About Tumblehome
Co-Founding Team
Tumblehome was originally founded in 2009 as Tumblehome Press / Tumblehome Learning by a team of education research. museum and other STEM professionals/experts motivated to make STEM education more fun, both in and out of school. Since that time, Tumblehome has grown into a non-profit education research organization, with a growing team of academic researchers focused on understanding, developing and scaling best-in-class education curricula and other materials for the future of STEM education. Tumblehome, Inc. is a pioneering organization committed to transforming the world of education. We are dedicated to igniting a passion for learning and empowering young minds through innovative educational resources and captivating experiences. By merging the magic of storytelling with the realms of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), we strive to foster curiosity, critical thinking, and a lifelong love for knowledge.
Our Mission
Tumblehome, Inc. aims to revolutionize education by making STEM accessible, engaging, and applicable to learners of all ages. Our mission is to create exceptional educational materials that inspire imagination, promote exploration, and cultivate a deep understanding of STEM concepts. By blending scientific knowledge with captivating narratives, we aim to awaken a sense of wonder, fuel the desire for discovery, and empower learners to actively shape the world around them.
Our Approach
At Tumblehome, Inc., we recognize and celebrate the uniqueness of each learner. That’s why we develop a diverse range of educational resources tailored to different learning styles, interests, and abilities. From captivating books and interactive digital content to hands-on experiments and immersive learning adventures, we strive to provide an inclusive and dynamic learning experience for students, parents, and educators.
Our Team
Tumblehome, Inc. is comprised of a dedicated team of passionate educators, talented writers, skilled illustrators, creative designers, and experienced professionals committed to advancing STEM education. With their expertise and unwavering dedication, we create high-quality, meticulously researched, and thoughtfully crafted educational materials that captivate learners’ imaginations and inspire their thirst for knowledge. Learn more about our team below.
Our Products and Services
Tumblehome, Inc. offers an extensive range of educational products and services designed to engage, educate, and excite learners about STEM subjects. Our portfolio includes:
Books: We publish captivating STEM-focused fiction and non-fiction books that seamlessly integrate thrilling narratives with scientific concepts, inspiring readers to explore the wonders of the world around them.
Digital content: Our interactive digital content provides engaging learning experiences through games, simulations, videos, and virtual/real-world experiments that bring STEM concepts to life.
Curricula and professional development: We provide comprehensive curriculum support for educators, including well-designed lesson plans, activities, and assessments, designed to enhance STEM instruction in the classroom.
Courses, and curricular support: Tumblehome, Inc. develops and administers K-12 courses where learners can actively participate in hands-on experiments, engage with experts, and collaborate with peers to deepen their understanding of STEM.
Our Impact
At Tumblehome, Inc., we strive to make a positive impact on the lives of learners. By nurturing a love for STEM, we aim to empower the next generation of scientists, engineers, innovators, and problem solvers who will shape the future. Through our resources and experiences, we aim to instill confidence, curiosity, and critical thinking skills in learners, equipping them with the tools they need to thrive in an ever-evolving world.
Join us on an extraordinary journey of discovery and learning at Tumblehome, Inc., where imagination converges with science, and young minds soar to new heights. Together, let’s unlock the wonders of STEM and inspire a new generation of lifelong learners.
Current Tumblehome Board of Directors
Key Executives & Staff
Co-Founders
Pendred “Penny” Noyce
Penny Noyce is a doctor, educator, writer and publisher. She studied biochemistry at Harvard and medicine at Stanford, then completed a residency in internal medicine in Minnesota. She moved to the Boston area, where she practiced at a community health center for several years. From 1993-2002, Penny helped lead a statewide math and science improvement effort called PALMS in the state of Massachusetts. She gradually withdrew from medical practice to focus on her education work and on raising her five children.
From 1991-2015, Penny helped lead the Noyce Foundation, established in honor of her father, Robert Noyce, co-inventor of the integrated circuit and co-founder of Intel. The foundation focused on improving science education nationwide, especially by supporting afterschool science. In 2016, this work led to the establishment of STEM Next, a nonprofit that supports out-of-school science clubs and programs across the country. One initiative of STEM Next is the Million Girls Moonshot, seeking to help a million girls build, event, and gain an engineering mindset.
Penny has served on the boards of numerous non-profits, includingthe Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, TERC, the Libra Foundation of Maine, the Concord Consortium, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications and the AAAS public Outreach Committee. For five years, she served on the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
As her older children set off for college, Penny began writing for middle-grade children. She has written seven books in the Galactic Academy of Science series along with four other novelfor ages 9-13. Besides novels, she has written one picture book about science explanations(The Book of Wrong Answers) and nonfiction books on bridges, inventors, and historical women of science.She is working on her first graphic novel and is helping to lead an NSF-funded project that teaches kids in afterschool settings about epidemiology and data, using her novel The Case of the COVID Crisis.
