Holincheck, Nancy

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

View Nancy Holincheck's curriculum vitae in PDF format.

Dr. Nancy Holincheck is an Assistant Professor of STEM Education and the 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. Dr. Holincheck is Associate Director of Education of Mason's Quantum Science and Engineering Center (QSEC), Associate Director of Mason's Center for Social Equity through Science Education [C(SE)²], 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 projects Cultivating Physics Identity and Belonging for Women in Physics: Mentorship and Leadership Development through the Pion Program and George Mason University's Quantum Postdoctoral Fellowship, 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 researches 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 faculty in education policy at American University in Washington, D.C..

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

Holincheck, N., Galanti, T. M., & *Butler, T. N. (2024). Promoting teachers’ advocacy and agency for equity in STEM education through research and reflection. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21970

Janis, M., & Holincheck, N. (2024). Layering identities as artist and theatre educator: Reflecting beyond experiences. Teachers and Teaching. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2024.2349023

Rosenberg, J., Holincheck, N. & *Colandene, M. (2024). STEM undergraduates knowledge and interest in quantum: Barriers and opportunities to building a diverse quantum workforce. Physical Review: Physics Education Research, 20, Article 010138. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.20.010138

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

Recently Funded Grants and Projects:

J. Rosenberg, P. Danquah-Brobby, N. Holincheck (co-PI), & J. Nelson. George Mason University Quantum Education Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. National Science Foundation, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Organizational Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (STEM Ed OPRF). $1,246,608. Funded August 2024.

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.