Curriculum and Instruction

Noah Weeth Feinstein

Professor

nfeinstein@wisc.edu

(608) 262-6288

226-B Teacher Education Building

225 N. Mills Street

Madison, WI 53706-1707

Feinstein, Noah

Download CV  

I study how people make sense of science in their personal, social, and political lives — and how educational platform such as schools and museums can help. I recently contributed to a National Academies report on science literacy, and am currently studying how science museums seek to become more equitable institutions. I also write about environmental and sustainability education, public knowledge, and educational responses to the “post-truth era,” and have become increasingly interested in the role of education in climate change adaptation. My work is usually classified under headings like “informal science education” and “public engagement with science,” but I think of myself as a scholar of Science and Technology Studies (STS) who works on problems related to learning, education, and social change.

Associate Professor, Curriculum & Instruction
Associate Professor, Community & Environmental Sociology
Director, Robert E. and Jean F. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies

Education

  • PhD Science Education, Stanford University, 2008
  • MS Biological Sciences, Stanford University, 2006

Select Publications

  • Feinstein, N. W. (In Press). The paradox of public knowledge in environmental sociology. The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology
  • Feinstein, N. W., & Mach, K. J. (In Press). Three roles for education in climate change adaptation. Climate Policy
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2017). Equity and the Meaning of Science Learning: A defining challenge for science museums. Science Education, 101(4), 533-538.
  • Feinstein, N. W., Bromme, R., Barzilai, S., & Baram-Tsabari, A. (2017). What counts as success in public engagement with science? (Blog Post). Public Understanding of Science, 101(4), 533-538. Online Publication/Abstract.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2015). Education, communication, and science in the public sphere. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(2), 145-163.
  • Feinstein, N. W., & Kirchgasler, K. L. (2015). Sustainability in science education? How the Next Generation Science Standards approach sustainability, and why it matters. Science Education, 99(1), 121–144.
  • Feinstein, N. W., & Meshoulam, D. (2014). Science for what public? Addressing equity in American science museums and science centers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51(3), 368-394.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2014). Making sense of autism: Progressive engagement with science among parents of young, recently diagnosed autistic children. Public Understanding of Science, 23(5), 592-609.
  • Feinstein, N. W., Allen, S., & Jenkins, E. (2013). Outside the pipeline: Re-imagining science education for non-scientists. Science, 340(6130), 314-317. Online Publication/Abstract.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2011). Salvaging science literacy. Science Education, 95(1), 168-185.

Select Presentations

  • Feinstein, N. W. (2019, April). Boundary Work and Racialized Discourse in Museums’ Decisions to Host an Exhibition on Race. presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2019, April). Choosing to Change? Interpretive Framing of a Traveling Exhibition Affects its Impact on Hosting Museums. presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada.
  • Feinstein, N. W., & Waddington, D. I. (2018, April). Getting Over “Truth,” or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Post-Truth World. presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2018, April). How Does Reflection Mediate Organizational Change in Museums? Applying the Double-Loop Model to Informal Environments. presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2018, April). Museums and Structural Racism: What can (and should) be done? presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2018, February). Collective Science Literacy. presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Austin, TX.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2017, October). Fighting for Progress on Equity and Inclusion at Science Centers in the USA and Europe. presented at the Association of Science and Technology Centers, San Jose, CA.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2017, June). Science Literacy and the Structure of Engagement Experiences. presented at the Public Engagement with Science Online – A Research Workshop, Haifa, Israel.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2017, April). Climate change adaptation and the necessary synergy of science and social studies. presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX.
  • Feinstein, N. W. (2015). Evidence of value? Confronting the long-term validity problem of science education. Keynote/Plenary Address presented at the 2015 meeting of the European Science Education Research Association, Helsinki, Finland.