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Heather King

Professor Heather King

Professor in Science Education

Research interests

  • Education

Biography

Professor Heather King’s research examines the ways in which educators foster learner engagement with science across many contexts including schools, museums, the natural environment, and non-formal spaces such as maker-spaces. In particular, her work focuses on social and environmental justice concerns with respect to science education practice.

Heather is co-chair of the Science and Technology Education Research Group at King’s College London and teaches modules in STEM education leadership, in STEM Making and Creating, and in Education in Arts and Cultural Settings.

She is also the Vice President for Education at the British Science Association.

Research interests

  • Equitable engagement in science
  • Science capital
  • Teaching and learning in museums and galleries
  • The design of educational programmes in out-of-school contexts
  • Environmental education
  • Natural history education
  • Teaching and Learning through making and coding

For details of Heather's publications please see her Research Staff Profile

Teaching

Heather leads the following modules for the MA programme in STEM Education:

  • Making in STEM
  • Leading Practices in STEM

She also contributes to the teaching and supervision of students on the Education in Arts and Cultural Setting MA programme.

PhD supervision

Heather has supervised doctoral students in the areas of museum education, science education, and environmental education.

Her current students include:

  • Ye Cao: Applying the lens of science capital to understand student engagement in China.
  • Marie Hobson: Evaluation Utilisation: How can evaluation findings impact Museum policy and practice?
  • Brad Irwin: The international work of UK national museums.
  • Sophie Perry: How do environmental education programmes influence young people's perceptions of their role in environmental action?
  • Alex Tak: The value of shared frameworks and indicators in understanding the impact of museums on wider society.
  • Julian Forson: Negotiating inequalities: Understanding the lived experiences of women of African and Caribbean heritage working in the creative industries.
  • Lydia Vasiliki Kapournioti: Learning through installation art interactions: an exploration of innovative resources and approaches for designing gallery and museum experiences.
  • Zsuzsa Lugosi: The ways young children (6–11-year-olds) connect to nature at the Natural History Museum.

    Research

    CRESTEM PGCE outside
    Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

    Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

    Rivers and climate change
    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.

    Project status: Completed

    Child working at a computer
    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.

    Project status: Ongoing

    KTM hero banner
    Knowing through Making

    Knowing through Making Research Group for the Centre for Education

    News

    King's academics tackle: How could science educators respond to socio-ecological issues?

    On 13 November 2024, colleagues in the Centre for Research in the Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (CRESTEM) were joined by...

    construction toys being used to re-enact sustainability projects

    CRESTEM welcomes international researchers to discuss the use of fine-grained sampling methods in STEM education research

    The Centre for Research in Education in STEM recently welcomed an international research team at King’s College London to share ideas about microgenetic...

    CRESTEM team with 3 international visitors

    King's student reaches finals of Mayor's entrepreneur contest with science subscription box idea

    Chemistry teacher and King’s student Francis Jones earned a place in the finals of the Mayor’s Entrepreneur 2022 programme competition with his STEM@Home...

    Two students doing science experiment at home through a STEM@Home kit. Courtesy of STEM@Home.

    Dr Heather King wins Supervisory Excellence Award

    Dr Heather King recognised for her work with PhD candidates in the School of Education, Communication & Society

    Heather King headshot

    Award-winning sustainability champions at ECS

    ECS is committed to sustainability

    Waterloo Bridge Wing

    Coding and making our way to a better STEM future

    KCL’s Dr Heather King and Dr Elizabeth Rushton are currently conducting research in making and coding spaces across the capital.

    Two people sitting at a laptop and PC

    New Teaching Approach Developed at King's Proven to Increase Interest in Science

    Researchers from the Enterprising Science project, based at the School of Education, Communication & Society, shared their findings at the National STEM...

    The desk of a science teacher covered with material for experiments

    Events

    16May

    Inclusion in STEM education and informal spaces: reflections on science capital

    This roundtable will address the question of how to enhance inclusivity and accessibility of STEM education, through insights from the UK and Brazil.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    25Feb

    The vital role of creativity and play in non-formal and informal STEM learning

    A webinar on the role of creativity and play in non-formal and informal STEM learning

    Please note: this event has passed.

