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Haira Gandolfi

Position/Status

University Lecturer

E-mail Address

heg38@cam.ac.uk

Qualifications

  • 2019 – PhD (Education) – Institute of Education, University College London (UCL)
  • 2015 – MA (Hons., Science Education) – State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil
  • 2010 – BSc (Hons., Chemistry with Teaching Qualification) – State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil

Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations

  • British Educational Research Association (BERA)
  • European Science Education Research Association (ESERA)
  • International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Group (IHPST)
  • European Network on Thoughtfulness in Biology Education
  • Qualified Teacher Status (QTS, England)
  • Qualified Teacher Status, Full registration – Science with Chemistry (GTC Scotland)

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Profile

Haira joined the Faculty of Education in 2020, having previously worked as a Research Fellow at the UCL Institute of Education/UK, from where she also obtained her PhD in Education in 2019. She teaches on various programmes across the faculty around Decoloniality, Curriculum and Pedagogy; Science Education and Science & Technology Studies; Teachers’ Development and Professionalism; and qualitative school-based research methodologies.

Haira’s main expertise is on school-based research around decolonial curricula and pedagogies, and she has worked with practitioners and their students in schools in the London area throughout the past five years. She has also been involved with various EEF-funded projects on chemistry teaching, professional development of early career teachers, etc.

Haira is also part of several research networks around (Science) Education and Teachers’ Development in Europe and Latin America (especially in Brazil), with a focus on intercultural and radical teaching, and on youth’s engagement with socio-scientific issues.

Prior to her time in the UK, Haira worked as a Science and Chemistry teacher for 8 years in secondary schools and in post-secondary/technical colleges in Brazil. She also holds a BSc in Chemistry, a BSc in Chemistry Teaching and a MA in Science Education, all from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP)/Brazil.

Academic Area/Links


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Research Topics

  • Science Education: Decolonial Curriculum; Nature of Science; Socio-scientific issues and emergencies.
  • Science and Technology Studies: Decolonial perspectives on History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science; Global History and Sociology of Science.
  • Teacher Education: Researcher-Teacher/School-University partnerships; Teachers Identities, Professional Development and Professionalism; Radical and Critical Teaching and Social Justice.
  • Curriculum and Pedagogy: Curriculum design; Teaching Resources design; Decolonial and Critical Pedagogy.
  • Youth and social action: youth’s engagement with socio-environmental issues.

Prospective PhD Applications

Haira would welcome informal contact from prospective PhD students on the following research areas

  • Science Education: particularly the links with History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science, nature of science, socio-scientific issues, and youth’s engagement with socio-environmental issues.
  • Decolonial Education: particularly ‘decolonising the curriculum’ and school-based projects.
  • Teacher Education and Development: particularly classroom-based projects, radical and critical teaching, teachers’ professionalism.

Current Research Project(s)

  • Radical Teachers and Teaching in England
  • Bridging the gaps in environmental engagement between schools, researchers and community groups: A Brazil-UK Network
  • EEF Evaluation – Early Career Teacher Support Pilots

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Teaching

  • Postgraduate
    • MPhil: Knowledge, Power and Politics; Research Methods Strand
    • MEd

  • Undergraduate
    • Tripos: Critical Debates in Education
    • Tripos: Childhood and youth
    • Tripos: Designing Educational Research
    • PGCE: Professional Studies

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Principal and Recent Publications

Gandolfi, H. E. (in press). “It’s a lot of people in different places working on many ideas”: possibilities from Global History of Science to learning about Nature of Science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching.

Gandolfi, H. E. (in press). Decolonising the Science Curriculum in England: insights from Decolonial Science & Technology Studies to secondary school science. The Curriculum Journal (BERA).

Gandolfi, H. E. (2020). “I didn’t know how that could come to this curriculum”: teacher’s growth through the development of materials about Nature of Science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2020.1730049.

Gandolfi, H. E. (2019). In defence of non-epistemic aspects of nature of science: insights from an intercultural approach to History of Science. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 14, 557–567. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-018-9879-8.

Gandolfi, H. E. (2019). História Global da Ciência: uma estratégia intercultural para o ensino de Natureza da Ciência. In: S. F. M. Figueiroa (ed.), História e Filosofia das Ciências da Natureza e da Matemática: ensino, pesquisa e formação de professores. Sao Paulo/Brazil: Hipótese. ISBN: 9786580428090. [book chapter: Global History of Science: an intercultural strategy for NOS teaching; book title: History and Philosophy of Natural Science and Mathematics: teaching, research and teacher education – in Portuguese]

Gandolfi, H. E. (2018). Different People in Different Places: Secondary School Students’ Knowledge About History of Science. Science & Education, 27(3–4), 259–297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-018-9971-1.

Gandolfi, H. E. (2018). Teaching about nature of science in secondary education: a view from multicultural classrooms. ASE International, 2, 11-19.

Gandolfi, H. E. (2017). Teaching about nature of science in secondary education: a view from multicultural classrooms. School Science Review, 98(365), 55-62.

Gandolfi, H. E. & Figueiroa, S. F. M. (2017). Formação de professores e pesquisa em História das Ciências. Educa - Revista Multidisciplinar em Educação, 4, 3-28. https://doi.org/10.26568/2359-2087.2017.2121. [Multidisciplinary Journal in Education - in Portuguese]

Gandolfi, H. E. & Figueiroa, S. F. M. (2016). La enseñanza de química desde las geociencias: la minería colonial y sugerencias para el trabajo interdisciplinario. REXE Revista de Estudios y Experiencias en Educación, 15, p. 181-196. https://doi.org/10.21703/rexe.201628181196102. [Journal of Studies and Experiences in Education - in Spanish]

Haira Gandolfi

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