Drew Nucci

Overview

Drew Nucci combines decades of teaching experience and teacher education with a deep understanding of generative AI’s (GenAI) affordances and constraints for improving mathematics teaching and learning. He directs the research at one of four national AI R&D centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education and provides professional learning for STEM teachers to learn about GenAI while building AI applications to help them improve their teaching.

Nucci’s research into how teachers use and learn about GenAI has demonstrated the link between teachers’ pedagogy and their GenAI learning and use. Teachers regularly request professional learning that is longitudinal, collaborative, and situated in the content they are teaching.

Before joining WestEd, Nucci taught secondary mathematics for 18 years in various contexts. He facilitated teacher improvement communities and directed a summer colloquium for teachers to bolster their content knowledge. Nucci taught novice teachers and coached in schools from 2019 through 2024. He was also on the model training team for Colleague.ai to ensure that the model was built with high-quality training data. These experiences form the foundation of Nucci’s work in helping teachers learn to deploy GenAI to improve their practice.

Education

PhD in mathematics education—curriculum & instruction, University of Washington

Select Publications

Nucci, D., & Edwards, A. (2025, October). How mathematics teachers use generative AI to transform their practice [Paper presentation]. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2025 Research Conference, Atlanta, GA, United States.

Nucci, D., Edwards, A., & Nielsen, S. (2025, August). What districts need to know about improving STEM teaching with GenAI [Paper presentation]. MAA Mathfest, Sacramento, CA, United States.

Nucci, D., Liu, A., & Sun, M. (2024). The professional knowledge necessary for high-quality AI-generated mathematics lesson planning. AMTE Connections. Fall.

Nucci, D., Sun, M., & Perez, R. (2024). Using AI to build high-quality and inclusive lesson plans [Paper presentation]. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting and Exposition, Chicago, IL, United States.