Discipline-based Education Research Articles

I’m not half and half: navigating being a “both” in discipline-based education research

Introduction and methodsThrough years of conversations, three discipline-based education researchers used a duoethnographic process to interrogate their own discipline-based education research (DBER) identities. We present a description of how these individuals navigate being a “both,” gathered through reflections, discussions, and deeper research to explore perspectives of our professional identities and what we perceive those identities look like to our peers, supervisors, and trainees.ResultsOur own definitions and eventually realized identities as a “both” emerged through this research process. We envision that science faculty have multiple roles, demands, and identities; at the most basic level, they are “both” an educator and a researcher. In the unique case of discipline-based education research (i.e., scholars studying the teaching and learning of science often in science departments), some faculty find an overlap between complementary yet sometimes competing research agendas (i.e., biology research (BR) and discipline-based education research (DBER)), of which they do “both.”DiscussionThis article has two key contributions. First, it articulates this side-glancing process of our navigation of being a DBER “both,” leveraging each of our unique perspectives and the literature. Second, it represents how such an exploration may be useful to other interdisciplinary researchers in understanding and embracing all parts of their identities.

A descriptive overview of English-language publications in the field of Astronomy Education Research, 1898 to 2022

Discipline-based education research (DBER) takes the theories and methodologies of education research and applies them in the context of a specific discipline, in this example, astronomy. Research in the teaching and learning of astronomy has an extensive history; astronomy education research (AER), as its own separately defined field, is relatively new, stemming from the early to mid-1990s, as a separate track from physics education research (PER). By using a mixed-methods approach to textual analysis considering 2085 English language publications in the field, an order of magnitude larger than the previous largest overviews of the field, this study paints a rich picture of the landscape of AER over the timespan of a century from 1898 to 2022. This paper finds that AER authors started regularly publishing around 1970 and took off significantly in the 1990s with journal articles (~50%) and conference proceedings (~30%) being the most common method of publication. AER, in its early era, was largely a USA endeavour dominated by ASTRO101. This has changed over time and in recent years, the USA has dropped below 50\% of the worldwide AER publication production. “Celestial Motion”, “Instrumentation/Techniques”, and “Planetary Sciences (not Exoplanets)” are the most common content foci while a significant lack of local galactic and extragalactic education research is identified. AER has been heavily focussed on “Content Knowledge”, “Affective”, and “Engagement”. It is found that most articles tend to be general reporting of approaches or results (~43%) rather than full empirical research (~36%) while there is very little theoretical or historical research in AER yet. This overview, based on results input to an online database (istardb.org), provides a resource to researchers, educators, and other interested stakeholders allowing efficient ascertainment of previous research. This supports both researchers, allowing them to develop research questions at the cutting edge of the field, as well as practitioners, to inform their pragmatic approach based on latest research findings. We also present a set of recommendations and future outlook of the field of Astronomy Education Research.

Models of Disability as Research Frameworks in Biology Education Research.

Advancing equity and justice in undergraduate biology education requires research to address the experiences of disabled students. Scholars working in disability studies have developed models of disability that inform Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER). To date, DBER literature has been predominantly informed by the medical and social models of disability. The medical model focuses on challenges that affect people with disabilities on an individual basis, while the social model focuses on how one's surrounding environment contributes to the construction of disability. In this essay, we discuss past DBER research and opportunities for future research using each of these models. We will also discuss a third, less commonly used model that offers exciting opportunities to drive future research: complex embodiment. Complex embodiment positions disability as a social location that reflects a greater societal value structure. Further examining this value structure reveals how ability itself is constructed and conventionally understood to be hierarchical. Additionally, we explain epistemic injustice as it affects disabled people, and how future education research can both address and counteract this injustice. We discuss how expanding the frameworks that serve as lenses for DBER scholarship on disability will offer new research directions.

Broadening Participation in Biology Education Research: A role for affinity groups in promoting social connectivity, self-efficacy, and belonging.

