmann, J. R., Roehrig, G. H., Ring-Whalen, E. A., & Meagher, T. (2021). Becoming a STEM-focused school district: Administrators’ roles and experiences. Education Sciences, 11(12), 805.

Wieselmann, J. R., Dare, E. A., Roehrig, G. H., & Ring-Whalen, E. A. (2021). “There are other ways to help besides using the stuff”: Using activity theory to understand dynamic student participation in small group science, technology, engineering, and mathematics activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 58(9), 1281-1319.

Wieselmann, J. R., Keratithamkul, K., Dare, E. A., Ring-Whalen, E. A., & Roehrig, G. H. (2020). Discourse analysis in integrated STEM activities: Methods for exploring power and positioning in small group interactions. Research in Science Education.

Roehrig, G. H., Dare, E. A., Ring-Whalen, E. A., & Wieselmann, J. R. (2021). Understanding coherence and integration in integrated STEM curriculum. International Journal of STEM Education, 8(2), 1-21.

Ellingson, C. L., Wieselmann, J. R., & Leammukda, F. D. (2021). Critical response protocol: Supporting pre-service teachers in scaffolding meaning-making during whole-class discussions. Innovations in Science Teacher Education, 6(1).

Wieselmann, J. R., Dare, E. A., Ring-Whalen, E. A., & Roehrig, G. H. (2020). "I just do what the boys tell me": Exploring small group student interactions in an integrated STEM unit. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(1), 112-144.

Ellis, J. A., Wieselmann, J. R., Sivaraj, R., Roehrig, G. H., Dare, E. A., & Ring-Whalen, E. A. (2020). Toward a productive definition of technology in science and STEM education. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 20(3). 

Sivaraj, R., Ellis, J. A., Wieselmann, J. R., & Roehrig, G. H. (2020). Computational participation and the learner-technology pairing in K-12 STEM education. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2(4), 387-400.