Education-focused researchers explore the most effective ways to teach science. Credit: Getty
As a doctoral student at the University of Washington in Seattle, biologist Michelle Smith spent a lot of time sorting fruit flies under the microscope. But she often found herself thinking about her teaching activities: assisting with undergraduate lab and writing courses and instructing schoolchildren in physics and biology.
“I felt a true attraction to teaching, but I also liked to research”, he recalls. She felt lost, until 2007, when she took a postdoctoral position in educational research with Carl Wieman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist with a deep interest in science education, then at the University of Colorado Boulder. She had found her dream position: using her research skills to investigate how peer discussions help undergraduates learn basic genetics. She published her results in Science1.
When she started her postdoctoral fellowship, Smith recalls, there weren’t many faculty positions available for education-focused researchers in biology departments. That is changing, and she is now a tenured professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, researching learning in ecology field courses, and senior associate dean for undergraduate education.
Stop describing academic teaching as a ‘burden’
Stop describing academic teaching as a ‘burden’
Faculty members with a background in educational research are starting to appear in science departments at leading research universities – although this remains the path less traveled. Their presence, position and prestige also vary widely by country, institution and field of study2.
“There has been growth in these types of positions, both for tenured members and for faculty members on long-term contracts,” says Emily Miller, associate vice president for institutional policy at the Association of American Universities in Washington DC.
Accurate data on the trend are scarce, but researchers from around the world point to the United States as the leader. The US National Science Foundation funds extensive research in science pedagogy, much of it through its STEM Education Board, which awards $5 million for postdoctoral fellowships in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. There has also been a modest increase in a handful of other nations, including Canada and Australia, but they tend to have less money to fund such studies, says Kimberly Tanner, a biologist at San Francisco State University in California who focuses on biology. research in education and co-edits the journal CBE—Life Sciences Education. The field gained stature with the participation and support of leading scientists such as Wieman and Tanner’s mentor, Bruce Alberts. Alberts is a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco, former president of the US National Academy of Sciences, and author of the preeminent book The Molecular Biology of the Cell.
Researcher Michelle Smith, who studies learning in ecology field courses at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, guides students through an activity that models evolutionary principles. Credit: Cornell University
Faculty members in this specialty may teach largely or may maintain a strong research program with a focus on education. “Within that field, you can think about the balance you want and you can have options,” says Smith.
Some researchers, like Wieman, transitioned into educational research after becoming established in their initial discipline. As the number of positions increases, early-career researchers will be able to enter directly into education-oriented positions. Faculty members who focus on education not only support their own students, but also help their peers adopt the latest, science-based teaching methods, which in turn improves the reputation of universities with applicants. .
Sideways steps
The discipline of physics has a long history of involvement in educational research, says Wieman. His interest in education arose after starting his atomic physics laboratory several decades ago, when he realized that some graduate students who excelled in classroom physics courses were not as successful when they embarked on research in the laboratory. They were smart, but they didn’t have the problem-solving skills to debug scientific equipment or interpret experimental results. On the same subject : Indonesia and the United States agree to strengthen educational ties and programming. “There was just this fundamental puzzle,” he says. “Why were these things so disconnected?” So for the next 15 years he led parallel research programs in atomic physics and physics education.
Better teachers are needed to improve science education
Better teachers are needed to improve science education
The atomic physics program won him a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001, and it also gave him a “bigger soapbox to lean on” to advocate for improvements in education. In 2007, he moved to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he created a Can$11 million (US$8 million) initiative to transform undergraduate science education with evidence-based methods, while managing an initiative similar in Colorado. .
Wieman says that rather than just relying on lectures, professors should facilitate “learning to think differently, and there’s real experience in how to guide people to do that.” Many education experts promote active learning techniques, such as having students work together to solve problems. More than 100 courses at the University of British Columbia were changed by Wieman3.
Wieman now has a joint position in the physics department and the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University in California. Today, his research focuses exclusively on education, and specifically on undergraduate teaching of ‘technical specialization’ in physics, engineering and medicine.
Biology is another field with a history of research in education, but it took time for many departments to prioritize educational innovation. In 1999, when evolutionary ecologist Raoul Mulder was interviewed for his first teaching job, a standard teaching and research position at the University of Melbourne in Australia, he remembers only asking one question about lectures.
As Mulder’s study of bird ecology progressed, he was also intrigued by educational methods. “I think teaching is an absolutely natural outlet for this curiosity we all have as researchers,” says Mulder.
He began to transform the tools of science into education. He describes his early educational research, which began in the early 2000s, as “sort of a side hustle, I suppose. I wasn’t sure if it was an accepted part of my identity.”
One of these secondary interests was student assessment. He noticed that students often did not pick up their final work after assessment. Your thoughtful feedback came too late to help them improve their grades. So he experimented with a system where students received feedback from each other before final submissions. Not only were final papers improved, but students were often unable to differentiate between their peers’ and their teachers’ comments4.
As these side projects continued, Mulder accumulated grants focused on education totaling nearly Aus$1 million (US$675,000). While his educational studies make up only about 10% of his articles, they fuel over 20% of his citations and make up nearly half of his top ten citations. “What was a side hustle actually became more important than I thought,” says Mulder.
