Marta R. Stoeckel, PhD, NBCT
LightNews LightNews
banner
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Marta R. Stoeckel, PhD, NBCT
@martastoeckel.bsky.social
1.5K followers 790 following 650 posts
she/her
Getting students doing science as a 9-12 science specialist and studying gender equity in physics classrooms
Posts Replies Media Videos
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Day 64 spent a few hours visiting middle school classes. I helped an 8th grader with some FBDs and mentioned I have an FBD tattoo. The teacher told me later the kid was still talking about it after I left and I can brag an 8th grader thinks I'm cool. #Teach180
A white leg with a tattoo of a red apple with a green leaf. There is a downward arrow extending from the apple labeled "F_g".
November 21, 2025 at 11:42 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Day 61 worked on pulling some info from the teacher guides for upcoming units into a spot that's easier for teachers to access. Also started reading The New Meaning of Educational Change, which I picked up after hearing about it several times at NSTA. #Teach180
A book sitting on a wood desk. The book is the 5th edition of The New Meaning of Educational Change by Michael Fullan. The cover is black with a photo of an iridescent bubble bursting.
November 18, 2025 at 11:38 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
I also visited the puppy park in the exhibit hall and made a very sleepy friend
A woman in glasses, a white mask, and a green shirt holding a white puppy that is sound asleep in her arms
November 14, 2025 at 1:47 AM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Day 56 I'm lucky to attend NSTA this week since it's right nearby! Spent the day in a workshop on leadership for implementing high-quality instructional materials. Lots of great learning and conversation! #Teach180
The cover of a packet titled Leadership for the Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Materials and a card titled "The Elements" with key features of a PD program.
November 12, 2025 at 9:31 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
And things just kept getting better tonight with colors visible to the naked eye even with suburban light pollution! The wildest was looking south toward my house and still seeing the northern lights.
A dark tree in front of the northern lights. There is a band of green near the horizon with a band of red above that and a band of bluish-green at the top. A dark tree in front of the northern lights with green near the horizon and a wide band of red above it. A photo of the northern lights with the dark corner of a roof in the foreground and some trees further back. There are bright red streaks diagonal across the sky with some lighter green streaks between them.
November 12, 2025 at 3:37 AM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
One of the reasons I love Minnesota
A view of northern lights. There are dark trees in the foreground with lights from some houses below them. There is bright green along the lower part of the sky with red higher up.
November 12, 2025 at 1:56 AM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
A little over a year ago, I started commuting by bike when the weather and my schedule allow. Even though my morning ride is chilly and dark right now, it's worth it every time.
A photo of an empty road before dawn. There are dark trees on either side of the road. The sun is just starting to rise, so the cloudy sky is dark blue near the top of the photo, then going to purple and red toward the horizon.
October 28, 2025 at 10:13 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
As a side note, I noticed myself saying "the writers of The Framework" a lot the past few days and I feel like that phrase makes me sound like I'm in a science education cult
A photo of the cover of a book titled "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" from the National Research Council
September 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
The world's largest snowman is right by the district center where I'm based and some fog this morning has him looking a little menacing
A photo with a fence around a field in the foreground. Further away is a 44 ft tall fiberglass statue of a snowman with his arms outstretched and wearing a top hat. The snowman has a slightly creepy face with a large smile painted in black. There is fog slightly obscuring the snowman.
September 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Today was also the vaccine clinic for my site, so I got my flu and COVID shots! Even with the new FDA guidelines, as many as 60% of Americans qualify for a COVID shot and lots of medical orgs still recommend the shot for everyone. www.npr.org/2025/09/03/n...
A woman wearing glasses, an n95 mask, a grey button-up shirt, and a lanyard that says #622proud. Above the pocket of the shirt she is wearing a white sticker with a red heart and the next "I'm vaccinated against flu".
September 11, 2025 at 9:10 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
As a bonus, I recently realized I can use a state bike trail to get from the district center to that middle school just as fast as driving (faster if you count parking while parents line up for pickup!), but with much better scenery
A paved two-lane trail lined with very green trees and bushes on either side
September 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
A few days ago, I was privileged to receive the outstanding dissertation award from the U of MN Dept of Curriculum & Instruction! Pretty cool to get some recognition for my research on recognition :) Now to finish publishing this thing!
A woman in a red and black shirt with black pants standing next to a woman in a green shirt and black pants. The woman in green is holding a framed certificate for an outstanding dissertation award. They are in front of a sparkly gold curtain under an arch of maroon and gold balloons.
