“Taste and style are as important in scientific research as they are in literature, art, and music.”
— Chen Ning Yang
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My signature style of doing research is collaborative, across disciplinary boundaries, and in close partnership with practitioners.
〰️ My signature style of doing research is collaborative, across disciplinary boundaries, and in close partnership with practitioners.
Disciplinary focus
Physics is where abstract concepts push human cognition to its limits, making it the natural proving ground for my work. While I address science and STEM education broadly in my research, modern physics (relativity, quantum physics, astronomy) remains my intellectual home.
Theoretical lens
How do embodied experiences shape scientific understanding? How does our bodily engagement enable – and restrict – our ability to think scientifically? Embodied cognition guides my explorations to examine how scientific concepts arise from our brains, bodies & experiences.
Methodological approach
My methodological expertise combines design-based research with different types of video analyses, including multimodal interaction analysis and video observation manuals. Crucially, I engage practitioners as co-designers while conducting studies of teaching and learning interactions.
Research interests
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I study how students develop conceptual understanding of relativity, quantum physics, and astronomy, often exploring these concepts through an embodied cognition lens. Besides, I design instructional resources that make modern physics accessible and engaging to learners of all ages.
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What characterises good science teaching? Using video analysis of authentic classroom interactions, I investigate how different instructional practices – particularly inquiry-based approaches – support and shape student learning.
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I do research on teacher professional learning, and I work collaboratively with pre- and in-service STEM teachers to improve instructional practices. This work includes translating embodied cognition perspectives into practical teaching strategies and studying how teachers develop and refine their instructional approaches.
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I study how scientific meaning-making is shaped by embodied experience, and I explore how gesture, material interactions, and metaphors support students' understanding and development of scientific literacy.
Research projects & collaboration partners
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![Science education network for embodied sense-making (SENSES)]()
SENSES (Denmark)
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![A girl looking into a microscope]()
LISSI (Norway)
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![a logo containing three blue and two orange circles connected in front of a black circle reminiscent of particles in front of a black hole]()
IMPRESS (CERN, Switzerland)
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![Screenshot of the OzGrav virtual environment Bigger Than Big depicting a binary system of a neutron star and a pulsar]()
OzGrav (Australia)
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![Cover of the book Teaching Einsteinian Physics in Schools showing several symbols of relativity and quantum physics]()
Einstein-First (Australia)
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![A series of differently-sized planets deforming spacetime and the field equations of general relativity hovering in the front]()
ReleQuant (Norway)
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![Image of Leonie Johann]()
STEM Education in Newton Rooms (Leonie Johann, Norway)
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![Office meeting with employees working on laptops while holographic data and graphics float in the air.]()
Generative AI Network of Educational Researchers (Australia)
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![ESERA Special Interest Group on Languages and Literacies in Science Education group picture. Group of people posing outdoors on a sunny day in a park with trees in the background, some holding drinks and wearing name tags.]()
Languages & Literacies in Science Education (ESERA SIG6)
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![Charlotte Müller]()
Bodies in Science (Charlotte Müller, Switzerland)
Want more?
For my latest research, visit my Google Scholar profile.
Interested in collaboration or supervision opportunities? Get in touch 🙂