Discipline-based education research (DBER) has experienced dramatic growth over recent years, but with growth comes concerns about whether DBER efforts accurately represent the education landscape. By many measures, DBER does not feature a representative range of institutional contexts or a diverse array of voices. Numerous professional development efforts have sought to broaden DBER participation. However, few studies investigate factors that increase engagement by individuals from underrepresented contexts. Drawing on theory related to belonging, self-efficacy, and social learning communities, we investigated persistence in an affinity group aimed at engaging community college faculty (CCF) in biology education research (BER). CCF and CC contexts are dramatically underrepresented in BER in comparison to their central positioning in higher education. We conducted a 4-y study of CCF participants' sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and network connectivity. Our results suggest a relationship between social connectivity, belonging, and persistence in the community, indicating an increase of either of these factors may increase persistence. Self-efficacy increased alongside belonging within the affinity group, which correlated with belonging in BER broadly. These results might inform efforts to engage underrepresented groups of DBER scholars and suggest that such efforts go beyond provision of resources and skills, to focus on building social connections.

"It let me merge my love of teaching with research": A qualitative investigation of the career pathways of biology education researchers.

Discipline-based education research-a field of research that investigates teaching and learning within STEM disciplines-has emerged over the last few decades to improve the quality of STEM education worldwide. Simple qualitative questions concerning the career backgrounds and motivations of the individuals who conduct this research have yet to be explored. Here, we surveyed and interviewed discipline-based education researchers about their career trajectories and motivations to pursue this field of research. We focused specifically on recruiting biology education research faculty members at colleges and universities. We used the Social Influence Model and Social Cognitive Career Theory to develop and analyze survey and semi-structured interview questions. Findings revealed participant career paths all began with disciplinary undergraduate and graduate-level biology education. We noticed participants began conducting biology education research due to their values and personal interests, while additionally being swayed by contextual factors. Specifically, participants valued biology education research because it allowed them to make a difference in the world and provided them with a community open to change and collaboration. Biology education research allowed them to explore their interests in teaching and evidence-based approaches to education. These values and interests were impacted by contextual factors, including discoveries of opportunities, positive (or negative) experiences with mentorship, exposure to evidence-based teaching literature, considerations of salary and job security, and experiences with gender-based discrimination. Our results underscore the importance of harnessing individual values and interests-especially those centered on evidence-based teaching practices and making a difference in the world-while fostering a positive and supportive academic environment. This research reveals pathways toward discipline-based education research careers. Additionally, this research can inform the development of graduate programs and funding opportunities.

Differentiation, adaptation, and perseverance: Maturing conceptualizations of education-focused science faculty in the United States.

Science education reform has been underway for almost a century with the general aim to engage students and train scientists needed to find solutions to global challenges, and also ensure a general public well disposed towards science. In an effort to aid science reform, more recently, colleges and universities have been augmenting their academic workforce by embedding education-focused science faculty into science departments. However, little research has investigated how this approach, and the identity of these faculty, may be changing over time. Here we investigate how conceptualizations of professional identities of these faculty across the United States have changed over the last two decades. We found three professional identities amongst these faculty: Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES), Discipline-Based Education Researchers (DBER), and faculty who identify as both SFES and DBER. Evidence indicates this is a maturing field within higher-education science departments, with more direct hiring and training pathways, but with potentially diminishing agency. Finally, data reveal resilience and perseverance despite negative biases from peers and college administrators, especially at PhD-granting institutions.

A systematic review of volcanology learning and teaching in higher education

We present a systematic map of the volcanology higher education literature (1983–2020) consisting of 47 peer-reviewed full texts. The literature describes curricula in varied formats and settings, namely: simulated, in-person, and field-based learning. The phenomena that students are learning about commonly include volcanic processes and landforms, applicable to learning within various geoscience subdisciplines. Frequently published research includes volcano misconceptions and simulated eruptions. However, most texts focus on practitioner wisdom and lack research information, empirical evidence, and/or a research-oriented methodology. A lack of research orientation is a documented phenomenon within the broader field of geoscience education, which is young compared to other discipline-based education research fields. Based on our findings, we recommend future research in conceptual learning of volcanology, instructional strategies, volcanology and society interactions, volcanology education equity and inclusion, volcanology cognition, quantitative learning, affective learning, and institutional change in volcanology.

