Thomas J. McKenna

Thomas “TJ” McKenna, PhD, is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Science Education at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. He works at the nexus of policy, practice, and research in ways that deepen the understanding of how to make progress on the ecological problem of supporting teachers (pre-service & in-service) in their efforts to offer high quality science learning to all of our students.

McKenna has spent the past 20 years as a scientist, educator (formal and informal), on-air science communicator, and faculty member focused on uncovering what works well in STEM education and how we can improve in scaling research and practice-based efforts. He is also the director of the Center for STEM Professional Learning at Scale. Dr. McKenna also is the founder and creator of www.ngssphenomena.com, a website designed to be educative and support teachers in learning more about phenomena-based instruction. The site has 3.5 million views and engages teachers though phenomena on the site and through the companion Twitter account.