Willy Hunter
Professor, Chemistry Education
Ctr for Math Sci & Technology
Office
JH Julian Hall 214
Office Hours
By appointment
Office Phone
Email
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Research
Biography
Dr. Hunter was born in England, grew up in Canada and moved to the USA in 1994. He has spent his career working with teachers, students, and professional developers on Chemistry and STEM teacher education curriculum development and instructional methods. He is a devout constructivist and hence tries to put people in position of exploring their own strengths and learning from their own experiences.
Current Courses
401Kinetics, Equilibrium, & Acids & Bases
Research Interests & Areas
- Teaching in the Illinois State University Chemistry Education Graduate Programs via Distance Education.
- Working with the ACS, AAPT, MAA, APS and NSF on a Get The Facts Out Campaign about STEM teacher careers.
- Evaluating the implementation of the NSF-funded SSTEM Energy Scholars and Noyce Master Teacher Fellows Programs at Southern Illinois University.
- Evaluating the implementation of the Atom Scholars Program at the University of Central Arkansas.
- Working with the University of West Indies - Cave Hill on developing an undergraduate chemistry teacher education program.
- Developing a chemistry graduate student pipeline for Zambia.
- Leading a 2020-2024 Midwest Robert Noyce Conference Grant with 90 projects, 750 students, teachers, and faculty, 14 teacher workshops.
- Partnering with the UMN, UW, OSU, UWI, Cover Cress Inc, and the 4H on developing an economic and agronomic model for the renewable energy via modification and adoption of pennycress, as a cover crop.
Ph D Chemistry
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN, USA
MA Curriculum Studies
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS, Canada
BE Science and Social Science
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS, Canada
BA Chemistry
Mount Allison University
Sackville, NB, Canada
Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in STEM Education at the University of Calgary
United States Department of State
2016
Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in STEM Education to Barbados
United States Department of State
2015
Book, Edited
Hunter, W., Orgill, M., & Bodner, G. Action Research as a framework for science education research. Theoretical frameworks for research in chemistry/science education. Pearson Education Publishing (2006): 146-164.
Conference Proceeding
Mahatanankoon, P., Hunter, W., & El Zanati, S. Managing an NSF-Funded Information Technology Scholarship Program. EDSIG Conference on Information Systems and Computing Education (2017)
Journal Article
Hunter, W. The Next Generation Science Standards and high school chemistry: First steps of implementation and potential impact.. The Chemical Educator 25 (2020): 59-62.
Chambers, T.M., Gravely, E.C., Hunter, W.J.F. Nielsen, J., & Yezierski, E.J. (2019). Myths about secondary chemistry teaching: Getting the facts out. Journal of Chemical Education. 96(7) pp 1291-1293 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00547
Kaufman, P., Hartman, N., Jones, J., Saripalle, R., Smudde, P., Magnuson, R., & Hunter, W.J.F. (2019). The use of extracurricular interdisciplinary project-based teams in higher education as a catalyst for actionable knowledge. Business Education Innovation Journal. 11(1) pp 126-136.
Mahatanankoon, P., Hunter, W., El-Zanati, S. (2018). Managing an NSF-Funded Information Technology Scholarship Program. Information Systems Education Journal, 16(3) pp 35-44. http://isedj.org/2018-16/ ISSN: 1545-679X
O'Reilly, C., Darner, R., Klug, J., Carey, C., Richardson, D., Bader, N., Soule, D., Castendyk, D., Meixer, T., Stomberg, J., Weathers, K., & Hunter, W. Using Large Data Sets for Open-Ended Inquiry in Undergraduate Science Classrooms. BioScience (2018)
Presentations
Prospective Noyce Teacher Candidates’ Pedagogical Orientations towards Inquiry Science Teaching. National Association of Researchers in Science Teaching. (2017)
Implementing the College and Career Ready Standards- Math and Science. Paper presented to the Department of Education Mathematics and Science Partnership Annual Meeting. (2014)
Patterns of growth in chemistry teacher education at Illinois State University. Paper Presented at 247th American Chemical Society National Meeting. (2014)
Strategies for Robert Noyce Project Management. Paper presented to the Midwest Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Annual Meeting. (2014)
Teaching Next Generation Energy Concepts with Next Generation Science Standards: Addressing the Critical Need for a More Energy-Literate Workforce. Paper presented to the Department of Education Mathematics and Science Partnership Annual Meeting. (2014)
Grants & Contracts
Emerging and Effective Culturally Relevant Practices for Mathematics and Science Teaching in High Needs Schools. $2,974,059. National Science Foundation. Federal. (2020)
Oilseed Pennycress: A new cash cover-crop for the Midwest $10,000,000. US Department of Agriculture. Federal. (2019)
A Community Assets Program that Fosters the Next Generation of STEM Leaders $4,649,262. National Science Foundation. Federal. (2018)
Midwest Regional Robert Noyce Connections: STEM in the community. $1,449,000. National Science Foundation. Federal. (2017)
Illinois State University's Noyce Scholarships for STEM Teachers of Under-Represented Groups . $1,444,790. National Science Foundation. Illinois State University. (2015)