Dr. David Kanter, Director of SciPlay, joined the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in September of 2010 as the inaugural director of the Sara Lee Schupf Family Center for Play, Science, and Technology Learning (SciPlay). He comes to NYSCI from Temple University where he was faculty in Curriculum, Instruction and Technology in Education and in Biology.

His training began with Bachelor of Science degrees in engineering and economics from the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Kanter then took a National Science Foundation fellowship designed to train Ph.D. scientists in science education research, which he pursued with the Learning Sciences group at Northwestern University.

As a faculty member at Northwestern University and then at Temple University, Kanter led several federally funded projects in the context of which he designed middle and high school biology project-based inquiry science curricula, tested these curricula in urban classrooms in Chicago and Philadelphia, and researched design principles for such curricula that promote students’ science learning.

Kanter also designed programs to train practicing and future teachers to help them use projects and inquiry to teach science. These programs included the replication of the UTeach teacher preparation program as part of a national initiative.

Kanter researched teacher learning and how it translates into improvements in students’ achievement, attitudes and career plans. Kanter’s work has most recently been published in the journals Science Education, the Journal of Engineering Education, and New Directions in Teaching and Learning.

Kanter’s classroom curricula continue to be used by teachers and students in Chicago and Philadelphia.

View David’s CV.