Sophia Jeong

Headshot of Sophia Jeong

Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning

Program Area: Science, STEM

jeong.387@osu.edu

Biography

https://u.osu.edu/esse/

Sophia Jeong is an Assistant Professor of Science Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Science Education in 2018 from the University of Georgia (UGA), following in the footsteps of her father, Dr. Jinwoo Jeong (UGA ‘1987, science education) – a pioneer of Earth Sciences Education at the Korea National University of Education (KNUE).

Dr. Jeong’s scholarly work draws on theories of new materialisms to examine ontological complexities of subjectivities and socio-material relations in the science classrooms. Broadly speaking, her research interests focus on equity issues in science education through the lens of rhizomatic, nonlinear analysis of K-16 science classrooms. As a science teacher educator, Jeong is passionate about fostering creativity, encouraging inquisitive minds, and developing youth’s socio-political consciousness and activism through science education.

Education

  • PhD in Science Education, University of Georgia

Research Interests

Research Summary

Jeong is a former high school biology and chemistry teacher and trained in molecular biology and science education. Her research goal is to re-imagine science education as a vehicle to make this world a more just world. As a teacher-scholar her scholarship is grounded in investigating day-to-day practices of the science classrooms from a posthuman orientation. In so doing, she pushes the boundaries of research methodologies in science education to create productive tensions and space for multiplicities of the socials (such as gender, race, power, equity, etc.) and consider ways in which science teaching and learning can be re-imagined in the following contexts:

  • In the context of working with doctoral students, she is passionate about creating synergy among emerging scholars to ask questions in science education that have yet been thought. Through a posthuman lens she encourages graduate students to consider agents – both humans and more-than-humans that co-constitute our worlds – in order to re-imagine science teaching and learning.
  • In the context of science teacher preparation and discipline-based education research (DBER), she applies non-linear, rhizomatic thinking to examine multiple and different ways in which equitable science teaching can be enacted and open up possibilities of science teachers’ or college science instructors' becomings or “people-yet-to-be.”
  • In the context of working with K-12 students and their STEM teachers, her research aims to distill thought provoking theories and concepts to practice as a way to make space for a diverse array of students' subjectivities, and multiple ways of knowing and learning in science.

Jeong is a principal investigator on projects funded through multiple grants. Her research is grounded in the classrooms working closely with in-service STEM teachers and administrators in local school districts. She welcomes collaborations with graduate students, preservice science teachers, science/STEM teacher-scholars, and K-12 students to think more deeply about equitable and inclusive science teaching and learning, and what science education could become to render all of us to become response-able towards a more just world.

The Ohio State University and Columbus City Schools Collaboration – Seeking Community Partners

  • Jeong (OSU) began a meaningful partnership with Mrs. Kelsea Frazier, an exceptional science teacher and former preservice science teacher candidate of Jeong’s. Both shared a simple but powerful goal: to keep students engaged in school and guide them onto a STEM education pathway toward post-secondary education. Building on years of trust and respect with CCS, Jeong has successfully collaborated with West High School under the leadership of Dr. Daniel Roberts (Principal). With numerous outreach efforts to foster community partnerships, Jeong and Dr. Roberts are now launching a three-pronged approach to revitalizing West High School:
    1. Project-based, interdisciplinary science teaching and learning in the classrooms.
    2. A technology-enhanced STEM escape room that aligns with state science standards (partnership with Youth for STEM Equity).
    3. Internship opportunities in biomedical and engineering fields, as well as STEM education, providing real-life experiences that complement classroom learning.

Current community partners for the internship opportunities include OSU Engineering (Nina Parshall, Nia Johnson, Lisa Barclay) and OSU Medicine (Robert Baiocchi). As we prepare for our pilot group of students to begin this exciting programming, we are actively seeking additional community partners interested in offering engineering, biomedical, and/or STEM education internship opportunities and mentorship. If you are interested in partnering with us, please reach out to Dr. Sophia Jeong at jeong.387@osu.edu. We would love the opportunity to work together to enrich the STEM educational experiences of students at West High School!

