Tidemark Institute was founded by Dr. Jean Moon in 2010. Its mission is to develop and undertake projects as well as a supporting research agenda emphasizing knowledge of student and teacher learning and teaching practices enacted in early childhood education through undergraduate education. While the Institute is located in coastal Maine, its work extends throughout the United States, focusing on learning and teaching in the context of the STEM subjects, with a particular emphasis on the integration of technologies such as video and virtual learning spaces in support of advancing professional learning for teachers, administrators and preservice faculty.

Our research interests include engaging in designed-based research partnerships to bring together practitioners and researchers to further the field’s understanding of systemic change and the adoption of innovations throughout all levels of education. Also included in this research agenda is the study of new roles in teacher professional development. The Institute's portfolio is multifaceted, strategic, collaborative, forward-thinking, and resonate with current research, and includes:

• targeted exploratory proof-of-concept projects
• multi-year collaborative projects that seek to bring critical work to scale
• expert meetings convened by the Institute to advance promising innovations
• collaborative writing projects to further knowledge, action, and guidance on ideas and research critical to advancing change in education whether at the classroom, district, state or post-secondary level.

Tidemark Institute's Associates are invited experts in their field who play an integral role in carrying out projects and advancing the vision of the Institute. Members of the Institute are individuals who are interested in the overall work of the Institute, and who welcome the opportunity to be engaged with other members on issues of mutual interest.
For over thirty years Jean Moon has been a leader in all aspects of education, especially science, technology, engineering, and mathematic – STEM. Her creativity, vision, and energy have yielded a portfolio of successful and generative projects, large and small. At every stage of her career her talent for and belief in what the poet David Whyte has called “courageous conversations” has led her to work with scientists, mathematicians, engineers, technology designers, teachers, higher education faculty (including community college leaders), administrators, members of the corporate community, and policy makers to move critical conceptual work forward. Built up over the years this network of collaborators is rich in talent, experience, scholarship, and policy needed to move the challenging work of learning, teaching, research, scholarship, and policy forward in productive ways.

Prior to founding Tidemark Institute, Dr. Moon was Senior Scholar for Education Strategy and Planning at the National Academies in Washington, D.C. In this role she facilitated idea generation and project development across the Academies and worked to further external relationships with Congress, federal agencies, professional societies, and philanthropic organizations. In advance of her work as Senior Scholar, Dr. Moon was a Senior Program Officer and founding Director of the Board on Science Education at the National Academies. As Director she provided leadership to the Board and worked with then Board Chair, physicist and Nobel Laureate Carl E.Wieman, to advance a number of studies attending to what is known about how children and adults learn the ideas of science in school and out-of-school contexts. Her role in identifying a need to forge an intersection between science and learning exemplifies Moon’s understanding about the questions needed to move the challenging work of learning, teaching, research, scholarship, and policy forward in productive ways.

Tidemark Institute © 2018
Damariscotta, Maine
jean.moon@tidemarkinstitute.org