Dr. Ayça Fackler is an Assistant Professor of Science Education at the University of Missouri. Her research program examines how science and engineering practices create opportunities for language development and sensemaking in multilingual and multicultural classrooms. She investigates the language affordances of these practices and how, when coupled with multiliteracies, they can expand students’ participation in science. A key dimension of her work involves building capacity in preservice and inservice science teachers to leverage science practices in ways that integrate language and content, promote linguistic equity, and advance justice for marginalized and minoritized learners.

Dr. Fackler is a 2023–2025 Early Career Research Fellow in the Education Track of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), a highly competitive program that awarded her $76,000 to support her innovative early career research.

She was recently awarded a $430,000 grant from NASEM to lead SEMILLAS (Sowing Environmental Multilingualism: Integrating Learning, Linguistics, and Action in Science), a project that partners with science teachers to engage youth in community-based science learning rooted in local, familial, and multilingual contexts. Drawing on placemaking and futures-thinking pedagogies, the project advances NGSS-aligned science and climate change education in the Gulf of Mexico region.

Her scholarship has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Science Teacher Education, Science & Education, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, as well as in book chapters, teacher-facing journals, and conference proceedings.

Dr. Fackler is a Jhumki Basu Fellow and a Sandra Abell Fellow and has been recognized by NARST for her commitment to equity and justice in science education, particularly in her work with underrepresented groups. A first-generation college graduate and bilingual researcher, she holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Science Education from the University of Georgia.

Areas of Expertise

• Linguistic justice in science education
• Multilingual learners
• Elementary science education
• Science teacher education
• Qualitative research methods