Justice Walker is a Learning Scientist who studies what middle and high school students and teachers know, think, and do when learning with biotechnologies and computer science-enabled data science tools. His work draws on active learning perspectives in constructionism, design, and literacy to study how teachers and students respond to modern STEM learning experiences set in formal and informal environments.

Justice Toshiba Walker is a Learning Scientist who studies what middle and high school students and teachers know, think, and do when learning with biotechnologies and computer science-enabled data science tools. His work draws on active learning perspectives in constructionism, design, and literacy to study how teachers and students respond to modern STEM learning experiences set in formal and informal environments. His work is informed by more than a decade of experience teaching in K-12 classrooms. 

Walker has earned more than $4.2M in extramural funding from the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Education (more than $2M of which he managed as Principal Investigator) and has secured supplemental funding to support key initiatives such as "Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) and "Research Experiences for Undergraduates "(REU) funding supplements. His work has been featured in the Computer Science Education, Phi Delta Kappan, British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), Public Understanding of Science,  and Journal of Science Education and Technology. He currently serves as Associate Editor for Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) and Journal of Science Teacher Education (JSTE). 

Walker earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Miami (FL) as well as an M.S. in Engineering Biotechnologies and a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning, both from the University of Pennsylvania.

Walker, J. T., Rahimi, S., Barany, A., & Lin-Lipsmeyer, L. (2025). Generative Inquiry: Creativity Assessments of Youth Epistemic Agency and in a Computational Data Science Workshop. In Rajala, A., Cortez, A., Hofmann, H., Jornet, A., Lotz-Sisitka, H., & Markauskaite, L. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2025 (pp. 538-546). International Society of the Learning Sciences. . 

Walker, J.T. & Schanzer, E.. (2025). Twenty Constructionist Things to Do With Data Science. In Proceedings of the Constructionism Conference. Constructionism Conference. Z眉rich, Switzerland. . 

Barany, A., Acquah, A., Barrera, A., Johnson, M., Reza, S., Walker, J.T. (2024). Empowering Pedagogies in Sandbox Data Science: Navigating the Intersection of Computing, Big Data, and Social Media for Enhanced Learning. . 

Acquah, A., Barany, A., Johnson, M. A., Scarola, A. S., Rivera, C., & Walker, J. T. (2024). Sandboxing in Data Science: An Exploration of Youth Learning Using Open-Inquiry Approaches for Computing-based Data Mining. In Lindgren, R., Asino, T. I., Kyza, E. A., Looi, C. K., Keifert, D. T., & Su谩rez, E. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2024 (pp. 2433-2434). International Society of the Learning Sciences. . 

Walker, J.T., Barany, A., Acquah, A., Reza, S., Del Rio Guzman, K., Johnson, M., Badreddin, O., Barrera, A. (2024). Coding Like a Data Miner: A Sandbox Approach To Computing-Based Data Science for High School Student Learning. EngageCSEdu. ACM. . 

Rahimi, S., Walker, J.T., Shin, J., Lin, L. (2023). Toward Defining and Assessing Creativity in Sandbox Games. Creativity Research Journal. . 

Walker, J.T., Barrera, A., Perez, M.D., Acquah, A., Grushkin, D., Vijayakumar, V.  (October, 2023). Biodesign: A Frame for BioMaking to Learn. FLC 2023, October 7鈥11, 2023, Teachers College, Columbia University. New York City, NY, USA 2023 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM . Best Paper Award. 

Walker, J.T., Barany, A., Barrera, A., Reza, S., Guzman Del Rio, K., Acquah, A., Badreddin, O., Johnson, M. (October, 2023). Coding Like a Data Miner: A Sandbox Approach to Computing-Based Data Science for High School Student Learning. FIE. In the 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE). IEEE. . 

Barany, A., Reza, S., Johnson, M., Barrera, A., Badreddin, O., Fuentes, C., Walker, J.T. (June, 2023). Towards the Design of a Culturally Relevant Curriculum for Equitable, Data Mining-based CS Education. 2023 International Conference of the Learning Sciences Annual Meeting. Montreal, Canada. .

Walker, J.T., Stamato, L., Asgarali-Hoffman, N., Hamidi, F., Scheifele, L. (2022). Community Labs in the United States: BioMakerspaces for Life Science Learning and Doing. Public Understanding of Science. . 

