Xornam Apedoe

Xornam Apedoe is a professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction at the University of San Francisco. Her research interests have generally focused on issues related to learning, teaching, and the design of STEM+C (C = computer science) learning environments in both formal (K-16) and informal educational settings.  An overarching goal of her research is to identify strategies for addressing the inequities of who participates in STEM+C, and pathways for broadening and supporting participation in STEM+C. She has a PhD in Instructional Technology from the University of Georgia, and was awarded the Director’s Post Doctoral Research Fellowship at the Learning Research & Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh.

• Broadening participation in STEM+C
• STEM reasoning and learning (with an emphasis on design-based science and inquiry-based science)
• STEM+C identity
• Technology enhanced learning environments
• Conceptions of teaching & learning

• Program Coordinator, Educational Technology MA

• University of Georgia, PhD in Instructional Technology
• University of Alberta, BSc (Honors) in Psychology

• Associate Professor & Medical Education Specialist for Curriculum Development, Dean of Basic Sciences Office, St. George’s University

• Associate Professor, Education Department, American University of Antigua

• Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh

• University of San Francisco Innovation in Teaching with Technology Award

• Apedoe, X., Nielsen, K., Smith, R., Allen, J., Arriaga, S., & Kaelin, J. (2026). The Cellular Construction Workshop: An Integrated STEM Teacher-Student Co-Learning Experience. Discover Education, 5, 237.
• Apedoe, X., Fu, M., Nielsen, K., Smith, R., & Allen, J. (2025). Co-Learning: A Hybrid Model for Integrated STEM Teacher Professional and Student Out-of-School Learning. Education Sciences, 15(6), 726.
• Apedoe, X. S., Ellefson, M. R., & Schunn, C. D. (2021). Supporting Conceptual Change in Chemistry through Design-Based Learning: The Heating/Cooling System Unit. In Design-Based Concept Learning in Science and Technology Education (pp. 49-74). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
• Cox, C., Apedoe, X., Silk, E. & Schunn, C.D. (2017). Analyzing materials in order to find design opportunities for the classroom. In S. Goldman & Z. Kabayadondo (Eds.), Taking Design Thinking to School: How the Technology of Design Can Transform Teachers, Learners and Classrooms (pp. 204-220). Routledge: New York.
• Apedoe, X., & Schunn, C.D. (2013). Strategies for success: Uncovering what makes students successful in design and learning. Instructional Science, 41 (4), 773-791.  
• Apedoe, X., Reynolds, B., Ellefson, M., & Schunn, C. D. (2008). Bringing engineering design to high school science classrooms: The Heating/Cooling unit. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17, (5), 454-465.
• Apedoe, X. (2008). Engaging students in inquiry: Tales from an undergraduate geology laboratory-based course. Science Education, 92 (4), 631-663.