Discipline-Based Education Research: A Guide for Scientists - Softcover

Slater, Stephanie J.; Slater, Timothy F.; Heyer, Inge; Bailey, Janelle M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1515024563 ISBN 13: 9781515024569

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

This expanded and updated second edition book is written for scientists who want to learn more about how science education research is done and how to get started in discipline-based education research. It provides the reader with an introduction to the philosophical and practical differences between more familiar traditional scientific research and the more unfamiliar domain of sociological research. Readers will learn about the most robust ideas in education research, which serve as jumping off points in their new forays into the realm of discipline-based education research. Quantitative, interpretive, and action research methods are introduced with real-life, easy to follow examples. The authors, long-time contributors to the science education community, provide rubber-meets-the-road guidance to both first-time and experienced researchers, to get projects off the ground with the goals of improving classroom practice and contributing to the knowledge base on the teaching and learning of science. Discipline-based education research is much like traditional scientific research in that using different instruments sometimes results in unexpected answers. As an example, the cover image uniquely reveals vastly different information about flowers when viewed in visible light (upper left) and in ultraviolet light (lower right). In much the same way, carefully planned and well executed discipline-based education research using a variety of research lenses has the ability to yield unexpected insight into teaching and learning that can benefit all of us.

About this title

About the Author

Stephanie J. Slater, Ph.D., is a science-trained, cognitive scientist specializing in how people of all ages and backgrounds engaging in learning the Earth and space sciences. With more than 20 years of astronomy teaching experience, she is the Director of the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research where her scholarly research focuses on conceptual understanding as influenced by spatial reasoning abilities and cognitive load and how these aspects interact with individualšs attitudes toward science and society. The American Physical Society's Woman Physicist of the Month, she is also a frequent lecturer at science fiction conventions, illustrating how society reacts to unexpected advances in space and technology. 

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1515024563
• ISBN 13: 9781515024569
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 170