Carol O’Donnell

Carol O’Donnell is the Douglas M. Lapp and Anne B. Keiser Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, which is dedicated to transforming K–12 Education through Science in collaboration with communities across the globe. Carol began her career as a primary school teacher. Her TedX Talk demonstrates her passion for “doing science” and “object-driven learning.”

Stories from this author

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Bringing the Smithsonian Into Classrooms for 40 Years

The Smithsonian Science Education Center is Transforming K-12 Education through Science, in collaboration with communities across the globe

Globe with a quote "Are we educating our students to understand the complex global challenges of our time?"

Teaching About Real-World, Transdisciplinary Problems and Phenomena through Convergence Education

In its 2018 Federal STEM Strategic Plan, a collaboration of government agencies wrote that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education should move through a pathway where disciplines "converge" and where teaching and learning moves from disciplinary to transdisciplinary. Classroom examples help spotlight what this framework can look like in practice.

When the 2020-2021 school year started, 39 of the nation’s 50 largest school systems were among those that chose a distance learning instructional model. (ake1150sb/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Learning Science at Home

Homes are special places of discovery, abounding with scientific phenomena and engineering marvels.