Dana Atwood-Blaine, PhD
Associate Professor
SEC 627
Directory Contact
Dana Atwood-Blaine, PhD
Associate Professor
I've always been highly engaged and fascinated by both the natural world and technology. Throughout my 15 years of PK-6th grade teaching, I have served as the science specialist for my grade level team, the technology training coordinator for my district, and an integrated STEM advocate. I am delighted to be a faculty member here at the University of Northern Iowa, where I can inspire the next generation of elementary teachers to embrace and enjoy teaching science and STEM!
University of Kansas, PhD, 2015, Curriculum & Instruction, emphasis Elementary Science Education; Minor Geography (GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing)
Pepperdine University, MA, 2000, Educational Technology
University of Pennsylvania, BA, 1992, Elementary Education (minor Psychology)
ELEMECML 3161 Teaching Elementary School Science
ELEMECML 6241 Analysis and Improvement of Science Instruction in the Elementary School
ELEMECML 5141 Integrated Activities in Elementary School Science and Mathematics
- Elementary integrated STEM teaching
- The Professional Development School (PDS) model for improving science and STEM instruction for elementary pre-service and in-service teachers
- Designing and studying location-based games for learning
Principal Investigator for the "Growing Elementary STEM Teacher Leaders in Iowa" project, a Noyce Capacity Building grant (2022-2023) leading toward a Track 3 Master Elementary STEM Teacher Fellowship program
Chair of the Iowa Pre-Service Teacher STEM Conference
- Atwood-Blaine, D.L. (2020). After-School STEAM Club Connects Botany, Art, and Gaming. Science Scope, 43(7).
- Atwood-Blaine, D. (2020). Pilot Study: Teaching Elementary Science Methods within a PDS Approach. Exploratory Session presented at the Association of Teacher Educators Conference, January 10, 2020, San Antonio, TX. Atwood-Blaine, D. & Rule, A. (2019). Creative self-efficacy of youth engaged in science museum situated mobile game. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 33, 100580.
- Atwood-Blaine, D. & Kuhn, M. (2019). Home-Grown Primary Science: Developing District-wide K-2 Science teachers and Curriculum Aligned to NGSS using the ASSIST Approach, Individual paper presented at the Association of Science Teacher Educators Conference, January 6, 2019, Savannah, GA.
- Atwood-Blaine, D. (2017). Using Location-Based Games to Bridge the Gap Between In-school and Out-of-school Learning. Presented at the annual conference of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). San Antonio, TX. June, 2017.
- Atwood-Blaine, D. & Huffman, D. (2017). Mobile gaming and student interactions in a science center: The future of gaming in science education. Submitted by invitation to a Special Issue on the Future of STEM Education by The International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education.