Office: JILA A502
Dr. Jessica Hoehn is the current director of Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC), a CU Boulder program that connects university volunteers with local K-12 students to create transformative and empowering experiences with science. She received her Ph.D. in Physics Education Research from CU Boulder in 2019. Her dissertation research focused on student reasoning in quantum mechanics, including investigating the organizational structures students use (ontologies), students' beliefs about learning physics (epistemologies), and social dynamics in collective problem-solving settings. Overall, this work explores how we can value the messiness of student learning. As a postdoc, Jessica conducted research on the role of writing in physics lab classes as well as students' epistemologies of experimental physics. Current research interests include science communication in informal STEM learning environments, documenting the longterm impacts of PISEC on youth participants, and creating equitable science environments that foster a sense of belonging.