Constructing biology education research identities: a duoethnography

An emerging theme that has gained traction across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms in recent decades is acknowledgingwhois responsible for the discoveries and content that we teach. Centering the human aspect of who the researchers are and how their identities intersect with perspectives in research impacts the lens through which the work is done but also shapes the community of practice in our classrooms and the evolving ecosystem of research communities that contribute to STEM education. In particular, discipline-based education research (DBER) is an emerging interdisciplinary field aimed at understanding and improving discipline-specific learning and teaching. Entering and establishing oneself in a new research field can be a daunting process. For many DBER scholars who began their careers in another discipline, their career trajectories have necessitated this challenge. Here, we focus on our experiences in Biology Education Research (BER). We use duoethnography to explore our overlapping trajectories into and engagements with BER, allowing for the juxtaposition of our experiences to give meanings to and build new understandings of our pathways in BER, which include entry points, reasons for persistence, and identity navigation. Through collaborative reflections, we formulated novel insights that we experienced BER as a community of practice that values the participation of emerging scholars and arrived at a transformed understanding that our educator identities were important driving factors for our continuing pursuit of BER. Results from this duoethnography not only provide insights into how BER faculty may navigate multiple professional identities but can also shed light on potential opportunities and challenges for research and practice partnerships connecting science and education faculty where such identities reside not in single individuals but with multiple persons in a cross-disciplinary collaboration. We see parallels between this work considering faculty identity and pathways into BER with work considering student identity and pathways into STEM, and we hope that these results also highlight the value of utilizing qualitative methodologies that may be novel to both the BER and more broadly, DBER, communities as a tool for centering the human experience that can spark future work and applications within STEM education.

A longitudinal perspective of the experiences and career trajectories of discipline-based education specialists in teaching and learning in higher education

ABSTRACT We summarize the experiences and outcomes for ‘discipline-based education specialists’ involved with a large-scale, 10-year initiative: the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at the University of British Columbia. A key aspect of the initiative was the hiring of these specialists into academic departments where they held graduate-level education in a matching discipline, often coupled with teaching experience. We draw upon various data sources to provide a rich, longitudinal picture of the experiences and career trajectories of these academic developers and explore the skills, behaviours, and supports they perceive as critical for changing and advancing instructional practices and departmental culture in higher education. We also discuss how embedding agents of change this way is a successful model for the transformation of institutional norms in undergraduate education.

Discipline-Based Diversity Research in Chemistry.

ConspectusWe introduce the term discipline-based diversity research (DBDR) to capture the emerging field of research advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging with specificity to a given discipline. Contextualizing a human dynamic through a disciplinary lens has already given rise to discipline-based education research (DBER). The modalities through which students and practitioners think and process information are a reflection of a given discipline, and it tends to give rise to its professional practices. Through DBER, such specification is necessary in addressing evidence-based practices that are effective for teaching a particular subject. Likewise, the inequities and opportunities within a given field (and its professional culture) must be addressed within a disciplinary lens. Thus, the findings from social science in diversity in arbitrary contexts must be analyzed, interpreted, applied, and researched within a given discipline.One specific challenge to academic chemistry is the lack of inclusion in the sense that the faculties in research-active chemistry departments are far from diverse. We recapitulate the percentage of women and under-represented person of color (URPOC) professors over the past 20 years reported by us and other sources. The data admits to linear fits with high confidence. Assuming this linearity holds, the gender gap in representation would be bridged only in 2062, and the threshold of 20% of the faculty as URPOC would be reached only in 2113. While the community has actively engaged in modifying practices and procedures to redress this grim projection, it should be clear that more needs to be done.Toward this objective, we have been driven by the top-down hypothesis that solutions must be led intentionally through the top─that is, by department heads and chairs─because they are the stewards of the infrastructure. Department chairs and the chemistry community have engaged in DBDR through biennial workshops─that is, through the Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE)'s National Diversity Equity Workshops (NDEWs)─to survey and evaluate existing policies and practices aimed at advancing inclusive excellence. This has led to research-based recommendations for the implementation of solutions in chemistry departments. This includes (i) engaging in community, (ii) conducting authentic and open searches, and (iii) recognizing and rewarding inclusive excellence. What makes them DBDR in chemistry is that we have to articulate and contextualize these solutions in terms of practices and procedures that we conduct in chemistry, assess their efficacy, and promote them across our discipline. Furthermore, we must offer theories of change for reforming them while offering frameworks that fit within how chemists think and practice.In this Account, we demonstrate how DBDR has taken root in chemistry, forecast where this emerging field may go, and provide a blueprint for how it might be replicated in other disciplines.