    Features

    Alumni Voices: 'Be the change you want to see' - The story of Francis Jones

    Francis Jones (MA STEM Education, 2022) is the founder of STEM@Home, a tech startup that seeks to bridge the accessibility gap in science education by...

    1903 x558 Francis Jones

    How industry and academia are joining forces to equip STEM teachers for classrooms of the future

    The first cohort of students has just completed a new MA in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education that prepares educators to...

    Celebration-audience-1920x1280

    IWD 2020: Women in the School of Education, Communication & Society

    Five women from across the School of Education, Communication & Society give an insight into their work and studies.

    london-hero-1800x500

    Spotlight

    Making the STEM sector more equitable

    The ASPIRES Research projects, initiated at King’s by Prof Louise Archer, have shown that interventions built on raising interest in science are not enough....

    girl with glasses doing science - yy-teoh-2000x1100

      Research

      CRESTEM PGCE outside
      Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

      Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (CRESTEM)

      Rivers and climate change
      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.

      Project status: Completed

      Child working at a computer
      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.

      Project status: Ongoing

      KTM hero banner
      Knowing through Making

      Knowing through Making Research Group for the Centre for Education

      News

      King's academics tackle: How could science educators respond to socio-ecological issues?

      On 13 November 2024, colleagues in the Centre for Research in the Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (CRESTEM) were joined by...

      construction toys being used to re-enact sustainability projects

      CRESTEM welcomes international researchers to discuss the use of fine-grained sampling methods in STEM education research

      The Centre for Research in Education in STEM recently welcomed an international research team at King’s College London to share ideas about microgenetic...

      CRESTEM team with 3 international visitors

      King's student reaches finals of Mayor's entrepreneur contest with science subscription box idea

      Chemistry teacher and King’s student Francis Jones earned a place in the finals of the Mayor’s Entrepreneur 2022 programme competition with his STEM@Home...

      Two students doing science experiment at home through a STEM@Home kit. Courtesy of STEM@Home.

      Dr Heather King wins Supervisory Excellence Award

      Dr Heather King recognised for her work with PhD candidates in the School of Education, Communication & Society

      Heather King headshot

      Award-winning sustainability champions at ECS

      ECS is committed to sustainability

      Waterloo Bridge Wing

      Coding and making our way to a better STEM future

      KCL’s Dr Heather King and Dr Elizabeth Rushton are currently conducting research in making and coding spaces across the capital.

      Two people sitting at a laptop and PC

      New Teaching Approach Developed at King's Proven to Increase Interest in Science

      Researchers from the Enterprising Science project, based at the School of Education, Communication & Society, shared their findings at the National STEM...

      The desk of a science teacher covered with material for experiments

      Events

      16May

      Inclusion in STEM education and informal spaces: reflections on science capital

      This roundtable will address the question of how to enhance inclusivity and accessibility of STEM education, through insights from the UK and Brazil.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      25Feb

      The vital role of creativity and play in non-formal and informal STEM learning

      A webinar on the role of creativity and play in non-formal and informal STEM learning

      Please note: this event has passed.

      Features

      Alumni Voices: 'Be the change you want to see' - The story of Francis Jones

      Francis Jones (MA STEM Education, 2022) is the founder of STEM@Home, a tech startup that seeks to bridge the accessibility gap in science education by...

      1903 x558 Francis Jones

      How industry and academia are joining forces to equip STEM teachers for classrooms of the future

      The first cohort of students has just completed a new MA in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education that prepares educators to...

      Celebration-audience-1920x1280

      IWD 2020: Women in the School of Education, Communication & Society

      Five women from across the School of Education, Communication & Society give an insight into their work and studies.

      london-hero-1800x500

      Spotlight

      Making the STEM sector more equitable

      The ASPIRES Research projects, initiated at King’s by Prof Louise Archer, have shown that interventions built on raising interest in science are not enough....

      girl with glasses doing science - yy-teoh-2000x1100