Discovering the Biology Education Research Community

When Sarah Eddy began work on her doctoral thesis, she assumed that her main contribution would relate to her field of study—behavioral ecology and the sexual selection of salamanders—but one of her more significant discoveries had nothing to do with amphibians and everything to do with what was going on in the classroom. As a graduate teaching assistant at Oregon State University, she realized how important it was to her to see students truly improve their learning. "It was in trying to figure out how to help students achieve more that I discovered education research literature," she explained. Many biologists in all phases of their careers have made similar discoveries, and they will benefit from the growing biology education research (BER) community. In May 2012, the BER community gained new insights when the National Research Council published "Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering." The National Science Foundation (NSF) commissioned the report and charged the authoring committee with providing a synthesis and analysis of discipline-based education research (DBER). The report provides an overview of the field, compares the history and current scope of DBER's subdisciplines (biology, chemistry, geology, physics, and engineering), and makes recommendations for future directions. DBER is conducted by those with expert knowledge of one of the sciences, and rigorous research methods are u...
Source: Eye on Education - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news