Events
Physics Colloquium: Dr. Jordan Harshman (AU Chemistry and Biochemistry) |
| Time: Sep 13, 2019 (03:00 PM) |
| Location: Leach Science Center 3142 |
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Details: A little bit of everything: Classroom observation, cluster analysis, and effective graduate education Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) is a research field that covers a wide variety of topics and methods of interest to the primary science domains. One such project is the characterizing of teaching profiles in undergraduate STEM courses (Project 1). Decades of calls for reform in undergraduate teaching have been observed, but results from this national study confirm that didactic teaching methods are still dominant throughout college STEM courses. However, evidence suggests that the amount of lecturing in classes is not the only indicator for didactic pedagogy. Results were obtained through cluster analysis, a data mining technique that often relies on arbitrary decisions to obtain solutions. A systematic simulation study is being conducted to determine a more rigorous means of selecting an appropriate clustering technique (Project 2). Finally, in thinking about how instructors are trained, the primary research of Dr. Harshman’s group is the study of effective graduate education at the doctoral level in chemistry (Project 3). Part of this includes the adequate training of university instructors in modern teaching pedagogies. This survey of research projects highlights different methods, approaches, and topics of DBER. |