Overview
Katy Nilsen is a senior research associate with the Science and Engineering team at WestEd. She leads research and evaluation studies of educational technology products, including conducting usability testing, classroom feasibility studies, implementation studies, and impact studies. Additionally, she directs research focused on supporting teachers and school district leaders with the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Nilsen serves as a co–principal investigator (Co-PI) on a large-scale project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and as a project lead on an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) project. She also leads or has recently led numerous evaluation studies at WestEd in the areas of mathematics, literacy, and social–emotional learning.
Education
- PhD in science education, University of California, Santa Barbara
- MA in science education, University of California, Santa Barbara
- BA in molecular & cell biology and history, University of California, Berkeley
Select Publications
Wong, N., Elsayed, R., Nilsen, K., Perez, L. R., & Daehler, K. R. (2024). Centering educators’ voices in the development of professional learning for data-rich, place-based science instruction. Education Sciences, 14(4), Article 356. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14040356
Carpenter, S. L., Kim, J., Nilsen, K., Irish, T., Bianchini, J. A., & Berkowitz, A. R. (2020). Secondary science teachers’ use of discourse moves to work with student ideas in classroom discussions. International Journal of Science Education, 42(15), 2513–2533. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2020.1820620
Burleson, W., Harlow, D. B., Nilsen, K. J., Perlin, K., Freed, N., Jensen, C. N., Lahey, B., Lu, P., & Muldner, K. (2017). Active learning environments with robotic tangibles: Children’s physical and virtual spatial programming experiences. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 99. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2017.2724031
Stewart, A. R., Scalzo, J. N., Merino, N., & Nilsen, K. (2015, Summer). Beyond the criteria: Evidence of teacher learning in a performance assessment. Teacher Education Quarterly, 42(3), 33–58.
Franklin, D., Conrad, P. T., Boe, B., Nilsen, K., Hill, C., Len, M., Dreschler, G., Aldana, G., Almeida-Tanaka, P., Kiefer, B., Laird, C., Lopez, F., Pham, C., Suarez, J., & Waite, R. (2013). Assessment of computer science learning in a scratch-based outreach program. In SIGCSE ’13: Proceedings from the 44th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 371–376). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2445196.2445304
Harlow, D., & Nilsen, K. (2011). Virtual inquiry experiences. Science and Children, 49(4), 42–45.
Nilsen, K., Iveland, A., Britton, T., Tyler, B., & Arnett, E. (2019). Environmental instruction catalyzes standards-based science teaching: How environmental literacy aids implementation of the NGSS. WestEd. https://k12alliance.org/docs/09-NGSS-Environmental-Instruction-Report_FINAL.pdf
Nilsen, K., Iveland, A., Tyler, B., Britton, T., Nguyen, K., & Arnett, E. (2020). NGSS in the classroom: What Early Implementer science instruction looks like. WestEd. https://k12alliance.org/docs/13-NGSS_In_The_Classroom_FINALv2.pdf
Nilsen, K., Tyler, B., Arnett, E., Britton, T., Estrella, D., Luttgen, K., Moyle, P., & Montoya, R. (2020). It’s about TIME: A rigorous new process for selecting instructional materials for science. WestEd. https://k12alliance.org/docs/NGSS-TIME-Report_11_FINAL.pdf