Marcia C. Linn

About

Marcia C. Linn is the Evelyn Lois Corey Professor of Instructional Science at the University of California, Berkeley, within the Berkeley School of Education. Her specialization is in science and technology education. She is a member of the National Academy of Education and a Fellow of several prestigious organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). Linn has served as President of the ISLS, Chair of the AAAS Education Section, and has been involved with various boards such as the Educational Testing Service Graduate Record Examination, the McDonnell Foundation Cognitive Studies in Education Practice, and the National Science Foundation Education and Human Resources Directorate. Her research interests encompass assessment and educational measurement, cognitive development, computer-mediated learning, curriculum design, diversity and educational equity, educational media, gender equity, information technology, participatory research, policy analysis, professional development for educators, research methods, school and non-school learning contexts, school-university collaboration, science education, simulation learning environments, teacher development, testing, urban schooling, cluster learning sciences, and social research methodologies. Linn earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from…

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Mathematics education
• Pedagogy
• Artificial Intelligence
• Medicine
• Human–computer interaction

Selected publications

• Let's talk evidence – The case for combining inquiry-based and direct instruction

  Educational Research Review · 2023 · 147 citations

  Many studies investigating inquiry learning in science domains have appeared over the years. Throughout this period, inquiry learning has been regularly criticized by scholars who favor direct instruction over inquiry learning. In this vein, Zhang, Kirschner, Cobern, and Sweller (2022) recently asserted that direct instruction is overall superior to inquiry-based instruction and reproached policy makers for ignoring this fact. In the current article we reply to this assertion and the premises on…

  PublisherDOI

• Computer-based guidance to support students’ revision of their science explanations

  Computers & Education · 2021 · 48 citations

  As they encounter new ideas, students need to make integrated revisions to their science explanations, a key aspect of science learning. This involves filling gaps, resolving inconsistencies with evidence, and strengthening connections among ideas. Rather than making integrated revisions, even after automated, adaptive guidance, students typically add disconnected ideas or fix mechanical errors. The knowledge integration framework, supported by new technologies including natural language process…

  DOI

• Self-directed Science Learning During COVID-19 and Beyond

  Journal of Science Education and Technology · 2021 · 36 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Prompted by the sudden shift to remote instruction in March 2020 brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers explored online resources to support their students learning from home. We report on how twelve teachers identified and creatively leveraged open educational resources (OERs) and practices to facilitate self-directed science learning. Based on interviews and logged data, we illustrate how teachers' use of OER starkly differed from the typical uses of technology for transmitting informat…

  DOI

• Beyond inquiry or direct instruction: Pressing issues for designing impactful science learning opportunities

  Educational Research Review · 2024-07-26 · 28 citations

  reviewOpen access

  We recently published a paper in this journal (de Jong et al., 2023) that presented an overview of the literature on learning in science domains through direct instruction and guided inquiry-based learning. This paper was, in part, a response to Zhang et al. (2022) who argued that the evidence firmly supported the superiority of direct instruction over inquiry learning. Sweller et al. (2024) recently replied by repeating this claim and also argued that we had ignored evidence against our positio…

  PublisherDOI

• <scp>A human‐centred</scp> learning analytics approach for developing contextually scalable K‐12 teacher dashboards

  British Journal of Educational Technology · 2023-09-08 · 25 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract This paper describes a Human‐Centred Learning Analytics (HCLA) design approach for developing learning analytics (LA) dashboards for K‐12 classrooms that maintain both contextual relevance and scalability—two goals that are often in competition. Using mixed methods, we collected observational and interview data from teacher partners and assessment data from their students' engagement with the lesson materials. This DBR‐based, human‐centred design process resulted in a dashboard that sup…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Helping districts respond to new science assessments--A partnership model for integrating technology, professional development and curriculum planning

  NSF · $1.7M · 2003–2007

• CLASS: Continuous Learning and Automated Scoring in Science

  NSF · $3.1M · 2011–2017

• Mentored and Online Development of Educational Leaders for Science (MODELS)

  NSF · $2.4M · 2005–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Libby Gerard

  University of California, Berkeley

  80 shared

• Marian Rice

  University of California, Berkeley

  29 shared

• Jonathan M. Vitale

  28 shared

• Camillia Matuk

  25 shared

• Michael Clancy

  21 shared

• Kevin W. McElhaney

  20 shared

• Allison Bradford

  University of California, Berkeley

  20 shared

• Nancy Butler Songer

  University of Utah

  18 shared

Education

• Ph, D. M.A. B,A,

  Stanford University

Awards & honors

• National Association for Research in Science Teaching Award…
• American Educational Research Association Willystine Goodsel…
• Council of Scientific Society Presidents first award for Exc…

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