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Dr. Nancy M. Holincheck
PhD, George Mason University
Assistant Professor
International Baccalaureate
Academic Program Co-Coordinator, Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning
Associate Director, Center for Social Equity Through Science Education
Global Online Teacher Education Center

Contact Information

Send email to Dr. Holincheck

Phone: (703) 993-8136
Fax: (703) 993-9380
Email: nholinch (@gmu.edu)

George Mason University
Fairfax Campus
Thompson Hall 2605
4400 University Dr.
MS 1E8
Fairfax, VA 22030

Profile

Dr. Nancy Holincheck is an Assistant Professor of STEM Education and the Co-Academic Program Coordinator of the Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning (ASTL) program. Dr. Holincheck teaches doctoral courses in the Teaching and Teacher Education and Science Education programs in Mason's College of Education and Human Development, and master's level courses in science and STEM education, teacher research, and teacher reflection in the ASTL program and in the Teaching Culturally, Linguistically Diverse and Exceptional Learners (TCLDEL) program.  Dr. Holincheck is an Associate Director of Mason's Center for Social Equity through Science Education: C(SE)2 and Associate Director of Education of Mason's Quantum Science and Engineering Center (QSEC) and an associate member of Mason's Global Online Teacher Education Center. 

Dr. Holincheck's broad research interests encompass STEM teaching and learning, teacher reflection & teacher inquiry, identity of STEM learners and teachers, gender in STEM and science, physics education, problem solving, science teaching and learning, and problem-based learning. Dr. Holincheck is PI on the NSF funded EAGER: Quantum is Elementary: Quantum Teaching and Learning in Elementary Classrooms, co-PI on the NSF funded Cultivating Physics Identity and Belonging for Women in Physics: Mentorship and Leadership Development through the Pion Program and co-PI on the Department of Education Quantum Workforce Development grant projects. She previously served as Co-PI and Evaluator on the NSF funded Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Science with sInvestigator, internal evaluator and Co-PI on an IARPA Crowdsourcing Evidence, Argumentation, Thinking and Evaluation (CREATE) Project, Cogent Argumentation System with Crowd Elicitation (Co-Arg), and as Evaluator on the U.S. Department of Education's Jacob K. Javits grant funded Project ExCEL.  

Dr. Holincheck's current research projects focus on STEM teaching and learning and the under-representation of groups in STEM.  She is currently researching integrated STEM teacher identity, undergraduate students' perspectives on quantum science and computing, how gender plays a role in the experiences of women in STEM, and teacher reflection in teacher education courses.  She has ongoing projects that examine how participation in middle and high school robotics influences the development of STEM identity, the role of mentors in the recruitment and retention of students from under-represented groups in STEM, explorations of gender in physics and science, promoting the success of under-represented minorities in college STEM, and implications of media representations of science and scientists. 

A former high school physics teacher, Dr. Holincheck holds an MS in Applied and Engineering Physics from George Mason University and a B.S. in Physics from The College of William and Mary. A National Board Certified Teacher from 2001-2021, Holincheck began her teaching career in Fairfax County, Virginia and taught at Hayfield Secondary and Chantilly High School. Before coming to Mason, Dr. Holincheck served as term education policy faculty at American University in Washington, D.C..

Research Interests

Teacher learning, teacher reflection, science teaching and learning, STEM teaching and learning, education for quantum workforce development, under-represented groups in science and STEM, gender in STEM, Integrated STEM Teacher Identity, STEM learner identity, computational thinking, physics education, problem solving, problem-based learning (PBL), project-based learning (PjBL), teacher education, teacher research, research utilization by teachers, teachers’ professional persistence

Recent Publications

Janis, M., & Holincheck, N. (in press). Layering identities as artist and theatre educator: Reflecting beyond experiences.  Teachers and Teaching. 

Rosenberg, J., Holincheck, N. & *Colandene, M.  (In press). STEM undergraduates knowledge and interest in quantum: Barriers and opportunities to building a diverse quantum workforce. Physical Review: Physics Education Research. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.03439 

Marttinen, R., Banville, D., Holincheck, N., *Ferrer, V., Stehle, S.  (2024). Learning to integrate STEM into physical education through asynchronous professional development modules. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2023-0137 

Holincheck, N., *Kraft, T., Galanti, T., Baker, C., & Nelson, J. (2024). “Everybody was included in the conversation”: Teachers’ perceptions of student engagement as a path to transdisciplinary STEM learning in diverse elementary schools. Education Sciences, 14(3), Article 242. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14030242 

Galanti, T. M., & Holincheck, N. (2024). Developing integrated STEM teacher identity using guided curation of K-12 engineering activities. Research in Integrated STEM Education, 2, 31-55. https://doi.org/10.1163/27726673-bja00010    

Galanti, T. M., & Holincheck, N.  (2024). Integrating computational thinking in elementary STEM using the engineering design process. School Science & Mathematics. Advance online publication. http://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12638 

Holincheck, N., Rosenberg, J. L., *Zhang, X. L., *Butler, T. N., *Colandene, M., Dreyfus, B. W.  (2024)). Quantum science and technologies in K-12: Supporting teachers to

integrate quantum in STEM classrooms. Education Sciences, 14(3), Article 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14030219 

Rosenberg, J. L., Holincheck, N., *Fernandez, K., Dreyfus, B.W., *Wardere, F., Stehle, S., *Butler, T. (2024). The role of mentorship, career conceptualization, and leadership in developing women’s physics identity. Physical Review: Physics Education Research, 20, Article 010114. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.20.010114 

Holincheck, N., & Galanti, T. M. (2023). Applying a model of integrated STEM teacher identity to understand change in elementary teachers’ STEM self-efficacy and career awareness. School Science & Mathematics, 123(6), 234–248. http://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12610 

Galanti, T. M., & Holincheck, N. (2022). Beyond content and curriculum in elementary classrooms: Conceptualizing the cultivation of integrated STEM teacher identity. International Journal of STEM Education, 9, Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-022-00358-8 

Holincheck, N., & Galanti, T. M. (2022). Are you a STEM teacher?: Exploring K-12 teachers’ conceptions of STEM education. Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research, 23(2). https://jstem.org/jstem/index.php/JSTEM/article/view/2551 

Holincheck, N., Galanti, T. M., & Trefil, J. (2022). Assessing the development of digital scientific literacy with a computational evidence-based reasoning tool. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 60(7), 1796-1817. https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331221081484 

Other Information

N. Holincheck (PI), J. Rosenberg, S. Dodman, & B. Dreyfus. EAGER: Quantum is Elementary: Quantum Teaching and Learning in Elementary Classrooms. National Science Foundation, Discovery Research K12 (DRK12) EAGER submission. $299,852.  Funded July 2023. 

J. Rosenberg, N. Holincheck (co-PI), & B. Dreyfus. Building the Quantum Pipeline. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Sciences, Congressional Earmark Funding. $650,000. 2022-2023. Funded August 2022.

J. Rosenberg, N. Holincheck (co-PI), & B. Dreyfus. Cultivating Physics Identity and Belonging for Women in Physics: Mentorship and Leadership Development through the Pion Program. National Science Foundation, Investigating Undergraduate Science Education (IUSE). $299,898, 2021-2024. Funded August 2021.