May 20, 2025 at 7:28 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
A yellow sign in front of a grey sky and green field. The sign has black text that says "CAUTION Prarie dogs have PLAGUE! Keep people and pets in vehicles"
March 23, 2025 at 11:15 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Living in Minnesota is when spring break is next week and 12 hours ago, all signs of snow were long melted with weather warm enough to skip a jacket, but today is an e-learning day that looks like the depths of winter
A birch tree with several thin trunks and no leaves in a residential neighborhood covered in about a foot of fresh snow. The sky is grey and houses down the street look washed out from falling and blowing snow.
March 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
I got one last April to celebrate finishing a PhD with a dissertation studying physics education!
A very pale leg with a tattoo of a red apple on the calf. There is an arrow pointing down from the apple and the arrow is labeled "F_g" with a horizontal arrow above the label to indicate it is a vector.
February 5, 2025 at 1:38 AM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Back to work tomorrow, but my husband and I managed to spend a few days hiking on Lake Superior's north shore. The temps just above freezing meant snow was sparse, but did make for some impressive fog.
A lake shore with dark rocks, reddish dirt, and some evergreen trees. The lake is covered with a think fog that blocks the view of much of the lakeshore.
January 1, 2025 at 11:12 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Plus, if you're a jerk about it, you miss out on all the fun and excitement that can come with someone learning something new! I really like the XKCD take on it. xkcd.com/1053/
A comic that says in the first panel "I try not to make fun of people for admitting yet don't know things. Because for each thing 'everyone knows' by the time they're adults, every day there are, on average, 10,000 people in the US hearing about it for the first time." Below the text is some math supporting the statistic. The second panel says "If I make fun of people, I train them not to tell me when they have these moments. And I miss out on the fun." Below the text, two stick figures are talking: 1: Diet Coke and Mentos thing? What's that? 2: Oh man! Come on, we're going to the grocery store. 1: Why? 2: You're one of todays lucky 10,000.
December 20, 2024 at 10:13 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
This morning's snowstorm isn't quite bad enough for a snow day, but Tycho definetly tried to convince me I should hole up in the basement instead of going to work. But just two more days and it's winter break!
A white and grey tabby cat sitting on the top step of a flight of stairs looking hopefully toward the camera
December 19, 2024 at 1:45 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
After AP exams one year, a group of kids were doing self-portraits in various themes. They picked sea creatures for my room. I know they also did dinosaurs in math and birds in English.
A classroom whiteboard covered in doodles of sea creatures in different colors and styles including very simple and crude, cartoonist, and more detailed. Each creature has a name written next to it.
December 18, 2024 at 2:21 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
It took a little while after the digital version came out, but there's something about holding the physical copy of an article I wrote that is always exciting!

If you don't have access to The Science Teacher, you can access a free copy here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/UAR5N...
A cover of a magazine titled The Science Teacher with an NSTA logo in the corner. The cover has colorful swirls and the titles of several articles. A magazine page that is blue on the top half with the title "Using Group Roles to Promote Collaboration" with Marta R. Stoeckel underneath. The bottom half of the page is a stock photo of two students sitting in adjacent desks in a classroom working out of a textbook.
December 18, 2024 at 1:58 AM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Some light snow yesterday and warm(ish) temps today made for some serious fog over the lake this morning.
A wooded pier pulled onto a lakeshore covered in brown grass next to a bare tree. The lake is covered in snow and blends into a grey, foggy sky.
December 16, 2024 at 2:24 AM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Thanks for all the lovely cat photos! Tycho very much approves of this account
A white and brown tabby cat staring at the camera. He is lying on his back but with his head and front legs twisted to the side.
December 16, 2024 at 2:06 AM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
Dinger was very involved in the early data analysis for my dissertation.
A grey tabby cat sitting on a keyboard in front of a laptop and monitor. The cat looks annoyed.
November 27, 2024 at 11:03 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
I'm trying to catch up on grading, but Tycho has other ideas
A white and grey tabby cat is sitting on a paper and biting a green pen in a person's hand.
November 27, 2024 at 7:38 PM
martastoeckel.bsky.social
My main job this year is making it easier for teachers to implement new curriculum. Sometimes that means deep thinking like coaching on challenging instructional practice or making sense of teacher guides. Other times it means sticking a few thousand stickers to plastic game pieces!
A pile of ~100 round game pieces each with a sticker. Some have yellow stickers with lions, some have red stickers with hyenas, and some have green stickers with wildebeests. For each type of animal, some stickers show a single animal, some show 3 of the animal, and some show a large number of the animal.
November 21, 2024 at 10:10 PM