Project Team
The EPIC Learning team is based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Missouri. We are a group of educational researchers, with experience in K-12 teaching, teacher education, and curriculum development. We explore research questions related to student and teacher learning, classroom dynamics and discourse, and the improvement of teaching and learning. Most of our work focuses on science education although the EPIC Learning approach is applicable to multiple disciplines.
Project Members
Troy D. Sadler
Thomas James Distinguished Professor of Experiential Learning
Troy began his career as a high school science teacher. While working as a teacher, he became interested in using complex issues to teach science. His students were engaged and motivated to learn when they had opportunities to think about issues that mattered beyond the walls of the classroom. When he started graduate school at the University of South Florida, issues-based teaching became the focus of his research, and he has maintained this focus ever since. When the Next Generation Science Standards were released, Troy became interested in the intersections between issues based teaching and science practices. Opportunities to collaborate with scholars like Pat and Laura (see below) encouraged him to think more about modeling in the context of issues. In 2019, Troy moved to UNC which sparked an increased interest in the intersections of science education and experiential learning.
View full bio at UNC School of Education »
Email: tsadler@unc.edu
Pat Friedrichsen
Professor of Science Education
Pat began her career as a 7th grade life science teacher. While earning a M.Ed. at the University of Nebraska, she taught high school biology for 10 years at Lincoln High School in Lincoln, NE. As a high school teacher, she mentored many student teachers which led her to pursue a career as a teacher educator. She worked as a project specialist and a clinical instructor in teacher education at the University of Nebraska. In 2002, she earned a Ph.D. from Penn State and began her academic position at the University of Missouri (MU). For fifteen years, she held a joint appointment in the Division of Biological Sciences and the Department of Learning, Teaching & Curriculum. As a life-long teacher educator, Pat’s research focuses on science teacher learning across the professional continuum from pre-service teacher education to professional development. She has researched beginning teacher learning, with a focus on learning to teach evolution; mentoring; and the PCK of master teachers. She uses a variety of frameworks including teacher beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge, and core teaching practices. Her current research focuses on engaging teachers in collaborative curriculum design using a socio-scientific issues and model-based learning approach. She is interested in how teachers select socio-scientific issues and instructional tools that support teacher and student learning. Pat’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation. Pat directs the Middle and Secondary Science Teacher Education Program at MU and is the departmental Director of Graduate Studies.
View full bio at MU College of Education »
Email: FriedrichsenP@missouri.edu
Laura Zangori
Assistant Professor, Science Education
Laura Zangori is an Assistant Professor of Science Education at the University of Missouri. Over the past 6 years, Zangori has taught and worked with students ranging from elementary through undergraduate classrooms on using the NGSS practices to support students’ scientific explanations about how and why scientific phenomenon occurs. Currently, her research focuses on supporting preservice and inservice teachers’ use of scientific modeling in their science lessons and exploring how their students use models to develop scientific explanations.
View full bio at MU College of Education »
Email: zangoril@missouri.edu
Li Ke
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Li Ke is a postdoctoral research associate at UNC working with Dr. Troy Sadler. His current research centers around supporting students’ meaningful engagement in scientific practices, modeling in particular, in the context of socio-scientific issues to promote scientific literacy. Li Ke was a former high school chemistry teacher in China before obtaining his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Science Education in the U.S.
View full bio at UNC School of Education »
Email: lke@unc.edu
Molly Ewing
Graduate Student & Teaching Fellow
Molly is interested in science learning, instruction & instructional materials, classroom assessment, and professional learning. She is particularly interested in the role of the crosscutting concepts in sensemaking. Molly works with educators to support equitable implementation of science standards. She has a Master’s of Public Affairs from the LBJ School and is a former elementary teacher and high school math teacher.
Email: ewingme@live.unc.edu
Rachel Juergensen
Graduate Student & Research Assistant
Rachel Juergensen is a former elementary school teacher and administrator. She is doctoral student at the University of Missouri Columbia working towards a PhD in Special Education with an emphasis in Science. Her interests include equitable learning opportunities for diverse learners within Science, specifically the ways in which teachers position students to participate in science talk.
Email: juergensenr@mail.missouri.edu
Eric Kirk
Graduate Student & Research Assistant
Eric Kirk is an Atlanta, Georgia based high school science teacher who will begin his PhD in education at the University of North Carolina in the Fall of 2020. Eric received his MAT in science education at the University of Georgia. He began his undergraduate career as a technical photography major at Appalachian State University before rediscovering his passion for science and research. Driven by his love for the outdoors his academic interests include environmental preservation, interdisciplinary science education, and socio-scientific reasoning.
Email: eric.kirk@unc.edu
R. Tanner Oertli
Graduate Student & Research Assistant
Tanner is a Ph.D. student in Science Education at the University of Missouri. He holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Montana and an M.S. in Science Education from the University of Missouri. Tanner has seven years of experience teaching science and engineering at the high school level. His research interests involve socio-scientific issues in elementary science and pre-service science teacher classrooms.
Email: rto4gg@missouri.edu