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1
Introduction
This report comes at a time when our nation and our species face
profound challenges. Ensuring adequate food, water, energy, and mineral
resources to support a growing human population competes with the need
to control negative impacts such as pollution, global climate change, and
loss of biodiversity. Understanding and addressing these challenges will
require all the wisdom, ingenuity, and knowledge that humans can mus-
ter. These efforts will necessarily involve people with a diverse array of
educational backgrounds and expertise, including scientists and engineers.
Undergraduate education in science and engineering plays a crucial role
in providing future generations with the knowledge and skills to address
these challenges.
Undergraduate education in science and engineering in the United States
serves multiple purposes, including providing all students with foundational
knowledge and skills, motivating some students to complete degrees in sci-
ence or engineering, and providing students who wish to pursue careers in
science or engineering with the knowledge and skills required to be success-
ful. Students who go on to have successful careers in science or engineering
must be problem solvers, skilled in quantitative reasoning and modeling,
effective at communication and cross-disciplinary collaboration, and cog-
nizant of relationships between science and society (Brewer and Smith,
2011). Students who do not pursue these careers need to understand science
and engineering to serve in their roles as citizens, consumers, and lead-
ers of business and government who need to make wise science-informed
7
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8 DISCIPLINE-BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH
decisions in their personal and professional lives. Choosing healthcare for
one’s children, buying a car, voting about land-use regulations, or retrofit-
ting one’s house or business to be more earthquake-resistant are but a few
of the decisions that today’s undergraduates may face. Their decisions on
these and other issues will be based, in part, on their confidence in the
methods of science and engineering and their understanding of the findings
of science and engineering.
The importance of science and engineering in preparing the technical
workforce and a science-literate citizenry has drawn increased attention to
the quality of undergraduate science and engineering education and how it
can be improved. There are persistent concerns that undergraduate science
and engineering courses are not providing students with high-quality learn-
ing experiences, nor are they attracting and retaining students in science
and engineering fields (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Tech-
nology, 2012). Colleges and universities also face the challenge of serving
an increasingly socially, economically, and ethnically diverse undergraduate
population entering college classrooms directly from high school, after a
military career or other life experiences, or from postsecondary educational
experiences at another institution. Sustained attention to motivating, engag-
ing and supporting the learning of all students who enter college science
and engineering classrooms is an imperative.
Completion rates for all undergraduate students, including whites and
Asians, are significantly lower in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics than in other disciplines. For example, Hispanic and African
American students are as likely as white and Asian students to start col-
lege with an interest in science and engineering, but less likely to persist
(National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and
Institute of Medicine, 2011). Specifically, underrepresented racial and ethnic
groups comprised roughly 30 percent of the national population in 2006,
but only 9 percent of the college-educated science and engineering work-
force (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering,
and Institute of Medicine, 2011).
Recognizing these challenges and the need for improvements in under-
graduate science and engineering instruction, many institutions are work-
ing to identify effective approaches (Association of American Universities,
2011). Faculty members—alone or in collaboration with others—also are
engaged in efforts to improve instruction, measure the efficacy of these
teaching practices, and understand how students learn the concepts and
practices that are fundamental to their disciplines (National Research Coun-
cil, 2012; Project Kaleidoscope, 2011a, 2011b). Discipline-based education
research (DBER)—by systematically investigating learning and teaching in
science and engineering and providing a robust evidence base on which to
base practice—is playing a critical role in these efforts.
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9
INTRODUCTION
DEFINING DISCIPLINE-BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH
DBER is grounded in the science and engineering disciplines and
addresses questions of teaching and learning within those disciplines. The
roots of this type of research can be traced to the early 1900s, but DBER
emerged more prominently in the 1980s and 1990s (see Chapter 2 for a
detailed discussion of the history). DBER can be defined both by the focus
of the research and by the researchers who conduct it. In the following
sections, we define DBER and who conducts it. This definition guided the
committee in identifying the relevant bodies of research, and examining
how to advance DBER and strengthen its impact.
DBER investigates learning and teaching in a discipline using a range
of methods with deep grounding in the discipline’s priorities, worldview,
knowledge, and practices. It is informed by and complementary to more
general research on human learning and cognition. Although the focus of
this report is learning and teaching in undergraduate institutions, DBER
scholars have also examined learning and teaching in the K-12 context,
particularly at the high school level.