Walker, J.T., Barerra, A., Sepulveda, R. & Perez-Piza, M. (2022, June). Critical Biomaking: Socioscientific Issues as Contexts for Life Science Maker Education. 2022 International Conference of the Learning Sciences Annual Meeting. Hiroshima, Japan. .

Rahimi, S., Walker, J.T., & Lin, L. (2022, June). In Pursuit of Creativity in Minecraft: A Mixed-Method Approach. 2022 International Conference of the Learning Sciences Annual Meeting. Hiroshima, Japan. . 

Walker, J.T. (2021). Middle School Student Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Biotechnology. Journal of Science Education and Technology. . 

Walker, J.T. & Kafai, Y. B. (2021). The Biodesign Studio: Constructions and Reflections of High School Students on Making with Living Media. British Journal of Educational Technology. . 

Kafai, Y.B. and Walker, J.T. (2020, October). Tools for Biomakers: Reviewing Affordances and Constraints for K-12 Hands-On Making with Biology. FabLearn 2020. . 

Kafai, Y.B. and Walker, J.T. (2020, May). Twenty Things to Make with Biology. In Tangney, B., Byrne, J., & Girvan, C. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 2020 Constructionism Conference, 551-559. Dublin, Ireland. . 

Walker, J.T., Slater, S., & Kafai, Y. (2019, June). A Scaled Analysis of How Minecraft Gamers Leverage YouTube Comment Boxes to Participate and Collaborate. In Lund, K., Niccolai, G. P., Lavoue虂, E., Gweon, C. H., & Baker, M. (Eds.), A Wide Lens: Combining Embodied, Enactive, Extended, and Embedded Learning in Collaborative Settings, 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), 1, 440-447. Lyon, France: International Society of the Learning Sciences. . 

Walker, J.T. (2018). Review of Our School: Searching for Community in an Era of Choice, By Sam Chaltain. The Journal of Negro Education, 87(4), 460-462. .

NSF Grant #2415876: Introducing Synthetic Biology Using Co-Designed, Culturally Responsive BioMaker Activities for Family Engagement in Underserved Communities. Principal Investigator: Justice T. Walker (University of Texas at El Paso). Co-Principal Investigator: Lisa Scheifele (Loyola 沈芯语老师家访麻花视频), Foad Hamidi (沈芯语老师家访麻花视频, Baltimore County), Alysha Swann (La Nube STEAM Discovery Center). 9/01/2025-8/31/2028 Amount: $1,686,589.

NSF Grant #2329579: Postdoctoral Fellows as Leaders in Next-Generation Computer Science Education Research-Practice Partnerships Serving Minoritized Communities. Co-Principal Investigator: Justice T. Walker (University of Texas at El Paso), Pei-Ling Hsu, Elsa Villa  (University of Texas at El Paso). Principal Investigator: Johannes Strobel (University of Texas at El Paso). 9/01/2023-8/31/2026 Amount: $1,202,712.

NSF Grant #1342582: An Online Tool to Support Productive Struggles and Improve the Self-Efficacy of Undergraduate Students in Introductory Computer Science Courses. Co-Principal Investigator: Justice T. Walker (University of Texas at El Paso) and Monika Akbar  (University of Texas at El Paso). Principal Investigator: Mahmud Hossain (University of Texas at El Paso). 6/15/2022-5/31/2025 Amount: $299,950.

U.S. Department of Education: Building Capacity in Computer Science Education at the University of Texas at El Paso. Co-Principal Investigators: Justice T. Walker (University of Texas at El Paso), Joyce Cashman (University of Texas at El Paso), and Kristopher Yeager  (University of Texas at El Paso). Principal Investigator: Elsa Villa (University of Texas at El Paso). 10/1/2021-9/30/2025 Amount: $734,992.

NSF Grant #2137708: BPC-DP Coding Like a Data Miner: A Culturally Relevant Data Analytics Intervention for High School Students. Principal Investigator: Justice T. Walker (University of Texas at El Paso). Co-Principal Investigator: Omar Badreddin (University of Texas at El Paso) and Amanda Barany (Drexel University). 10/01/2021-9/30/2023 Amount: $335,949.