Research

My professional focus revolves around improving science education at schools by addressing two related questions in the discipline: a) the recruitment, training, and retention of a high quality teaching force (better teaching) and b) research on the effectiveness of various learning environments that address the individual differences of students (better learning).

High quality teaching force
I study the national shortage of qualified math and science K-12 teachers and effective strategies to alleviate the problem, such as recruitment, training, retention. Consequences of the shortage include the perpetuation of a vicious cycle in that poor K-12 preparation discourages students from pursuing careers in those disciplines, including K-12 teaching and a further increased socio-economic stratification given teacher flight from urban toward suburban jobs. Further repercussions include negative attitudes toward science and lower student achievement, I focus my research efforts in the math, science, and engineering undergraduate population as potential qualified content-knowledge recruits into math and science teaching. I investigate their career intents, their views of teaching, the types of teaching experiences (or lack thereof) that may encourage them to pursue teaching, and the reasons behind their choosing of teaching careers. I intent to delve even further into the examination of all aspects of the nation’s K-12 math and science teacher shortage. Studying the challenges that recruitment faces has made me increasingly aware of equally important and related issues. Troubled not only by disinterest, the field also suffers from an increasing racial disparity between students and teachers and from flagging retention and migration. So while new recruits must be high quality and well-equipped to serve student need, once in the teaching field, they also need to be retained and supported with further professional development. Proving most beneficial to the advancement of science education would be the line of study I propose: longitudinal research to trace the experiences and perspectives of teaching from college entry (potential incipient interest) through graduation, through teacher training, through initial employment, retention, and finally the becoming of expert teachers.

Learning environments and individual differences
General comparisons of the effectiveness of various science learning environments (in particular real and virtual labs) have been contradictory. The existent evidence suggests that the relative benefits of a learning environment may depend on the unique qualities of the participant. However, empirical comparative studies in science education that include some measure of individual differences have been scarce. In my doctoral work, I compared the effectiveness of hands-on vs. computer-mediated instruction in facilitating science learning of students of diverse ability levels collaboratively working in pairs at the middle school level. My work is theoretically informed by two competing learning theories: constructivism with an emphasis on realistic settings to promote students’ active engagement and verbal exchanges that render higher learning vs. cognitive theories that contend that humans experience superior learning when words and pictures are presented contiguously instead of successively (contiguity principle), which is easier to accomplish through a computer presentation. Another argument favoring computer instruction in science education is based on the fact that computers render more efficient and reliable data than hands-on experiments and that students (particularly slow learners) can progress at their own speed instead of struggling to follow their more capable peers. However, arguments supporting superior learning in the real lab content that the multi-sensory stimuli experienced by the student in the lab provide multiple venues to representation knowledge, which promotes learning. I intent to continue studying the merits of various learning environments accounting for individual differences of students, including students with disabilities and English-learners.