About Ana

About Me

I’m Anastasia Goudy Ruane: the educator, researcher, and systems thinker behind Ana’s Adventures in STEM. I design cognitive tools that help both people and machines think more clearly, ethically, and recursively.

For over a decade, I’ve created trauma-informed, inquiry-driven STEM curriculum for real classrooms; often the kind with no labs, no budgets, and no room for fluff. But I kept coming back to the same core question:

What if we taught students how to think about thinking?

That question became a framework. Then a protocol. Then a research project on how cognition can evolve across classrooms and code.

Today, I’m the creator of the Augmented Thinking Protocol (ATP): a 6-step scaffold used by teachers, curriculum designers, and AI researchers to improve reasoning, reflection, and ethical decision-making. I also developed the Alignment Framework, a structure for designing learning experiences that support regulation, resilience, and purpose.

My work is grounded in one belief:

We don’t need more compliance. We need better cognition.
Not just rigor, but reflection.
Not just outcomes, but alignment.

This work starts in the classroom. But it doesn’t end there.

Teaching Philosophy

As a physics educator working across diverse, under-resourced settings, I’ve learned this: great science teaching doesn’t rely on fancy lab equipment. It depends on how we frame the question.

My curriculum is built for real classrooms—the ones without prep rooms, budgets, or quiet. The ones full of noise, brilliance, challenge, and potential.

I design inquiry-based, trauma-informed lessons that help students develop authentic understanding through creativity, constraint, and connection. By grounding abstract physics in real-world problems and hands-on design, my resources don’t just teach formulas—they teach students to think like scientists.

Every student deserves access to meaningful STEM learning.
Every teacher deserves tools that work, even when nothing else does.

Whether you’re new to the classroom or a seasoned educator, my goal is to equip you with flexible, concept-rich materials that empower students to experiment, question, and wonder, wherever they’re starting from.

Let’s teach science in a way that rebuilds confidence, deepens thought, and prepares the next generation to confront the world they’re inheriting—with insight and courage.

Education History

” The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity is the spark of creativity. “

– Albert Einstein