The Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM) brings together a group of researchers who are interested in exploring formal and informal practices of teaching, learning and engagement in diverse contexts of STEM education.
We have a strong tradition of collaborating with young people, teachers, educators in out-of-school settings, and policy makers, both nationally and internationally. We are committed to promoting equitable and inclusive learning experiences for diverse learners and foregrounding environmental justice in educational practice. We have expertise in analysing curriculum policy and the nature of assessment, and in scrutinising large-scale quantitative datasets. The Centre offers research training and supervision in quantitative and qualitative research approaches including microgenetic methods, participatory approaches and multimodal analyses.
Scholarships
The Centre provides three scholarships for students:
The STEM Education teacher scholarship, funded by WIPRO, provides bursaries for teachers applying to the MA in STEM Education.
The Rosalind Driver Scholarship Fund and the Bernard Dawson Scholarship Fund provide fees and stipends for PhD study in aspects of science education.
You can find out more information on each of the scholarships here.
People
Emeritus Reader in Assistive Technologies
PhD candidate
Emeritus Professor of Science Education
Senior Lecturer in Science Education
Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Education
PhD Candidate in CRESTEM
Projects
3D learning in a rich cooperative haptic environment
The overall aim of the project is to design, develop and evaluate a 3D virtual learning environment incorporating a haptic interface.
COM n PLAY Science
Learning science the fun and creative way: coding, making and play as vehicles for informal science learning in the 21st century.
Elements for Inclusion – a digital zine by Jonny Berliner
A digital zine telling the life-stories of four successful neurodivergent chemists, depicting the barriers they faced and the lessons they learned.
Future Inventors
Future Inventors supports the development of a new lab space in the Museum Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia aimed at facilitating learner engagement with STEM.
Heartwood Volume 1 & 2. Voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Heartwood Volumes 1 & 2 are a collection of personal heartfelt reflections aimed at engaging readers in important academic thinking on environmental education.
Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science
The SAILS project aimed to help prepare teachers to teach science through an inquiry approach and be more confident and competent in their assessments.
Subject choice, attainment and representation in Computing (SCARI computing)
This project aims to explore the predictors of computing uptake and performance in English schools, by using a range of case studies and national datasets.
Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic
This project examines the impact of the substantial changes and sustained disruption caused by Covid-19 to the development of secondary school teachers.
Understanding environmental education in secondary schools
This project explored the impact of the curriculum changes on the current state of environmental education provision across secondary schools in England.
Publications
Activities
CRESTEM seminar series
The CRESTEM seminar series allows speakers to explore and explain their areas of STEM research.
Writing Group for Academic Publishing
This group, chaired by Professor Pat Mahony, meets monthly (on the first Wednesday of each month, 12.30-1.30pm) to support ECS staff and PhD students in getting their work published. Each month, one member circulates their draft of an article or book chapter and the rest of the group provide feedback in a constructive and supportive way. We aim to help the author to improve their paper in preparation for submission as well as support broader learning on the process of academic publishing. If you would like to join, please contact Dr Clare Coultas: clare.coultas@kcl.ac.uk.
CRESTEM keynote 2025: The Science Education Tracker
David Montagu, The Royal Society and Becca Gooch, EngineeringUK, presented unique insights into science education in England afforded by the Science Education Tracker.
CRESTEM Keynote Lecture 2023: Seeking a research agenda for computing education for young people
Dr Sue Sentance outlined why she thinks computing education is a global concern and discussed areas where she thinks we need more research in order to make progress in implementing it.
CRESTEM Keynote Lecture 2022: Aestheticising Mathematics Education Research
Dr Nathalie Sinclair discussed the historical, colonial roots of the dismissal of aesthetics in current mathematics education research, as well as examples of what an aestheticising of mathematics education might look like, drawing on her own research with digital technologies.
CRESTEM keynote 2021: Science education – past and future directions
Professor Jonathan Osborne gives his personal view on the achievements of research in science education in the past 40 years.
