Doris B. Ash

I am a Professor Emerita in science education in the education department at UC Santa Cruz.

I have been there about 20 years. I received my MS in biology from Cornell University. I have mentored many graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. I teach in the science teacher pre-service programs helping to increase the emphasis of both meaningful content and social justice in science education.

Before that I was a science educator at the Exploratorium in San Francisco for five years. I received my Ph.D. in science education from the University of California Berkeley working with Ann Brown and Joe Campione on 'fostering a community of learners' classrooms. Ann was a sociocultural scholar and so am I. More recently I have relied on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) while maintaining my Vygotskian roots focused on dialogic meaning making.

All my research centers on issues of equity and access for non-dominant students, families and communities; we may discuss what that means in our sessions. My most recent research is in the informal context, especially museums and aquariums.