Jennifer Kreps Frisch

Jennifer Kreps Frisch is an Associate Professor and Department Head of Education in the College of Education and Human Service Professions at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She can convincingly argue that the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is the strongest Marvel superhero, that Ents are the best part of the Lord of the Rings, and that March Mammal Madness is the most elegant bracket-based competition. Frisch has taught science and environmental education in Florida, Thailand, New Mexico, Georgia, and Minnesota, and still thinks about all of her former students and what she learned from them. After earning an M.S. in environmental education from Florida Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in biological education from University of Northern Colorado, she has been using qualitative research to explore how teachers and students use stories to notice and make sense of science and nature. Her students share their stories through photos, podcasts, multimedia websites, video, and paper-based nature notebooks. Frisch co-edited the book Wicked Problems in PreK-12 Science Education: Stories and Strategies for Confronting Complex Topics in the Science Classroom (2025) with Daniel Alston, Rita Hagevik, Allan Feldman, and Michelle Schpakow, and is committed to amplifying the voices of teachers and students who take steps to meet complicated social and environmental problems with curiosity, wonder, and hope.