It's Just Research Podcast
A number of our academics have been involved in the 'It's Just Research Podcast', a podcast centering the work of academics in ECS.
Research and Education for Socio-Ecological Transformations (RE-SET)
Based in the School of Education, Communication & Society, RE-SET is a collective of academics, students and educators who are concerned with researching and teaching education for a more liveable and just future.
News
Dr Arthur Galamba wins award at largest education technology event in Latin America
Dr Arthur Galamba has won the Early Stage Bett EdTech Award with his platform ‘Collabits’.
King's Africa Studentship offers chance to study transformative ecological pedagogy
King's College London is delighted to be offering the King's Africa Studentship to one student for the 2025/26 academic year.
Change your life with a scholarship to study STEM education
We are offering 13 scholarships covering 70% of the tuition fees to teachers working in state funded schools in England to study for a Master’s in STEM...
Apply Now: Scholarships available for the MA STEM Education
Thirteen scholarships covering 70 percent of the tuition fees are available to practicing teachers who want to do an MA in STEM Education.
Announcing the 2025 Scholarships for the STEM Education MA
13 scholarships are available to commence the STEM Education MA in September 2025 covering 70% of the fees, equivalent to c.£7k.
Events
2025 ECS Annual Lecture: The science, politics and technologies underpinning the climate crisis by Prof Emily Shuckburgh
Save the date for this year's ECS annual lecture which will be delivered by Prof Emily Shuckburgh OBE, Director of Cambridge Zero.
Please note: this event has passed.
Crafting stories of cloth: a proposition for how we might think twice before throwing clothes away
Rose Sinclair questions if there is a way to perhaps understand how stories of cloth might help us to revise how we look at clothes or cloth as such...
Please note: this event has passed.
Education for a liveable future: what can we learn from ‘good enough’ practice?
In this talk, Dr Sophie Perry will reflect on her recent study which explored three case studies of counterhegemonic environmental education.
Please note: this event has passed.
An Archaeological Analysis of Numeracy Across the Curriculum in England
In this talk, Amy O'Brien analyses just why numeracy and mathematics have been prioritised in policy in the UK.
Please note: this event has passed.
What is education good for in a context of socio-ecological crisis?
This lecture will explore what kind of education (in terms of purpose, pedagogy and policy) is needed to restore the health and wellbeing of the planet and...
Please note: this event has passed.
STEM Education MA
Since 2019, the MA in STEM Education welcomes students seeking the knowledge and skills to drive educational change in response to our increasingly technological and science-rich world. It provides a national, international and practically-oriented understanding of the ways in which core debates across formal and informal STEM education can shape responses to pressing social and environmental questions.
Supported by WIPRO, the Master's programme offers the chance to 15 students each year to apply for the STEM Education Teacher Scholarship worth up to 70% of tuition fees. See the Scholarships link above for more details.
New publication: Heartwood 2. More voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Published in July 2024, the second essay collection builds on Heartwood 1 to capture and distil more of the learnings from the MA module ‘Environment, Sustainability and the Role of Education’, taught within the School of Education, Communication & Society.
12 chapters exploring ideas including primary students carbon literacy, the role of Higher Education educators to teach the crisis and what environmental educators can be learn from neurodiverse learners at Forest Schools.
Heartwood. Voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Published in July 2023, the essay collection shares a year-long project aiming to capture and distil some of the learnings from the MA module 'Environment, Sustainability and the Role of Education', taught within the School of Education, Communication & Society.
Staff and students coproduced their environmental education-related research projects into digestible chapters and images to communicate new understandings beyond the gates of the university.
Heartwood Volume 1 & 2. Voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Heartfelt reflections on environmental education in the context of a climate crisis with unique images created by the authors.
Alumni stories: STEM education research in the classroom
Harry, Rasha and Natalie share how the Master's has helped them innovate in their teaching practice and discover their deep interest in STEM education research.
Alumni stories: Launching into new STEM education adventures
Aylin and Francis reflect on how the Master’s has given them the knowledge and confidence to explore new areas of STEM education – the policy sector and the entrepreneurial side of industry.
