Elizabeth Hufnagel

Elizabeth HufnagelAssociate Professor of Science Education
elizabeth.hufnagel@maine.edu
207.581.2451

5766 Shibles Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5749

Bio: Professor Hufnagel’s research centers on the intersection between emotional expressions and teaching and learning about science topics in classrooms and other science settings. Since emotions are evaluative, they provide a lens to understanding which scientific ideas resonate most with learners and teachers. Professor Hufnagel also examines the framing of climate change and other environmental topics in learning settings and political documents. Her work is grounded in discourse analysis methodologies and also draws from ethnography. In addition, professor Hufnagel works to support pre- and in-service teachers in attending to emotions during science learning.

Before joining the faculty at UMaine, Professor Hufnagel was a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, where she taught science education methods and qualitative research courses. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction (Science Education) from The Pennsylvania State University. Before her career in academia, she was a public high school teacher in both Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts teaching a variety of environmental science, biology, and physics classes. While in Massachusetts, she also led professional development for middle and high school teachers in the Boston area at the Urban Ecology Institute (UEI), which at the time was housed at Boston College. Her work with UEI focused on preparing science teachers to implement urban field studies using geospatial technologies. In addition to her experiences as an educator, Professor Hufnagel has also worked as a forest ecologist and environmental health analyst.

Education
Ph.D., 2014, The Pennsylvania State University

Courses taught at UMaine

  • EHD 101: The Art and Science of Teaching
  • ESC 316: Teaching Science in Elementary School
  • ESC 452: Teaching Science in the Secondary School
  • ESC 542: Advanced Studies in Science Education
  • SMT 588: Seminar in Science and Mathematics Education Research

Sample Publications

  • Hufnagel, E. (2019). The “Subtext of Everything”:High School Science Teachers’ Views of Emotions and Their Related Teaching Practices. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-019-00059-5
  • Jaber, L.Z., Hufnagel, E. & Radoff, J. (2019). “This is Really Frying My Brain!”: How Affect Supports Inquiry in an Online Learning Environment. Research in Science Education. Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-019-09884-y
  • Biddle, C. & Hufnagel, E. (2019). Navigating the “danger zone”: Tone-policing and bounding civility in the practice of student voice. American Journal of Education.
  • Hufnagel, E. (accepted). The Language and Materiality of Emotions in Science Education. In L. Walsh & D. Gruber (Eds.), Handbook of Language and Science. Routledge.
  • Hufnagel, E. (2019). Emotional discourse as constructed in an environmental science course. In G. J. Kelly & J. L. Green (Eds.), Theory and Methods for Sociocultural Research in Science and Engineering Education (pp. 155–180). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Hufnagel, E. (2018). Frames for emotional expressions across discourse forms in an ecology course. International Journal of Science Education, 40, 1957–1979. http://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2018.1515512
  • Hufnagel, E., & Kelly, G. J. (2018). Examining emotional expressions in discourse: methodological considerations. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 13, 905–924. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-017-9806-4
  • Hufnagel, E., Kelly, G. J., & Henderson, J. A. (2018). How the environment is positioned in the Next Generation Science Standards: A critical discourse analysis. Environmental Education Research, 24, 731–753. http://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1334876
  • Hufnagel, E. (2017). Students’ emotional connections to climate change: A framework for teaching and learning. In D.P. Shepardson, A. Roychoudhury, and A.S. Hirsch. Teaching and Learning about Climate Change: A Framework for Educators. Routledge.
  • Zembal-Saul, C., Merrit, M., Hufnagel, E. & Graham, R. (2016). Fossil mammals and biotic response to climate change. In R. Duschl & A. Bismack (Eds.), Reconceptualizing STEM education: The central role of practices. Routledge.
  •  Hufnagel, E. (2015). Preservice elementary teachers’ emotional connections and disconnections to climate change in a science course. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52, 1296–1324.