Team members at University of Tartu
Miia Rannikmäe
Head of the project, professor
Miia Rannikmäe is professor in Science education in the Centre for Science Education in the Institute of Earth and Life Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Technology.
She has considerable experience in science education in Estonia, Europe and worldwide (Fulbright fellow – University of Iowa, USA). She has a strong school teaching background, extensive experience in pre- and in-service teacher training and has strong links with science teacher associations worldwide. She has been a member of an EC high-level group associated with the publication of a 2004 report on ‘Europe needs more Scientists’.
Her research interests cover areas such as cognitive learning in sciences, relevance of science education, scientific and technological literacy, context based teaching in inquiry based science classroom. She has published over 160 articles (47 articles in international journals, 20 articles in books).
Moonika Teppo
PhD in Science Education, project manager
Moonika Teppo`s research focuses on affective factors (motivation, interest, attitudes) influencing students’ learning in science. She is educated as a science teacher and has practical experience working at Estonian lower secondary schools. Currently she coordinates retraining program for basic school science teachers, participates in an international and national research- and development projects, supervises master’s students and teaches quantitative data analysis course.
Regina Soobard
Associated professor in Science Teacher Education
Regina Soobard holds a research fellow of science education position. She completed her PhD in 2015 looking at grade 10–12 student’s scientific literacy development based on determinants of cognitive learning outcomes and self-perception. She is known for her work on science-related career awareness, core ideas in science, scientific literacy.
She is experienced in participating in national and international research- and development projects. In 2014, she was appointed the OECD/PISA study science expert in Estonia. Since 2016, she is participating in a project developing an e-assessment system for the domain of science in all school levels in Estonia. In 2018, she was awarded by Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Research Scholar program spending 5 months in CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University. Additionally, she is also Professional Coach, certified by Erickson Coaching International.
Jack Holbrook
Visiting professor
Jack Holbrook is visiting professor at UT, considerable experience in science education worldwide. His PhD is in Chemistry, but he also has a strong school science teaching background, extensive experience in pre- service teacher training; added to expertise from running in-service training workshops in a range of countries in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
He acts as an education consultant in a number of Asian and African countries. His research covers curriculum development in science subjects, teacher education and assessment and evaluation, as well supervising PhD students in use-inspired research, scientific literacy, inquiry learning and changing teacher beliefs. He has written and adapted numerous classroom teaching materials and published books for teachers, as well as science textbooks for use in school. He has been working since 2009 as curriculum and assessment consultant for the Ministry of Education in Bangladesh and from 2013 for
the World Bank on a competence-based curriculum project in Kuwait. He is past president of ICASE and headed ICASE involvement in FP7 projects – PROFILES and ENGINEER.
Anne Laius
Associated professor in Biology Education
Assoc. Prof. Anne Laius is holding the position of associate professor in biology didactic in The Centre for Science Education. Her PhD is in the field of creativity and reasoning in science education. Her current research interests cover besides biology education also the area of sustainable development and teaching in an informal environment. She keeps working part-time as a practicing biology teacher and has also experience in teaching based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum.
Helin Semilarski
Junior Research Fellow of Science Education
Helin Semilarski is a junior research fellow of science education. She is educated as a science teacher and has practical experience working at Estonian lower secondary and upper secondary schools. Her research focuses on biological literacy and biology learning.