Improving undergraduate science teaching
Improving undergraduate science teaching
It also marked him as someone interested in educational studies, and in 2021 he took a leadership role at the Melbourne Center for the Study of Higher Education, which focuses on evidence-based practices for higher education and professional development. Part of Mulder’s job includes distributing grants for others to do educational research.
Those interested in the science of science education can start with questions inspired by their own classrooms, says Mulder, and then delve into the “rich and growing” literature. He also suggests starting conversations with other faculty members who may be open to collaborating on studies of their own teaching practices.
But young researchers in a standard faculty course would be wise to speak with their department chair before focusing too much attention on education, says Neil Haave, a biologist at the University of Alberta in Camrose, Canada. “If they don’t see the erudition of teaching and learning as being research, this may not lead you to become a full professor”, he warns.
Education-focused from the start
Another option is to take an education-focused position directly as a new faculty member, as did Natasha Holmes, a physical education researcher at Cornell who studies the effectiveness of lab courses. Read also : A new study suggests that women scientists do not get the authorship they should have. “There are more and more graduate students coming in now,” says Holmes, another of Wieman’s pupils.
During her graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, Holmes assisted a postdoctoral fellow on an educational research project and was inspired to change her doctoral thesis to physical education research. “It just tapped into my passions and curiosities,” recalls Holmes.
Researcher Natasha Holmes studies the effectiveness of physics lab courses. Credit: Serge Petchenyi/Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation
She focused on what she calls “a really extreme form of active learning,” when students invent solutions to problems before they learn the standard methods. This results in “a much richer and deeper understanding,” says Holmes.
Tanner’s trajectory, on the other hand, began in the biology lab. She earned a PhD in neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco, in 1997. She then did a postdoctoral fellowship in educational research, studying partnerships between scientists and classrooms. Tanner, who began her teaching position at San Francisco State University in 2004, is particularly interested in how professors and scientists can work together to make the biology classroom more like real biology research.
As his career has advanced, so has the community of researchers who share his passion. At a Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research meeting last July, she saw her former postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who now have their own teams.
There are many journals, professional organizations and conferences where people can start learning about educational research (see ‘Resources for researchers in science education’). Social media is also beneficial, says Manuel João Costa, vice-chancellor for student affairs and innovations in teaching and learning at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal. He advises following the social networks of teaching and learning centers, which usually post content of interest.
Resources for science-education researchers
Scientists interested in dedicating themselves to the field of science education can start by reading the literature, attending conferences and joining relevant organizations. Read also : Real Skills: Computer Science Education.
Journals
• Physical Review Research in Physical Education
• CBE – Education in Life Sciences
• Journal of Education in Geosciences
Professional organizations
• The International Society of Learning Sciences
• Society for the Advancement of Research in Education in Biology
• American Association of Physics Teachers
• American Society for Engineering Education
• European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction
Conferences
Physical Education Research Conference in Sacramento, California, July 19–20, 2023
Gordon Research Conferences are small international gatherings where scientists can discuss research that has yet to be published. Upcoming US events include:
• Undergraduate Biology Education Survey in Lewiston, Maine, June 25–30, 2023
• Research and Practice in Chemistry Education in Lewiston, Maine, July 9–14, 2023
• Science and Education Preview in Lewiston, Maine, July 16–21, 2023
Report
• Reaching Students: What Research Says About Effective Teaching in Undergraduate Science and Engineering (National Academies Press, 2015)
“It’s important to gain some professional qualifications in this space,” advises Susan Rowland, executive vice dean of the faculty of science at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She earned a postgraduate teaching certificate in 2007 as she pursued a career in education, and says this helped her become the first professor with a teaching focus in the biochemistry department in 2009. The training specific to teaching also schools researchers into the vocabulary that educators and education scholars use when communicating and publishing their work.
Being the first teaching-focused researcher in her department also meant that Rowland had to figure out how to position herself. To prove her worth, she says, it was crucial to operate in the ‘currency’ that other faculty members valued: documents, donations and visible public impact.
Anxious educators should also be aware, adds Rowland, that by taking a teaching-focused position, they may be closing the door on a more conventional research-based career.
Seeking status
Perceptions of education and teaching vary, and Tanner has found that many academic deans in California exhibit some bias against education-focused researchers—although they appreciate the money given by these faculty members5. Tanner remembers being told by several people that her career was a waste of her neuroscience training. She says she was “pretty good” at neuroscience research and there’s no reason to think that other education-minded scientists have also failed on the bench. She has achieved scholarships, awards, and success by following her passions.
In fact, both students and faculty members benefit when education-focused academics are incorporated into science departments. These experts understand their science discipline better than scholars trained only in education, and can serve as formal or informal resources for peers who want to improve in the classroom.