Modeling and Representing Conceptual Change in the Learning of Successive Theories

AbstractMost educational literature on conceptual change concerns the process by which introductory students acquire scientific knowledge. However, with modern developments in science and technology, the social significance of learning successive theories is steadily increasing, thus opening new areas of interest to discipline-based education research, e.g., quantum logic, quantum information, and communication. Here, we present an initial proposal for modeling the transition from the understanding of a theory to the understanding of its successor and explore its generative potential by applying it to a concrete case—the classical-quantum transition in physics. In pursue of such task, we make coordinated use of contributions from research not only on conceptual change in education, but also on the history and philosophy of science, on the teaching and learning of quantum mechanics, and on mathematics education. By means of analytical instruments developed for characterizing conceptual trajectories at different representational levels, we review empirical literature in the search for the connections between theory change and cognitive demands. The analysis shows a rich landscape of changes and new challenges that are absent in the traditionally considered cases of conceptual change. In order to fully disclose the educational potential of the analysis, we visualize categorical changes by means of dynamic frames, identifying recognizable patterns that answer to students’ need of comparability between the older and the new paradigm. Finally, we show how the frame representation can be used to suggest pattern-dependent strategies to promote the understanding of the new content, and may work as a guide to curricular design.

Open Network Infrastructure for the Commons

An ongoing challenge in the day-to-day reality of research work is the disparate, disconnected array of tools they must piece together to manage their work. What’s more, there is a clear hierarchy in the research tools landscape, preferencing “traditional” scholarly output, elevating certain disciplines over others (both in direct and indirect ways), and obscuring the very human work of doing research. While there is no single solution to these challenges, academy-owned and -designed infrastructure is emerging to help address them. This poster will explore one such effort: HCommons. The Commons model is a natural ally for open research work, and, critically, centers the social dimensions alongside resources and protocols. Crucial to a healthy Commons is infrastructure, which HCommons provides. Hosted at Michigan State University, HCommons facilitates: Collaboration, communication and sharing, both public and private Open publication & archiving, including of so-called “grey literature" Public-facing sites and profiles With more than 30,000 users worldwide, HCommons started life in the Humanities – a rarity in the open research space that offers a unique perspective – and is expanding into other disciplines, with explicit support of open education and open data, in addition to the broadest possible range of open publications. Work is also underway to integrate open peer review, and future features could include user-curation and annotation. In addition, community development efforts are focused on equipping users to organise and manage their own communities, and to contribute back to the governance of HCommons itself. As an example of commoning in action, HCommons has partnered with STEM education research experts to establish a new STEM-focused Commons node, which will be developed in line with CARE, FAIR and Open standards. This initiative recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF; one of the largest federal science funding bodies in the United States) grant, which includes funds to migrate to CERN-developed Invenio as the underlying Commons repository software, further establishing robust infrastructure for the network. Aside from the technical components, the new Commons will be seeded with a wide range of initiatives underway by our STEM education research partners, demonstrating the power of a holistic approach. These include: Creating collaborative spaces for discipline-based education research Launching a public site to recruit post-doctoral candidates via a transparent, equity-driven process Transitioning an established listserv to offer increased value to subscribers By consolidating multiple related efforts, the team can bring their work into alignment, reduce barriers to participation, reduce management overhead, and put their values into action. Our goal is to use our experience to create a replicable model to develop new nodes in an open network, whether discipline-focused, institutional, project-based, serving scholarly societies or specific geographic areas, which in turn will foster a vibrant, interdependent, collaborative Commons for sharing knowledge globally. We invite you to join us.

