Kate Miller

A former high school physics teacher, Kate Miller’s teaching and scholarship are grounded in a commitment to equity and justice-oriented science education. Drawing on eight years of secondary classroom experience in both domestic (East Coast) and international (Peru) contexts, her work focuses on preparing and supporting pre-service and in-service secondary science teachers to create learning environments that affirm students' identities, center their lived experiences, and position science as a tool for understanding and transforming the world.

Kate's research examines how pre-service and early-career science teachers develop and enact justice-oriented teaching practices, with particular attention to the competing tensions they navigate in their daily practice. Central to her work are questions of equity and power in science education, such as whose ways of being, knowing, and doing count in science classrooms, and how teachers negotiate and respond to those boundaries in their practice. She regularly collaborates with practicing teachers and teacher educators through long-term professional learning communities to design, enact, and study justice-oriented science curriculum and pedagogy.

Outside of academia, Kate's favorite hobby is trying new hobbies. Recent pursuits include parkour, trapeze, martial arts, yoga, climbing, crocheting, and whatever catches her curiosity next.

Education

• PhD in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education, Michigan State University
• MSEd in Secondary Physics and Mathematics Education, University of Pennsylvania
• BS in Interdisciplinary Physics, University of Michigan

Courses Taught

• TCH 374/474 Teaching the Science In Middle Grades and High School 1
• TCH 385/485 Teaching the Science In Middle Grades and High School 2
• TCH 380/480 The Teacher as Professional

Research Interests

Justice-oriented science teaching; secondary science teacher education; educational equity; pre- and in-service teacher learning; critical consciousness development; qualitative research

Selected Publications

• Miller, K. (2026). Physics is political: A loving critique of “Sidestepping politics in my physics classroom” [Manuscript submitted to The Science Teacher]. Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University. https://doi.org/10.1080/00368555.2026.2651896
• Adams, M., Brien, S., & Miller, K. (2025). Investigating social justice science education praxis through culturally sustaining pedagogy. In K. L. Terrell & D. Silva Pimentel (Eds.), STEM education and culturally sustaining pedagogies: Research, practices, and critical reflections (pp. 139–180). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-5342-5.ch005
• Goetz, J., Hartman, M., Hotchkiss, H., Miller, K., & Warner, K. (2023). “I don’t even belong in this class, bro”: A framework for teacher inquiry into students’ sense of belonging. Kaleidoscope: Educator Voices and Perspectives, 9(2), 15–23. https://knowlesteachers.org/resource/i-dont-even-belong-in-this-class-bro-a-framework-for-teacher-inquiry-into-students-sense-of-belonging

Selected Presentations

• Miller, K. (2026, January). Navigating knots: A novice science teacher’s strategies for enacting social justice science teaching amidst tensions [Conference presentation]. Association of Science Teacher Education International Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.
• Miller, K., Brien, S., & Adams, M. (2025, July). Planning a social justice unit [Collaborative working group]. Knowles Teacher Initiative’s Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
• Miller, K., Brien, S., & Adams, M. (2025, July). Social justice (science) teaching: Examples from the classroom [Conference poster presentation]. Knowles Teacher Initiative’s Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
• Miller, K., Walser, M., Adams, M., Bogun, L., Brien, S., Jackson, K., Nguyen, A., & Tukurah, G. (2025, May 14). Teaching science for social justice: Units from a curriculum writing institute [Poster presentation]. 2025 Mini-Conference, CREATE for STEM, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States.
• Moore, A., Akhemtova, A., Farver, S., Lee, R., & Miller, K. (2025, May 8). Lean on me: Collaborating to center justice teaching on “days after” [Panel session presentation]. Spring Teaching and Learning Knowledge Sharing, Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States.
• Miller, K. (2025, March). Tools to research critical science consciousness. In M. Walser, K. Miller, S. Brien, L. Crabtree, N. Confer, N. Hefty, T. MacKenzie, & A. Nguyen, Critical science consciousness: A framework and applications across science teachers, teacher educators, and researchers [Symposium]. National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual International Conference, National Harbor, MD, United States.
• Miller, K., & Alonzo, A. (2025, January). Attention to critical science consciousness in supporting justice-oriented science teaching [Conference presentation]. Association of Science Teacher Education International Conference, Long Beach, CA, United States.
• Miller, K. (2024, March). Investigating secondary science preservice teachers’ onto-epistemologies as pathways to justice-oriented science teaching [Conference presentation]. National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual International Conference, Denver, CO, United States.
• Miller, K. (2024, January). Secondary science preservice teachers’ onto-epistemologies [Conference presentation]. Science Educators for Equity, Diversity, & Social Justice Conference, Tucson, AZ, United States.
• Miller, K. (2023, April). A brief review of secondary physics identity research in the United States [Conference presentation]. National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual International Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.
• Adams, M., Miller, K., & Tukurah, G. (2023, April). Investigating teacher educator practices for pre-service teachers’ enactment of justice-oriented science teaching [Conference presentation]. National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual International Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.