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Executive Summary
Pages 1-4

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From page 1...
... Recognizing DBER's emergence as a vital area of scholarship and its potential to improve undergraduate science and engineering education, the National Science Foundation requested that the National Research Council convene the Committee on the Status, Contributions, and Future Directions of Discipline-Based Education Research to conduct a synthesis study of DBER. Looking across physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, the geosciences, and astronomy, the committee's charge was to • synthesize empirical research on undergraduate teaching and learn ing in the sciences, • examine the extent to which this research currently influences undergraduate science instruction, and 1
From page 2...
... This expertise can, but need not, reside in a single DBER scholar; it also can be strategically distributed across multidisciplinary, collaborative teams. SYNTHESIS OF THE LITERATURE DBER scholars have devoted considerable attention to effective instructional strategies and to students' conceptual understanding, problem solving, and use of representations.
From page 3...
... Effective instruction involves a range of approaches, including making lectures more interactive, having students work in groups, and incorporating authentic problems and activities. To enhance DBER's contributions to the understanding of undergraduate science and engineering education, the committee recommended the following: • Research that explores similarities and differences among different student populations • Longitudinal studies -- including studies of the K-12/undergraduate transition -- to better understand the acquisition of important con cepts and factors influencing retention • More studies that measure outcomes other than test scores and course performance, and better instruments to measure these outcomes • Interdisciplinary studies of cross-cutting concepts and cognitive processes INCREASING THE USE OF DBER FINDINGS The committee concluded that DBER and related research have not yet prompted widespread changes in teaching practice among science and engineering faculty.
From page 4...
... programs and postdoctoral opportunities in the individual fields of DBER can advance DBER by educating scholars who will contribute to the educational research agenda and translate that research to others.


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