Discover: Environment, Sustainability and the Role of Education module
How do we understand the environment today, and where has this vision come from? On this module, students learn about the important role of education in responding to the multiple crises that the world is currently facing.
Discover: Quantitative Methods in the Context of Education Research module
This module trains students to develop their quantitative skills both to produce their own analyses and also to be able to critically examine the conclusions reached by other researchers.
People
Emeritus Reader in Assistive Technologies
PhD candidate
Emeritus Professor of Science Education
Senior Lecturer in Science Education
Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Education
PhD Candidate in CRESTEM
Projects
3D learning in a rich cooperative haptic environment
The overall aim of the project is to design, develop and evaluate a 3D virtual learning environment incorporating a haptic interface.
COM n PLAY Science
Learning science the fun and creative way: coding, making and play as vehicles for informal science learning in the 21st century.
Elements for Inclusion – a digital zine by Jonny Berliner
A digital zine telling the life-stories of four successful neurodivergent chemists, depicting the barriers they faced and the lessons they learned.
Future Inventors
Future Inventors supports the development of a new lab space in the Museum Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia aimed at facilitating learner engagement with STEM.
Heartwood Volume 1 & 2. Voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Heartwood Volumes 1 & 2 are a collection of personal heartfelt reflections aimed at engaging readers in important academic thinking on environmental education.
Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science
The SAILS project aimed to help prepare teachers to teach science through an inquiry approach and be more confident and competent in their assessments.
Subject choice, attainment and representation in Computing (SCARI computing)
This project aims to explore the predictors of computing uptake and performance in English schools, by using a range of case studies and national datasets.
Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic
This project examines the impact of the substantial changes and sustained disruption caused by Covid-19 to the development of secondary school teachers.
Understanding environmental education in secondary schools
This project explored the impact of the curriculum changes on the current state of environmental education provision across secondary schools in England.
Publications
Activities
CRESTEM seminar series
The CRESTEM seminar series allows speakers to explore and explain their areas of STEM research.
Writing Group for Academic Publishing
This group, chaired by Professor Pat Mahony, meets monthly (on the first Wednesday of each month, 12.30-1.30pm) to support ECS staff and PhD students in getting their work published. Each month, one member circulates their draft of an article or book chapter and the rest of the group provide feedback in a constructive and supportive way. We aim to help the author to improve their paper in preparation for submission as well as support broader learning on the process of academic publishing. If you would like to join, please contact Dr Clare Coultas: clare.coultas@kcl.ac.uk.
CRESTEM keynote 2025: The Science Education Tracker
David Montagu, The Royal Society and Becca Gooch, EngineeringUK, presented unique insights into science education in England afforded by the Science Education Tracker.
CRESTEM Keynote Lecture 2023: Seeking a research agenda for computing education for young people
Dr Sue Sentance outlined why she thinks computing education is a global concern and discussed areas where she thinks we need more research in order to make progress in implementing it.
CRESTEM Keynote Lecture 2022: Aestheticising Mathematics Education Research
Dr Nathalie Sinclair discussed the historical, colonial roots of the dismissal of aesthetics in current mathematics education research, as well as examples of what an aestheticising of mathematics education might look like, drawing on her own research with digital technologies.
CRESTEM keynote 2021: Science education – past and future directions
Professor Jonathan Osborne gives his personal view on the achievements of research in science education in the past 40 years.
It's Just Research Podcast
A number of our academics have been involved in the 'It's Just Research Podcast', a podcast centering the work of academics in ECS.
Research and Education for Socio-Ecological Transformations (RE-SET)
Based in the School of Education, Communication & Society, RE-SET is a collective of academics, students and educators who are concerned with researching and teaching education for a more liveable and just future.
News
Dr Arthur Galamba wins award at largest education technology event in Latin America
Dr Arthur Galamba has won the Early Stage Bett EdTech Award with his platform ‘Collabits’.