The long-term goals of DBER are to
• understand how people learn the concepts, practices, and ways of
thinking of science and engineering;
• understand the nature and development of expertise in a discipline;
• help to identify and measure appropriate learning objectives and
instructional approaches that advance students toward those
objectives;
• contribute to the knowledge base in a way that can guide the trans-
lation of DBER findings to classroom practice; and
• identify approaches to make science and engineering education
broad and inclusive.
Thus the research has the practical goal of improving science and engineer-
ing education for all students.
Achieving these goals requires that DBER studies be grounded in expert
knowledge of the discipline and the challenges for learning, teaching, and
professional thinking within that discipline. All fields of DBER share a
common focus on issues that are important for understanding and foster-
ing student learning of the most crucial topics, techniques, procedures, and
ways of knowing that define the particular discipline. This focus includes
investigating student learning within that discipline per se, along with issues
affecting enrollment and retention of students in classes and the adoption
of best practices by instructors.
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10 DISCIPLINE-BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH
To progress toward these goals, DBER relies on several types of knowl-
edge from outside the science or engineering disciplines: (1) the nature of
human thinking and learning as they relate to the discipline of interest, (2)
factors that affect student motivation to initially engage in and then to per-
sist in the learning necessary to understand the discipline and apply findings
of the discipline, and (3) research methods appropriate for investigating
human thinking, motivation, and learning. By its very nature, DBER is an
interdisciplinary field of study. This means that discipline-based education
researchers must bridge the gaps in language, background, and ways of
thinking between their home discipline and several areas of research on
learning and teaching.
DBER embraces the full spectrum of research approaches for under-
standing human learning, cognition, and affect. Its research methods are
drawn not only from the home discipline (e.g., chemistry or engineering)
but also from a variety of other fields such as experimental and social psy-
chology, education, and anthropology. Discipline-based education research-
ers use experimental, correlational, ethnographic, and exploratory designs,
and to collect quantitative and qualitative evidence.
As with other areas of research, DBER includes a range of studies
from fundamental to applied, and from theoretical to empirical. A useful
framework for thinking about the range of questions that can be addressed
in research was proposed by David Stokes in his book Pasteur’s Quadrant
(Stokes, 1997; see Figure 1-1). Using this framework, some DBER studies
might be categorized as pure basic research, driven by a quest for funda-
mental understanding that is connected to the practical goal of improved
education, but with no immediate application. Basic research in DBER
might include research on the cognitive underpinnings of groups of stu-
dents’ misconceptions (see Chapter 4). Pure applied DBER, on the other
hand, might include studies of the effectiveness of collaborative problem
solving or the use of technology for improving classroom instruction (see
Chapter 6). Many DBER studies fall in the “use-inspired basic research”
category of Pasteur’s quadrant. For example, researchers have investigated
students’ competence at authentic tasks within the discipline, such as trans-
lating between different representations of a molecule in chemistry (Cooper
et al., 2010) or using diagrammatic representations to reason about evolu-
tionary relationships among taxa in biology (Novick and Catley, in press).
DBER has sometimes been characterized by the training and profes-
sional positions of the contributing scholars rather than solely in terms of
substantive focus. As discussed in Chapter 2, DBER scholars have a diverse
array of backgrounds. A number of DBER scholars have a Ph.D. in a science
or engineering discipline and additional training or experience in education
research. Many of these scholars hold positions in natural science depart-
ments. Yet other scholars also contribute to DBER through collaborations
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INTRODUCTION
Pure Basic: Use-Inspired
Basic: How
Cognitive
students translate
underpinnings of
The Advancement of Knowledge
between different
misconceptions
representations of
a molecule
Pure Applied:
Efficacy of
educational
technology
Relevance for Immediate Application
FIGURE 1-1 Pasteur’s quadrant showing basic and applied DBER.
Figure 1-1
that bring together individuals with expert knowledge in science or engineer-
ing and those with expertise in education research or research on learning
and teaching. The discussions in Chapter 2 of this report focus more heavily
on individual scholars who have dual training in the natural sciences or
engineering and experience or training in education research.
Relation of DBER to Other Research Areas
Another way to define DBER is to consider it in relation to other fields
that study learning and teaching (Bodner, 2011). In this section we consider
DBER alongside three related fields: the scholarship of teaching and learn-
ing, educational psychology, and cognitive science. The category of DBER
overlaps each of these other categories, but stands distinct from all of them.
