Dr. Cole has prior experience mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in conducting STEM Education research, broadly defined. She has also included a variety of teachers in her research as well.
Dr. Cole’s research interests focus on the relationship between spatial thinking and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) content as well as the ways in which teachers understand and implement project-based instruction and the impact of implementation on students’ understanding of STEM content. Other research interests include the content understanding and self-efficacy of practitioners of science communication and/or science outreach and the impacts on their audiences.