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Leading the Future of STEM and Language Education

Okhee Lee is a leading scholar recognized for her work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education with diverse K-12 student groups, especially multilingual learners. Okhee’s publications in Educational Researcher, a prestigious journal of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), have put her on the national stage for boldly taking on controversial topics that affect diverse student groups across the nation. Her research culminated in integrating English language proficiency/development (ELP/ELD) standards with contemporary content standards, like the Next Generation Science Standards, to end disparities in STEM subjects for multilingual learners.

In an AERA video, Okhee discusses the significance of her groundbreaking 2019 article, “Aligning English Language Proficiency Standards With Content Standards: Shared Opportunity and Responsibility Across English Learner Education and Content Areas.” Traditionally, content standards and ELP/ELD standards have not been in alignment, creating significant challenges for teachers. Okhee’s research is the first to demonstrate how contemporary ELP/ELD standards align with contemporary science standards and showcases how the two sets of standards can be used in tandem to promote equitable education for all students, especially multilingual learners.

Current Research

Okhee’s current work involves integrating multiple STEM disciplines to address equity and justice for all students, with a focus on minoritized student groups.

The Garbage Unit

Okhee is principal investigator of the NYU SAIL Research Lab at New York University, where she is a professor of childhood education. Under her leadership and with funding from the National Science Foundation, the Science And Integrated Language (SAIL) team developed a yearlong fifth-grade science curriculum that makes use of garbage in the first of the four units.

The instructional materials for The Garbage Unit promote both science learning and language learning for all students, including multilingual learners. The project built on the SAIL conceptual framework for language use in the science classroom as students engage in science and engineering practices (Lee, Quinn, & Valdés, 2013).

The unit received the prestigious NGSS Design Badge, awarded only to top-rated science units designed to meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The curriculum underwent rigorous peer review by Achieve, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization. The Garbage Unit was beta tested by fifth graders in an urban school district in New Jersey.



Okhee Lee CV