A Systematic Mapping of E-Learning Research: An Interdisciplinary and Multi-paradigmatic Perspective from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

E-learning research is a dynamic and ever-expanding interdisciplinary field. Research in this area is often conducted at the intersection of social science, cognitive science, learning sciences, as well as engineering and computer science. Common concerns in the field include ambiguity and confusion toward how best to approach methodological design as well as tensions around whether the field is coherent or fragmented. E-learning research has been characterized as a multi-paradigmatic knowledge field with distinct theoretical foundations and a horizontal knowledge structure composed of “specialist” languages. There has been a remarkable increase in systematic literature reviews in the field, representing a burgeoning research industry. Although there is a clear division between technical and social scientific approaches, there is a scarcity of literature which attempts to synthesize the evidence on how e-learning research is conducted across disciplines and within distinctive research communities from a multi-paradigmatic perspective. The objective of the current study is to systematically map research done in the field of e-learning in higher education at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) within the frame of an institutional analysis. The aim is to identify key features and distinctive approaches to research across disciplines in this area from a multi-paradigmatic perspective. A systematic mapping review has been conducted, synthesizing research published between 2015-2020 by authors affiliated with the UOC. The study identified 291 articles, the majority of which use quantitative approaches following both design-based research methods as well as design and development research aims across three distinct research areas (a) educational research, (b) discipline-based education research and (c) learning engineering research. Fragmentation was identified across distinct research areas and communities of practice, particularly between research aims and the methods used to achieve these aims. By empirically examining the claims about methodological capacity and coherence in e-learning research, recommendations are offered for reorienting the field by: (a) increasing interdisciplinary collaboration through integrated research agendas; (b) supporting the expanding profession of the ‘learning engineer’; and (c) promoting methodological capacity, clarity and innovation.

Today’s interdisciplinary quantum information classroom: Themes from a survey of quantum information science instructors

Interdisciplinary introduction to quantum information science (QIS) courses are proliferating at universities across the US, but the experiences of instructors in these courses have remained largely unexplored in the discipline-based education research (DBER) communities. Here, we address this gap by reporting on the findings of a survey of instructors teaching introduction to QIS courses at institutions across the US, primarily at the undergraduate or hybrid undergraduate/graduate level, as well as follow-up focus interviews with six individual instructors. Key themes from this analysis include challenges and opportunities associated with the diversity of instructor and student backgrounds, student difficulties with the mathematical formalism (especially though not exclusively with linear algebra), and the need for better textbooks and curricular materials. We also find that while course topics are ostensibly similar, each course is crafted by its instructor to tell a different story about QIS and to uniquely balance goals such as accessibility and academic rigor, such that no canonical introduction to QIS course emerges from our dataset. We discuss the implications of this finding with regard to the benefits and risks associated with standardization of curricula as QIS coursework matures.

Keeping Up-to-Date with Chemical Education Research Standards

The Chemical Education Research (CER) community has grown tremendously over the past decades, both in terms of the number of researchers but also in terms of the expectations for conducting empirical investigations. Community members have been keen on helping each other keep pace with the evolution of the standards by providing constructive feedback during the review of manuscripts and by writing insightful, methods-focused articles and books. Keeping up-to-date with these evolving standards can be challenging for new and current members of the CER community. In this editorial, we provide advice for best practices based on reviewers’ comments on CER manuscripts submitted to this Journal over the past two years. We also introduce a new database that compiles resources published by education researchers on standards for conducting discipline-based education research.

Challenges facing interdisciplinary researchers: Findings from a professional development workshop.

Interdisciplinary research is the synergistic combination of two or more disciplines to achieve one research objective. Current research highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research in science education, particularly between educational experts within a particular science discipline (discipline-based education researchers) and those who study human learning in a more general sense (learning scientists). However, this type of interdisciplinary research is not common and little empirical evidence exists that identifies barriers and possible solutions. We hosted a pre-conference workshop for Discipline-Based Educational Researchers and Learning Scientists designed to support interdisciplinary collaborations. We collected evidence during our workshop regarding barriers to interdisciplinary collaborations in science education, perceptions of perceived cohesion in participants' home university departments and professional communities, and the impact of our workshop on fostering new connections. Based on participants' responses, we identified three categories of barriers, Disciplinary Differences, Professional Integration, and Collaborative Practice. Using a post-conference survey, we found an inverse pattern in perceived cohesion to home departments compared to self-identified professional communities. Additionally, we found that after the workshop participants reported increased connections across disciplines. Our results provide empirical evidence regarding challenges to interdisciplinary research in science education and suggest that small professional development workshops have the potential for facilitating durable interdisciplinary networks where participants feel a sense of belonging not always available in their home departments.

