National Science Conference to Convene at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A national conference on college level science education will convene at The University of Alabama’s Bryant Conference Center May 21-22.

The conference, “Research Based Undergraduate Science Teaching: Investigating Reform in Classrooms: National conference II,” is sponsored by the National Study of Education in Undergraduate Science, a project funded by the National Science Foundation and The University of Alabama Office of Research on Teaching in the Disciplines.

The conference focuses on best practices and reforms in teaching undergraduate science and their impact on student learning outcomes. This highly interactive meeting combines presentations with time to interact and network with researchers. Nationally recognized researchers in the field of science education will serve as Keynote Speakers:

• Lawrence B. Flick, dean of the College of Education and professor of science and mathematics education in partnership with the College of Science at Oregon State University, will present “Reform or Revolution? Undergraduate Science Education in Diverse Contexts for Learning.”

• David Hammer, professor in the departments of education and physics and astronomy at Tufts University, will present “The Challenges and Possibilities of Meaningful Assessment in Large lecture Introductory Physics.”

• John Dantzler, educational research at The University of Alabama, will present “Researching Reform: Designing studies to understand the impact of reform methods in undergraduate science classrooms.”  

Presentations and panels include researchers from universities and colleges in more than 25 states and participation in discussion and work groups by all conference attendees from more than 40 universities.

Presentation topic examples are:

An Ambitious Plan in Undergraduate Science STEM Education; Combating ‘One and Done’: Maximizing the Impact of an Undergraduate Science Course; Learning Science Through Undergraduate Research: Inquiry and the Scientific Endeavor; Cooking From Scratch: Development of Inquiry Based Activities for the General Microbiology Laboratory; Alignment of High School and College STEM Curricula; A Curriculum Experiment in Climate Change Education Using an Integrated Approach of Content Knowledge Instruction and Student-Driven Research, Year 2; and A Research-Based Transformation of Purdue’s Modern Mechanics Course.

Highlighted in the conference will be the results of the six-year NSEUS national study investigating undergraduate science classrooms. The goal of the National Study of Education in Undergraduate Science, known as NSEUS, project was to examine the impact of reformed undergraduate entry-level science courses that differ from traditional courses. Site visits at 20 colleges and universities as well as more than 90 K-12 schools were conducted by a team of investigators from The University of Alabama, Kansas State University, and San Diego State University.

Information regarding the conference or submission of a proposal for presentation is available on the NSEUS web site http://nseus.org.

Conference committee co-chairs are Dennis Sunal, University of Alabama; Dean Zollman, Kansas State University; Cheryl Mason, San Diego State University; and Cynthia Sunal, University of Alabama.

For more information contact Dennis Sunal at dwsunal@bama.ua.edu. The Conference is funded under the National Science Foundation Grant TPC 0554594. The project focuses on an examination of teaching in undergraduate science in the USA and its impact on students. Opinions expressed in conference reports are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Foundation.