Short Bio

Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and the Department of Sociology. Her research focuses on how the social contexts of schools and families influence the academic and social well-being of adolescents into adulthood. Schneider has also designed tools and research methods for measuring real-time everyday experiences that advance learning. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Education, American Educational Research Association, member of the honorary Sociological Research Association, and Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, and she has received an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Helsinki. She is the principal investigator of Crafting Engagement in Science Environments, an international study with the University of Helsinki which tests the impact of project-based learning on secondary school students’ academic, social, and emotional learning in science classes. She also serves as the co-principal investigator of a similar initiative at the elementary school level. Professor Schneider has published over 150 articles and reports and written 18 books, three of which include: Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement; The Ambitious Generation: America’s Teenagers Motivated but Directionless; and Learning Science: The Value of Crafting Engagement in Science Environments.