Megan Bang (Ojibwe, First Nations, enrolled and Italian descent) is the James E. Johnson Professor of the Learning Sciences. Dr. Bang studies dynamics of culture, learning, and development broadly with a specific focus on the complexities of navigating multiple meaning systems in creating and implementing more effective and just learning environments in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics education. She focuses on reasoning and decision-making about complex socio-ecological systems in ways that intersect with culture, power, and historicity. Central to this work are dimensions of identity, equity and community engagement. She works closely with Indigenous communities. She conducts research in both schools and informal settings across the life course. She has taught in and conducted research in teacher education as well as leadership preparation programs. Dr. Bang currently serves on the Board of of the National Academy of Education and the MacArthur Foundation.
McDaid Barry, N., Bang, M., Bruce, F., & Barajas-López, F. (2023). “Then the Nettle People Won’t Be Lonely”: Recognizing the personhood of plants in an indigenous STEAM summer program. Cognition and Instruction, 41(4), 381-404.
Lees, A., & Bang, M. (2023). Indigenous pedagogies: Land, water, and kinship. Occasional Paper Series, 2023(49), 1.
Bruce, F., Bang, M., Lees, A., McDaid, N., Peters, F., & Bushnell, J. (2023). Indigenous water pedagogies: Cultivating relations through the reading of water. Occasional Paper Series, 2023(49), 2.
Anderson, J., Bang, M., Brayboy, B. M. J., Cati, V., Gutiérrez, K. D., Hicks, D., ... & Williamson-Lott, J. A. (2021). Agency and resilience in the face of challenge as civic action: Lessons learned from across ethnic communities. Educating for civic reasoning and discourse, 157-243.
Warren, B., Vossoughi, S. Bang, M., Taylor, E., Rosebery, A. (Working Paper/In Press/Under Review). Epistemic Heterogeneity and Disciplinary Learning in Nasir, Na’ilah Suad, Lee, Carol D., Pea, Roy, Handbook of the Cultural Foundations of Learning Routledge.
Tzou, C.T., Meixi, Suarez, W., Bell, P., LaBonte, D., Starks, E., & Bang, M. (2019). Storywork in STEM-Art: Making, materiality, and robotics within everyday acts of Indigenous presence and resurgence. Cognition and Instruction: 306-326.
Ishimaru, A.M., Bang, M., Valladares, M.R., Nolan, C.M., Tavares, H., Rajendran, A., Chang, K. (2019). Policy Memo: Recasting Families and Communities as Co-Designers of Education in Tumultuous Times. National Education Policy Center.
Ishimaru, A. M., Rajendran, A., Nolan, C. M., & Bang, M. (2018). Community Design Circles: Co-designing Justice and Wellbeing in Family-Community-Research Partnerships. Journal of Family Diversity in Education: 38-63.
Barajas-López, F., & Bang, M. (2018). Indigenous Making and Sharing: Claywork in an Indigenous STEAM Program.. Equity & Excellence in Education: 7-20. (Download )
Bang, M., Marin, A., & Medin, D. (2018). If Indigenous Peoples Stand with the Sciences, Will Scientists Stand with Us?. Dedalus: 148-159.
Medin, D., ojalehto, b., Marin, A., & Bang, M. (2017). Systems of (non-) diversity. Nature Human Behaviour.
(Download )
Philip, T., Vossoughi, S., Bang, M., Zavala, M., & Jurrow, S. (2017). The Role of the Learning Sciences in a New Era of US Nationalism. Cognition and Instruction. (Download )
Brayboy, B. McKinley. J, Solyom, J.A., Chin, J.A. Tachine, A., Bang, M., Bustamante, N., Ben, C., Myles, C. Poleviyuma, Tom, M., Abuwandi, S., Richmond, A. (2017). Report for RISE: A Study of Indigenous Boys and Men. Paper prepared for RISE: Boys and Men of Color, Philadelphia, PA.. RISE: For Boys and Men of Color.
Bang, M., & Vossoughi, S. (2016). Participatory Design Research and Educational Justice: Studying Learning and Relations Within Social Change Making. Cognition and Instruction: 173-193. (Download)