King's Africa Studentship offers chance to study transformative ecological pedagogy
King's College London is delighted to be offering the King's Africa Studentship to one student for the 2025/26 academic year.
Change your life with a scholarship to study STEM education
We are offering 13 scholarships covering 70% of the tuition fees to teachers working in state funded schools in England to study for a Master’s in STEM...
Apply Now: Scholarships available for the MA STEM Education
Thirteen scholarships covering 70 percent of the tuition fees are available to practicing teachers who want to do an MA in STEM Education.
Announcing the 2025 Scholarships for the STEM Education MA
13 scholarships are available to commence the STEM Education MA in September 2025 covering 70% of the fees, equivalent to c.£7k.
Events
2025 ECS Annual Lecture: The science, politics and technologies underpinning the climate crisis by Prof Emily Shuckburgh
Save the date for this year's ECS annual lecture which will be delivered by Prof Emily Shuckburgh OBE, Director of Cambridge Zero.
Please note: this event has passed.
Crafting stories of cloth: a proposition for how we might think twice before throwing clothes away
Rose Sinclair questions if there is a way to perhaps understand how stories of cloth might help us to revise how we look at clothes or cloth as such...
Please note: this event has passed.
Education for a liveable future: what can we learn from ‘good enough’ practice?
In this talk, Dr Sophie Perry will reflect on her recent study which explored three case studies of counterhegemonic environmental education.
Please note: this event has passed.
An Archaeological Analysis of Numeracy Across the Curriculum in England
In this talk, Amy O'Brien analyses just why numeracy and mathematics have been prioritised in policy in the UK.
Please note: this event has passed.
What is education good for in a context of socio-ecological crisis?
This lecture will explore what kind of education (in terms of purpose, pedagogy and policy) is needed to restore the health and wellbeing of the planet and...
Please note: this event has passed.
STEM Education MA
Since 2019, the MA in STEM Education welcomes students seeking the knowledge and skills to drive educational change in response to our increasingly technological and science-rich world. It provides a national, international and practically-oriented understanding of the ways in which core debates across formal and informal STEM education can shape responses to pressing social and environmental questions.
Supported by WIPRO, the Master's programme offers the chance to 15 students each year to apply for the STEM Education Teacher Scholarship worth up to 70% of tuition fees. See the Scholarships link above for more details.
New publication: Heartwood 2. More voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Published in July 2024, the second essay collection builds on Heartwood 1 to capture and distil more of the learnings from the MA module ‘Environment, Sustainability and the Role of Education’, taught within the School of Education, Communication & Society.
12 chapters exploring ideas including primary students carbon literacy, the role of Higher Education educators to teach the crisis and what environmental educators can be learn from neurodiverse learners at Forest Schools.
Heartwood. Voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Published in July 2023, the essay collection shares a year-long project aiming to capture and distil some of the learnings from the MA module 'Environment, Sustainability and the Role of Education', taught within the School of Education, Communication & Society.
Staff and students coproduced their environmental education-related research projects into digestible chapters and images to communicate new understandings beyond the gates of the university.
Heartwood Volume 1 & 2. Voices from environmental education: Academic research meets head, heart and hands
Heartfelt reflections on environmental education in the context of a climate crisis with unique images created by the authors.
Alumni stories: STEM education research in the classroom
Harry, Rasha and Natalie share how the Master's has helped them innovate in their teaching practice and discover their deep interest in STEM education research.
Alumni stories: Launching into new STEM education adventures
Aylin and Francis reflect on how the Master’s has given them the knowledge and confidence to explore new areas of STEM education – the policy sector and the entrepreneurial side of industry.
Discover: Environment, Sustainability and the Role of Education module
How do we understand the environment today, and where has this vision come from? On this module, students learn about the important role of education in responding to the multiple crises that the world is currently facing.
Discover: Quantitative Methods in the Context of Education Research module
This module trains students to develop their quantitative skills both to produce their own analyses and also to be able to critically examine the conclusions reached by other researchers.
Contact us
If you require further information about CRESTEM, please do drop us an email.