As noted, DBER is distinguished by an empirical approach to investigat-
ing learning and teaching that is informed by an expert understanding of
disciplinary knowledge and practice. In making these distinctions we focus
on the research perspective of scholars rather than on their organizational
location within the institution.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The activities that have come to be known as the scholarship of teach-
ing and learning (SoTL) have developed in parallel with DBER. SoTL
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12 DISCIPLINE-BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH
emerged from Scholarship Reconsidered (Boyer, 1990), which emphasized
the need for classroom research and sparked conversations about teaching
among colleagues at the university level. In 1997, the Carnegie Founda-
tion for the Advancement of Teaching established the Carnegie Academy
for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL). CASTL supported
faculty fellows in developing classroom research skills, and several reports
have been published on the positive impact this work has had on the fel-
lows and their institutions (Hatch, 2005; Huber and Hutchings, 2005;
Hutchings, Huber, and Ciccone, 2011). SoTL has focused on engaging
faculty across disciplinary boundaries, including the humanities, social
sciences, and natural sciences with their wide-ranging epistemologies and
standards of evidence. SoTL emphasizes developing reflective practice and
using classroom-based evidence. Some faculty engage in SoTL to inform
their own work in the classroom, and some have gone on to become deeply
engaged in more general education research. Thus, the boundaries between
SoTL and DBER are blurred and some researchers belong to both the SoTL
and DBER communities.
While DBER scholars gravitate to discipline-specific journals, SoTL
researchers mostly publish in broad journals on teaching and learning such
as the Journal of College Student Development or through the International
Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (IJSoTL). IJSoTL
states that “SoTL is a key way to improve teaching effectiveness, student
learning outcomes, and the continuous transformation of academic cultures
and communities. …[C]ollege and university teaching is seen as a serious
intellectual activity that can be evidence and outcome based.”1
Educational Psychology Research
Educational psychologists investigate learning in students of all ages,
including undergraduates (e.g., Mayer, 2011). In contrast to DBER, research
in educational psychology typically focuses on general principles of learn-
ing, and the content domain under investigation is often secondary. For
example, science content might be used in a study of how students learn
from diagrams, but the particular science content per se is not necessarily
the object of investigation. DBER, on the other hand, is concerned with
undergraduate students’ learning of a particular aspect of the scientific
discipline. As a consequence, the science content that is incorporated in
research in educational psychology is often not equivalent in depth or
breadth to that considered in DBER.
1 This statement appears on the IJSoTL website: http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/
index.htm [accessed March 30, 2012].
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INTRODUCTION
Cognitive Science Research
Cognitive science is a multidisciplinary field dedicated to understanding
the nature of the human mind and other intelligent systems, primarily from
a basic research perspective. Theoretical investigations generally focus on
issues of knowledge representation, cognitive processes, and (in humans)
brain theory (Friedenberg and Silverman, 2006). Computational modeling
of human thinking is a strong focus in the field. Cognitive science research-
ers value both novel experimental tasks (e.g., abstract puzzles) and those
drawn from or modeled on real-world tasks (e.g., authentic science materi-
als such as physics problems) (Friedenberg and Silverman, 2006).
The core disciplines of cognitive science are artificial intelligence, lin-
guistics, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and educa-
tion. Cognitive Science, the flagship journal of the Cognitive Science Society,
publishes research on intelligent systems that is multidisciplinary across
two or more of these named disciplines. The journal historically has not
published many articles related to education and would consider many
DBER studies—such as solving problems from undergraduate physics and
reasoning from diagrams in evolutionary biology—as belonging to the field
of cognitive psychology, which includes the study of problem solving and
diagrammatic reasoning in undergraduates. Although such studies are inter-
disciplinary between cognitive psychology and another science discipline,
the second discipline is not considered to be part of cognitive science.
It can be difficult to determine whether studies of complex, high-level
cognitive tasks such as problem solving and diagrammatic reasoning, which
are related to DBER studies, belong to cognitive psychology or cogni-
tive science. In many cases, both fields would reasonably lay claim to the
research. In this report, we have opted to classify this research as cognitive
science because (a) it generally is directed to and is cited by a multidisci-
plinary audience and (b) at the time of this report such research is much
more likely to be presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Science
Society than at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society (the home
of cognitive psychology). In the minority of cases in which we refer to sup-
porting research as coming from cognitive psychology, it is because that
research is directed toward a cognitive psychology audience.
Educational Evaluation
Finally, evaluation of educational interventions and programs is related
to the work in DBER that measures the effectiveness of particular instruc-
tional strategies, course structures, or programs of study. Many educational
evaluators use sophisticated methods for studying the implementation
and impact of interventions in context, as well as efforts to take those
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14 DISCIPLINE-BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH
interventions to scale. These methods include large-scale, mixed methods
designs and a wide variety of quasi-experimental designs (see, for example,
the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis). In contrast to
DBER, however, these studies do not typically closely examine the nature
of the science or engineering discipline being learned.
OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
Increased calls to improve instructional practices in the natural sciences
intersect with growing interest in DBER as an important area of scholar-
ship, generating new opportunities to apply this research. Recognizing this
important juncture, the National Science Foundation (NSF) requested that
the National Research Council (NRC) convene a committee to conduct a
synthesis study on the status, contributions, and future directions of DBER
across undergraduate physics, biology, the geosciences, and chemistry. In
response to this request, the NRC convened the 15-member Committee
on the Status, Contributions, and Future Directions of Discipline-Based
Education Research to answer questions that are essential to advancing
DBER and broadening its impact on science teaching and learning at the
undergraduate level. Over a 13-month period in 2010-2011, the committee
explored those questions. This report synthesizes the committee’s findings.
Charge to the Committee
The three broad elements of the committee’s charge were to
1. synthesize empirical research on undergraduate teaching and learn-
ing in the sciences,
2. examine the extent to which this research currently influences
undergraduate science instruction, and
3. describe the intellectual and material resources that are required to
further develop DBER.
More specifically, the committee was charged with addressing the following
questions:
1. What is the state of DBER scholarship as a whole and what cur-
rently is being done across each of the natural sciences? Are there
research synergies across disciplines?
2. What findings are robust across disciplines?
3. What discipline-specific instructional practices are most clearly
linked to increased performance across student groups (especially
low socioeconomic status, minority, and female students)?
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INTRODUCTION
4. To what extent and how has DBER informed teaching and learning
in the various disciplines?
5. What factors are influencing differences in the state of research and
its impact in the various disciplines?
6. What are the resources, incentives, and conditions needed to
advance this research?
7. What resources and incentives are needed to ensure that teach-
ing and learning in the various science disciplines is informed by
DBER?
8. What questions should DBER scholars prioritize in the next genera-
tion of research?
Scope of the Study
The original charge to the committee specified that the committee con-
sider undergraduate physics, biological sciences, geosciences, and chemistry.
As work on the study began, two changes were made to the disciplines that
were included. First, engineering was included because early discussions
suggested engineering education research was robust and the engineer-
ing education research community was establishing an infrastructure for
research. Second, a consideration of the literature in physics education
research revealed that astronomy education research differed in terms of
timeline and trajectory and merited inclusion as a discipline separate from
physics. Thus, although astronomy typically is linked with physics at the
undergraduate level, the committee decided to treat them separately for
this study because astronomy education research and physics education
research are at different points in their development, emphasize different
methodological approaches, and involve distinct (though overlapping) stu-
dent populations.
It is important to note that DBER can be a field of study within any
academic discipline, in the sciences and beyond. However, because this
study focuses on education research in a select set of science and engineer-
ing disciplines, throughout this report we use the term DBER to refer only
to these disciplines.
In addressing the specific questions in the charge, the committee agreed
on the following approaches. In question 1, we interpreted “scholarship” to
encompass the community of DBER scholars in the sciences and engineer-
ing and the body of literature that those researchers generate. Determining
the state of scholarship includes examining the types of questions that
DBER scholars ask or the problems they study, how they study them, what
counts as evidence, and key findings. It also includes examining degree
programs, postdoctoral and faculty positions, conferences, professional
societies, journals, and other indicators that reflect the development and
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16 DISCIPLINE-BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH
identity of DBER in a discipline and its practitioners within the academic
culture. And finally, determining the state of scholarship also includes a
historical sense of how the research community has developed over time.
In discussing question 2, we determined that it would be necessary to
summarize the findings within each discipline before analyzing the findings
across disciplines. Concerning question 3, we also agreed that, depending
on how the research was disaggregated, it would be useful to consider stu-
dent characteristics other than socioeconomic status, minority status, and
gender. However, overall, our synthesis revealed that relatively little DBER
has been designed to examine group differences.
Finally, noting that question 7 creates a sense of direction for the field,
we focused on ensuring the widespread use of research-based practices.
We also recognized the importance of identifying whom the resources
should target, and of considering future science and engineering faculty
and future DBER scholars—including graduate students—when answering
this question.
Approach and Sources of Evidence
The committee carried out its charge through an iterative process of
gathering information, deliberating, identifying gaps and questions, gather-
ing further information to fill these gaps, and holding further discussions.
