About

Education

• Ph.D. 2016 – Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
  Philosophy of Science Education, PhD

• M.Ed. 2007 – Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
  Master of Science Education

• B.S. 2000 – Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
  Elementary Education, Minor – History

Biography

Selina Bartels is an Associate Professor of Education with a focus in Science and STEM education.  In addition to teaching she is the chair of the Education Department. Her P-12 teaching experiences took place in Chicago Public Schools where she served teaching various grades and content areas (science, language arts, and social studies). Her research interests lie in Scientific Literacy.  Her most recent book publication entitled Shaping scientific literacy in every elementary classroom.  This is a methods of science instruction textbook for preservice/inservice elementary teachers.  Selina is currently working on a large international study looking at understandings of Essence of Science components around the world for students in grades K-12.  Other research interests are looking at pre-service teacher’s understandings and lesson plan development of STEM activities as well as university and school partnerships to support pre-service teachers through embedded practica experiences.    

Select Publications

Lederman, J. S., Bartels, S. L. & Akerson, V. (2025).  Shaping scientific literacy in every elementary classroom. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 1032698357

Bartels, S. L., & Boche, B. (2024). Using a Networked Professional Learning Community to Prepare Preservice Teachers. In C. A. Green & M. J. Eady (Eds.), Creating and sustaining purposeful school-university partnerships: Building connections across diverse educational settings. Springer.

Lederman, J. S., Bartels, S., Jimenez, J., Lederman, N. G., Acosta, K., Adbo, K., … & Zhu, Q. (2024). Completing the progression establishing an international baseline of primary, middle and secondary students’ views of scientific inquiry. International journal of science education, 46(7), 715-731.

Akerson, V. L., & Bartels, S. (2023). Elementary science teaching; Towards the goal of scientific literacy. In N Lederman, D Zeidler, and J Lederman. Handbook of Research on Science Education Volume III. Routledge. 

Bartels, S., & Lederman, J. (2022). What do elementary students know about science, scientists and how they do their work? International Journal of Science Education, 1-20.

Lederman, J.S., Lederman, N.G., Bartos, S.A., Bartels, S.L., Antink Meyer, A., & Schwartz, R.S. (2014). Meaningful assessment of learners’
understandings about scientific inquiry – The views about scientific inquiry (VASI) questionnaire. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51(1),
65-83.

Select Presentations

Bartels, S. L. & Lederman, J.  (2025, March).  Scientific literacy for elementary students- Kindergarten a baseline study.  A paper presented at the 2025 National Association for Research in Science Teaching conference, National Harbor, MD..  

Bartels, S. L., Schwartz, R., Lederman, J. & Akerson, V.  (2024, January).  Essence of science: Vision 1.5. A paper presented at the 2024 Association of Science Teacher Educators Conference, New Orleans, LA. 

Bartels, S. L. & Lederman, J.  (2023, April).  Assessing Early Childhood and Primary Students’ Views of Science: Learning to Administer and Score two Valid and Reliable Instruments (Views about Scientific Inquiry- Elementary and Young Children’s Views about Science).  A pre conference workshop presented at the 2023 National Association for Research in Science Teaching conference, Chicago IL.  

Select Grants

Indiana Commission for Higher Education, STEM Grant (2023)(Funded). 

Proposal for a two year, $307,000 to develop and launch a  program entitled Engineering the Teachers of the Future.  This grant will recruit, prepare and retain highly qualified STEM teachers for Indiana at both the elementary level through a one year program to earn a STEM Education Certificate.

Lily Foundation Advancing the Science of Reading in Indiana (ASRI) (2023) (Funded).  Proposal for three year, $750,000 to develop and launch an Institute for the Science of Reading that will be a central resource for teacher preparation and professional development across Northwest Indiana.