“We drive curriculum renewal and best practice in the classroom and online,” says Terry Mulhern, Biomedical Sciences Educator at the University of Melbourne. “We innovate and improve, and in doing so, we bring our [department] colleagues with us.” For example, in 2019, he and a colleague revamped their university’s introductory biochemistry course using individualized student feedback, lessons based on common misconceptions, and various online elements. The latter proved useful when the institution had to move to full online learning in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Manuel João Costa teaches biochemistry to medical students at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal.Credit: Rui Oliveira
Changing peer attitudes towards education can take time, as Rowland is well aware. When she was first commissioned to change the teaching culture at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland, her first step was to choose the undesirable office next to the men’s toilets. Most of the professors in the department were men, and she knew they would all have to walk through her door eventually. That’s when she called out a cheerful “Hi!”
After a while, classmates started coming in, sitting in their comfortable chairs and talking about their students. Then they would ask her questions – “Did you publish in PNAS? What about Nature magazines? And are you focused on teaching? Yes, yes and yes, she would answer.
Eventually, Rowland says, she gained the respect of her peers. Faculty members would come to her with teaching ideas, and she would help them choose new approaches to try in their classrooms. “My presence legitimized the idea that they could talk about their courses as works in progress,” she says. The biochemistry department now has 6 academics focused on teaching amidst a faculty of 70.
At Cornell, Holmes says she is not formally expected to help her colleagues in the physics department improve teaching, but she serves as a resource like any other faculty member with specific expertise. She knows cutting-edge teaching techniques that she can implement and share with her peers. For example, peer instruction is a technique in which students respond to a multiple-choice question, check with their peers, and respond again, often with better understanding. The method often spreads among faculty members by word of mouth6.
Holmes also brings a new perspective to educational research, using techniques such as machine learning. For example, a graduate student in her group applied theoretical statistical physics to model the confusing data about student behavior in physics lab courses. Using this technique, researchers found a gender divide in survey-based laboratory designs, with men more likely to use equipment and women more likely to analyze data7.
All this effort to improve teaching ends up feeding the research enterprise, says Rui Oliveira, a biochemist and researcher in education at the University of Minho. Well-taught undergraduates become capable graduate students and postdocs with critical thinking skills—exactly what Wieman was aiming for when he began investigating teaching 35 years ago.
“In the long run”, says Oliveira, “you will have better scientists to work with and you will do better science”.
Science education is the field of science that is concerned with sharing science content, some social sciences, and the process of teaching science pedagogy in order to provide expectations for the development of understanding by the scientific community.
What is the most used technology in the classroom?
Pills. It’s hard to believe that tablets have been around for less than two decades. These devices are part of our daily lives and are one of the most used types of technology in the classroom. Tablets allow students to work at their own pace, complete independent activities, and learn to be self-reliant.
What is the most useful technology in teaching? Top 10 technologies for the classroom
- E-books.
- Smart frames. …
- Pills. …
- Ozobot robots. …
- 3D printing. …
- Game learning. …
- Digital Blocks. Digital pads are plug-ins or wireless devices that allow students and artists to create digital drawings and works. …
- Virtual reality. Virtual reality can be used in all parts of education. …
What technology is being used in classrooms today?
| Advice for future technology purchases | Cell phones and students |
|---|---|
| Exemplary classroom practices | Smart Board versus Promethean |
What devices do students use the most?
During a typical school day, students are most likely to use a laptop (73%) or smartphone (42%), followed by a tablet (24%) or hybrid (9%). What devices do students want to use in the coming year? Currently, 15% of college students use a hybrid for schoolwork on a weekly basis.
What is the role of science and technology in education in the Philippines?
Develops students’ scientific inquiry skills, values, and attitudes, such as objectivity, curiosity, and honesty, and habits of mind, including critical thinking. All of this is useful to the individual student for his own personal development, future career and life in general.
What is the impact of science and technology on education today? The use of technical tools in education is more informative, easily accessible and gathers information in any area of knowledge. Because of technology, nowadays, in the field of education, children and students are exploring new creative ideas in their learning methods.
What do you think are the major contributions of science and technology in the Philippines?
Philippines? technology, many of them help us save time and money, be it a smartphone, fans, tires, cars, fabrics, paper, toothbrush, energy, microwaves, cars, radio, television, laptops, etc. cultures; and improve human conditions.
What is the role of science and technology in education?
Science technology In schools, new technologies can help students understand science and make ideas once banished from the pages of books a visible or tangible reality. Technology undoubtedly makes the learning process more interactive and therefore more interesting and memorable.
Can you give at least 3 examples on how science is used in technology?
Science contributes to technology in at least six ways: (1) new knowledge that serves as a direct source of ideas for new technological possibilities; (2) source of tools and techniques for more efficient engineering projects and a knowledge base for project feasibility assessment; (3) research instrumentation, …
How science and technology help society give at least 4 examples? By drastically changing our means of communication, the way we work, our housing, clothing and food, our means of transportation, and indeed even the length and quality of life itself, science has brought about changes in moral values and the basic philosophies of society. humanity.
What is best example of science to technology?
Scientific knowledge is used to create new technologies. New technologies often allow scientists to explore nature in different ways and make new discoveries. Examples of technologies that have helped advance science include the telescope and the microscope.
