• STEM integration
• STEM Teaching and Learning
• Science knowledge development
• Integration of culture and other knowledge systems with Western science knowledge.

Dr. Kern is an assistant professor in Science Education with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education at the University of Idaho, Coeur d’Alene. She earned her PhD. in Curriculum and Instruction-Science Education, at the University of Minnesota in 2007. Prior to entering graduate school, she taught High School chemistry for 10-years in Oregon. She also has 10-years of experience in chemistry research focusing on Water Quality and Environmental Protection Agency projects.

Dr. Kern’s research interests focuses on science learning and knowledge development. She is particularly interested in the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Her current research projects include the development and exploration of place-based education practices for STEM, with America Indian youth. She is the Principal Investigator National Science Foundation-Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project Back to the Earth (BTTE). The BTTE project will engage and study ninety students living on local American Indian Reservations (Coeur d’Alene and Spokane) and their teachers in a three-year summer and after-school expereince aimed to merge indigenous knowledge systems with Western science in developing an understanding of the local watershed and build interest for a STEM workforce to serve the community.

As a researcher, Dr. Kern has been involved in a number of research and outreach projects that draw on her experience in teaching and learning in STEM disciplines in public and informal educational settings.

Nam, Y., Roehrig, G., Kern, A. & Reynolds B. (2013). Perceptions and practices of culturally relevant science teaching in American Indian classrooms. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. 11(1). 143-167. DOI: 10.1007/s10763-012-9372-x.

Muthersbaugh, D. & Kern, A. L. (2012). Pre-service teacher use of images in integrating environmental sustainability lessons. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 14(1), 67-89. DOI: 10.2478/v10099-012-0006-8.

Barnicle, S. P., Orr, M. T., & Kern, A., L. (2012). Narrowing the I-95 border: Utilizing distance learning technology to bring classrooms together. International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning, 9(1), 85-90.

Kern, A. L., Roehrig, G. H., & Wattam, D. K. (2012). Inside a beginning immigrant science teacher’s classroom: An ethnographic study. Teachers and Teaching, 18 (4), 1-13. DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2012.696047.

Nyachwaya, J., Mohammed, A.R, Roehrig, G.H., Wood, N., Kern, A. L., & Schneider, J. (2011). The Development of an Open-ended Drawing Tool: An Alternative Diagnostic Tool for Assessing Students’ Understanding of the Particulate Nature of Matter. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 11, 165-172.

Muthersbaugh, D. R., Kern, A. L., Pegg, J., & Clark, H. (2011). Science Notebooks and “A Big Waste Problem”. The Earth Scientist, 27(4), 21-26.

Sato, M. D., Kern, A. L., McDonald, E. J., & Rogers, C. A. (2010). On the inside looking out: Instantiations of the practical. Teacher Education and Practice, 23 (1), 66-87.

Norman, K.W., Moore, T., & Kern, A. L. (2010). A graduate level in-service teacher education curriculum integrating engineering into science and mathematics contents. The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast-Special Issue, 7 (2&3), 433-446.

Kern, A. L., Wood, N. B., Roehrig, G. H., & Nyachwaya, J. (2010). A qualitative report of the ways high school chemistry students attempt to represent a chemical reaction at the atomic/molecular level. Chemistry Education, Research, and Practice, 11, 165-172. DOI: 10.1039/C005465H.

Bang, E. J., Kern, A. L., Luft, J. A., & Roehrig, G. H. (2007). First-year secondary science teachers: A research brief. School Science and Mathematics, 107(6), 52-61.

Roehrig, G. H., Kruse, R. A., & Kern, A. L. (2007). Teacher and school characteristics and their influence on curriculum implementation. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(7), 883-907. DOI: 10.1022/tea.20180.