Honors

  • Fulbright Turkiye (Bogazici University), Using AI to foster culturally responsive pedagogy in science teaching
  • Mary Frances Early College of Education Alumni Award as Early Career Researcher, The University of Georgia Alumni Relations
  • “Hidden Figures: Women in Science,” Featured science educator in commemoration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, The Ohio State University, https://edge.ehe.osu.edu/hidden-figures-women-in-science/

Selected Grants

  • Principal Investigator, “High Science Engagement and Youth Advocacy through an Interdisciplinary Phenomenon-and Project-based Science Instruction” – The Ohio State University/Columbus City Schools; $24,791
  • Principal Investigator, Battelle Engineering, Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) Endowment, “From Classrooms to Catalysts: Fostering Youth Advocacy and Activism Through Interdisciplinary Science and Community Research” – The Ohio State University; $65,500 
  • Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation, Improving Undergraduate STEM Education, “Collaborative Research: Equitable Science Sensemaking: Helping Teacher Candidates Support Multiple Pathways for Learning” -- Award Abstract # 2213127; $155,994.00
  • Principal Investigator, The Dean' Emerging Seed Grant #1, “Cultivating innovative methodologies and Transdisciplinarity through dialogic reflexivity” – The Ohio State University; $15,000
  • Principal Investigator, The Dean' Emerging Seed Grant #2, “Secondary preservice teachers’ learning as becomings through the lens of rhizomatic thinking” – The Ohio State University; $15,000
  • Co-Investigator, The Dean' Emerging Seed Grant #3, “Project modeling for inclusive science teaching (MIST): Developing effective science instruction for students classified as English learners and students with disabilities” – The Ohio State University; $15,000
  • Co-Investigator, Battelle Engineering, Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) Endowment, “From classrooms to communities: Fostering youth activism and civic engagement through case-based high school biology curriculum” – The Ohio State University; $50,000

Selected Publications

Books Edited

  • Jeong, S., Bryan, L., Tippins, D., & Sexton, C. (Eds.). (2023). Navigating the challenges of elementary science teaching and learning: Using case-based pedagogy to understand dilemmas of practice. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • Jeong, S., Jeong, S.Y., Reeves, E., Canan, C. (accepted 2024). Fostering Equity and Advocacy in a High School Biology Classroom: A Case Study Approach to Genetics and Social Justice. The Science Teacher.
  • Jeong, S.Y., Gray, K., & Jeong, S. (accepted 2024). Engaging High School Students in Science through Case-Based Teaching and Learning: Bridging Health Disparities with Environmental Context. The American Biology Teacher.
  • Jeong, S. (accepted 2024). Redescription of a dwelling place: Re-imagining sustainability education through a posthuman lens. In G. Gano (Ed.), Community engaged critical research. The Journal of Sustainability Education.
  • Jeong, S. & Silverman, E. H. (2023). Bringing the politics of climate change down to Earth: Student descriptions of dwelling place and ‘geo-graphies’ as alternative belongings. East China Normal University Review of Education
  • Jeong, S. & Buxton, C. (2023). Things Matter: A Posthuman Empirical Inquiry into the Actualization of Gender in an Advanced Placement Biology Classroom. In K. Sidebottom, N. Fairchild, & C. Lee (Eds.), Posthumanism: A desire for a new humanity. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry
  • Jeong S., & Steele, D. (2023). Re-imagining preservice science teachers’ becoming as ethical mattering: Diffracting noticing in an elementary science methods course. In D. Steele, S. Jeong, & B. Upadhyay. Transforming Communities: Equitable Science Teaching. Journal of Science Teacher Education
  • Steele, D., & Jeong S. (2023). Conceptualizations-in-motion: Exploring pre-service science teachers shifts in views about justice-centered science pedagogy. In D. Steele, S. Jeong, & B. Upadhyay. Transforming Communities: Equitable Science Teaching. Journal of Science Teacher Education
  • Bateman, K., Sherman, B., & Jeong, S. (2022). Ethics are not on the test: Diffraction and affect in education policy. In K. Sidebottom, N. Fairchild, & C. Lee (Eds.), Posthumanism: A desire for a new humanity. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry.
  • Jeong, S., Clyburn, J., Bhatia, N., McCourt, J., & Lemons, P. (2022). Professional development for college instructors focusing on student thinking in biology. College Biology Education-A Journal of Life Science Education.
  • Luft, J., *Jeong, S., Idsardi, B., & Gardner, G. (2022). Theoretical frameworks, conceptual frameworks, and literature review for discipline-based education researchers. College Biology Education-A Journal of Life Science Education.
  • Jeong, S., Sherman, B., & Tippins, D. (2021). The Anthropocene as we know it: Posthumanism, science education and scientific literacy as a path to sustainability. In K. Tobin (Ed.), Contemplative Inquiry, Wellbeing and Science Education. Cultural Studies in Science Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10029-9
  • Sherman, B., Bateman, K., Jeong, S., & Hudock, L. (2021). Dialogic meta-ethnography: Troubling methodology in ethnographically informed qualitative. Cultural Studies in Science Education. 16, 279-302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09961-8