Barnas Monteith
Barnas Monteith runs Tumblehome Learning, which focuses on creating curriculum and learning materials for K-12 science and engineering education. Barnas has been the youngest and longest-serving Chairman of the MIT Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair, Inc. — the oldest dedicated inquiry based science education non-profit in the state. As a young student, Barnas was a national record holding first place science fair winner, with four 1st place MSSEF wins, four 1st place Regional wins, two International (ISEF) 1st place Grand Awards, and a number of other scholarships and special first prize awards. His projects focused on the study of dinosaur and bird evolution using fossilized eggshell microstructures, biochemistry and computational analysis. Today, he continues to mentor students developing their own science fair projects.
A graduate of Tufts University, Barnas spent nearly a decade doing paleontology expeditions in many of the major vertebrate fossil-bearing beds of North America. He did work at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology researching the Triassic vertebrates of Arizona, including possible Phytosaur nesting behaviors, and was the youngest researchers ever to present a plenary lecture at the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology. Later, he conducted research at MIT Media Lab and based on this technology, started several successful technology companies focusing on software, wearable tech, and the manufacture of synthetic diamonds for the semiconductor, lighting and energy industries.
Barnas currently conducts academic research on STEM pedagogy, engaging students in cutting edge science and engineering projects. He serves as a key leader in several NSF projects, focused on the use of computers and AI to help students learn more about the natural and man-made worlds around them.
Barnas has served on the Massachusetts Department of Education Math & Science Advisory Council and the inaugural Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, as Chair of its Public Awareness subcommittee. He has authored a number of patents, published scientific articles in a variety of areas of Artificial Intelligence, paleobiology, energy/semiconductors and materials science and speaks regularly at STEM education events and conferences throughout the world. He is presently leading AI research and development efforts for several of Tumblehome’s current NSF funded projects, including as Co-Principal Investigator of the LogicDS Project.
Research Staff
Dr. Janice Mokros, Senior Researcher
Dr. Jan Mokros is a developmental psychologist and Lead Researcher at Tumblehome, where she is the Principal Investigator for two NSF-funded projects. Her current projects focus on how youth learn about data in out-of-school settings. Jan’s work with data science education introduces youth to a range of scientific topics including Lyme disease, sports injuries, COVID-19, and puffins. She has conducted substantial research and has authored numerous publications on how children understand data and statistical ideas. Jan also has authored three books, including one for museum educators on incorporating math into exhibits and programs, one for parents on exploring math in everyday life, and one for elementary teachers on approaches to teaching math. She has been involved as a writer and researcher for the math curriculum developed by TERC, Investigations in Number, Data and Space.
Dr. Laura Martin, Senior Researcher
Former Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Vice President of Education and Research at the Arizona Science Center, has an M.S. from Bank Street College of Education and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of California, San Diego. She has directed museum education projects funded by NIH, IMLS, HHMI, and NSF and local foundations. She was previously the Executive Vice President for Experiences at the Phoenix Zoo; Research Director at the Center of Teaching and Learning at the Exploratorium and Vice President of Production Research at the Children’s Television Workshop; and Research Scientist at the Laboratory for Cognitive Studies of Work. She has published widely on topics in STEM education, learning, and media; has been a graduate instructor at Bank Street, an advisor at Prescott College and Visiting Professor at ASU, She is a co-author of Learning Science in Informal Environments published in 2009 by the National Research Council and is on the Editorial Board of Curator. She co-edited The Reflective Museum Practitioner: Expanding Practice in Science Museums.Martin is Researcher at Tumblehome for the ITEST project: COVID-Inspired Data Science through Epidemiology.
Dr. Jacob Sagrans, Associate Researcher
Jacob is a researcher, educator, data analyst, and musician working in STEM education, with a focus on data science. In his role as Senior Research Associate at Tumblehome, he supports research, implementation, and administration of programs for middle school youth, including the COVID-Inspired Data Science Education through Epidemiology (CIDSEE) and the Puffins projects. In addition to his role at Tumblehome, he does consulting work for Concord Consortium on community outreach for the version 3.0 revamp of the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP) online data tool. In 2023, Jacob graduated with a master’s in data analytics from Northeastern University’s Roux Institute in Portland, Maine. Jacob worked in a similar role at Science Education Solutions from 2019 to 2022 before joining Tumblehome. Prior to entering the STEM education field in 2019, Jacob received a BA in music from Grinnell College in Iowa followed by a PhD in musicology from McGill University in Montreal, and then worked as an adjunct instructor of music history for several years. He is active as a lifelong classical choral singer, and brings his extensive musical background to work on data sonification for the CIDSEE project. Jacob cares deeply about high-quality, research-based education, in multiple disciplines and levels.
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Key Operations Staff
Rebecca Raibley Bryden, VP of Marketing Boston, MA
Yu-Yi Ling, Director of Production, Global Operations Specialist
Natalie McGregor, Office Manager, Boston, MA