Fidelity of Implementation as a Guiding Framework for Transitioning Research-Based Instructional Practices from On Site to Online.

ABSTRACTIn this Perspective, we contribute to the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education special issue “Opportunities and Challenges of Online Instruction—Blurring the Lines Between Online and On-Site Teaching and Learning” by introducing a framework to guide instructors in transitioning from on-site to online instruction. The discipline-based education research community has produced a significant literature base demonstrating the effectiveness of various research-based instructional practices (RBIPs) that support student learning in face-to-face environments. However, little is known about how to transport these practices into the online environment. We introduce fidelity of implementation (FOI) as a framework for considering how to adapt RBIPs for online contexts while maintaining the integrity of the aspects of the practice that are thought to support student learning. We use our own experience responding to the global pandemic to provide rich examples of how FOI was used to anticipate challenges in transitioning online and describe how it was used to adapt an RBIP for online instruction.

Professional Development for Early Career DBER Scholars through In-Person and Virtual Career Panel Workshops.

ABSTRACTIn discipline-based education research (DBER), early career scholars, such as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, observe a slew of possible career pathways. Yet, there is a lack of opportunities to learn about such pathways, particularly when transitioning from traditional science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) disciplinary training into a DBER position. Thus, the DBER Scholars-in-Training Professional Development subcommittee was created within the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) community to develop a collection of workshops that would serve the greatest professional development needs of early career scholars entering DBER. Through a series of surveys disseminated over multiple years, early career scholars expressed interest in better navigating their career options, which led to the development of the career panel workshop, held during the 2019 and 2020 SABER Annual National Conferences. In this report, we explore the development, implementation, and results of two career panel workshops and compare and contrast the 2019 in-person workshop with the 2020 virtual workshop. We also offer our insights on the value of the career workshop, discuss the next steps, and explore valuable resources for those planning on organizing similar events.

HOW STATISTICAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT CAN OBSCURE INEQUITIES IN STEM STUDENT OUTCOMES

Researchers often frame quantitative research as objective, but every step in data collection and analysis can bias findings in often unexamined ways. In this investigation, we examined how the process of selecting variables to include in regression models (model specification) can bias findings about inequities in science and math student outcomes. We identified the four most used methods for model specification in discipline-based education research about equity: a priori, statistical significance, variance explained, and information criterion. Using a quantitative critical perspective that blends statistical theory with critical theory, we reanalyzed the data from a prior publication using each of the four methods and compared the findings from each. We concluded that using information criterion produced models that best aligned with our quantitative critical perspective's emphasis on intersectionality and models with more accurate coefficients and uncertainties. Based on these findings, we recommend researchers use information criterion for specifying models about inequities in STEM student outcomes.

Individual-Centred Approaches to Accessibility in STEM Education

Equitable access to high-quality higher education is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, and 10, which indicate that it is crucial for a future sustainable society. Globalisation and reductions in systemic barriers to university admission are creating increasingly diverse higher education classrooms, but traditional education methods may unfairly disadvantage some groups of students. Creating equity in access to high-quality education requires teaching approaches that are considerate of each student’s individual sociocultural context as it affects their educational attainment. Building on discipline-based education research (DBER) principles in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, a modified holistic approach is proposed that primarily centres on students and tailors the teaching methods to the needs of the individuals and the dynamic of the whole class. This work demonstrates that educational attainment and student confidence was improved by applying an individual-centred teaching approach in a highly diverse undergraduate engineering classroom. Trials of this approach in a pilot classroom showed clear and consistent improvement over standard active learning approaches. Best practice guidelines for individual-centred teaching in STEM classrooms are provided. Further work is needed to examine the efficacy of this approach in a generalised setting, but the positive outcomes for student attainment are in line with existing research in the literature. The best practice guidelines presented herein may serve as a starting point for other educators to become more aware of the sociocultural needs of their individual students and classrooms, which may result in a move towards equity in STEM higher education.