Lynn Rankin

Lynn Rankin is Director of the Exploratorium’s Institute for Inquiry, a national professional development center for K–5 leaders and practitioners of elementary science reform efforts.  Lynn has decades of experience in science curricula development, teacher professional development and program design in both formal and informal learning environments.  She was a co-founder and faculty member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers' Professional Development Institutes for museum educators; she served on the faculty of the NSF funded Center for Informal Learning and Schools, a collaboration between the Exploratorium, King's College, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.  She has contributed to numerous national publications and committees, including the National Science Foundation’s, “Foundations II: Inquiry, Thoughts, Views and Strategies for the K-5 Classroom”, the National Academy of Science’s committee to develop "Inquiry and the national Science Education Standard's" and National Institute for Science Education's Committee on Professional Development. She has served as PI on numerous National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education and private foundation grants.  She leads the US DOE funded i3 (Investing in Innovation) project “Integrating ELD and Science: A Professional Development Approach” and the BaySci Science Champions Academy.  Before joining the Exploratorium in 1975, she taught elementary school in San Francisco Unified School District.