In the search for relevant information we held four public fact-finding
meetings, reviewed published reports and unpublished research, and com-
missioned experts to prepare and present papers. During a fifth, private
meeting, we intensely analyzed and discussed our findings and conclusions.
Our approach began with an examination of the research on teach-
ing and learning at the undergraduate level in each discipline of the study
charge, with a focus on DBER. To this end, we commissioned literature
reviews of DBER in astronomy, biology, chemistry, engineering, the geo-
sciences, and physics. Equipped with this foundational understanding, we
addressed issues that cut across disciplines by considering some general
principles of teaching and learning from cognitive science and educational
psychology. Finally, we examined a broader set of factors that influence
faculty, departmental, and institutional change, and considered a set of
strategies designed to promote research-based instructional and institu-
tional change in undergraduate science instruction.
We found a limited number of studies that identify the extent to which
DBER has informed instruction (study question 4). Thus, to address this
question we also sought to identify the factors that influence faculty deci-
sions about instruction, primarily through a commissioned paper that drew
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INTRODUCTION
on the broader research about individual and institutional transformation
in postsecondary education.
When considering the issues of advancing DBER (study question 6),
we found that the research base was similarly sparse. Therefore, to address
this issue, we commissioned papers examining the history of DBER in
each of the disciplines in the study charge. Those papers helped to define
DBER, designate milestones associated with the development of emerging
fields, and identify relevant journals for education research in each disci-
pline. They also enabled a cross-cutting comparison of the development of
DBER. Another aspect of advancing DBER relates to preparing and placing
future faculty members. However, no systemically collected data existed on
graduate or postdoctoral programs or career pathways for discipline-based
education researchers, so we also commissioned a paper that would allow
us to explore the role of postdoctoral programs in preparing DBER faculty.
Although the committee considered information from a variety of
sources during the course of this study, the conclusions we have drawn
about the research on teaching and learning within each discipline give the
most weight to research published in peer reviewed journals and books.
Following an earlier National Research Council report (2002), we adopted
the view that “A wide variety of legitimate scientific designs are available
for education research. They range from randomized experiments … to
in-depth ethnographic case studies … to neurocognitive investigations …
using emission tomography brain imaging” (p. 6). Reflecting this view, we
developed a set of categories to characterize the strength of the conclusions
we could draw from the available evidence (see Box 1-1).
FOCUS AND ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT
The bulk of this report (Chapters 4 through 7) is dedicated to a synthe-
sis of research on undergraduate teaching and learning in physics, chemis-
try, engineering, biology, the geosciences, and astronomy. With the synthesis
we have attempted to strike a balance between preserving characteristics or
challenges that are tied to just one or two disciplines (e.g., students’ difficul-
ties understanding deep time or that matter is made of discrete particles),
and identifying general themes in science and engineering learning that cut
across most disciplines (e.g., students’ difficulties solving problems and
interpreting visual and mathematical representations).
The report also discusses the emergence and current state of the indi-
vidual fields of DBER (Chapter 2); analyzes the use of DBER findings
among faculty members (Chapter 8); and provides a roadmap for the
future of DBER by proposing a research agenda and identifying actions that
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18 DISCIPLINE-BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH
BOX 1-1
Characterizing the Strength of Conclusions
Supported by the Evidence Base
A Limited Level of Evidence
• Few peer-reviewed studies of limited scope with some conver-
gence of findings or convergence with nonpeer-reviewed litera-
ture or with practitioner wisdom.
A Moderate Level of Evidence
• A well-designed study of appropriate scope that has been rep-
licated by at least one other similar study. Often such evidence
will include both quantitative and qualitative data OR
• A few large-scale studies (e.g., across multiple courses, depart-
ments, or institutions) with similar results OR
• A moderate number of smaller-scale studies (e.g., in a single
course or section) with general convergence but possibly with
contradictory results. If the results are contradictory, more weight
might be given to studies that reflect methodological advances
or a more current understanding of teaching and learning, or are
conducted in more modern learning environments.
Strong Evidence
• Numerous well-designed qualitative and/or quantitative studies,
with high convergence of findings.
postsecondary institutions, disciplinary departments, journal editors, pro-
fessional societies, and funding agencies can take to support and advance
DBER (Chapter 9). Because the fields of DBER have been and will continue
to be an important way of improving science and engineering education,
our hope is that the findings and recommendations in this report invite and
assist postsecondary institutions to increase interest and research activity
in DBER.
