Large‐scale science education intervention research we can use

This article develops an argument that the type of intervention research most useful for improving science teaching and learning and leading to scalable interventions includes both research to develop and gather evidence of the efficacy of innovations and a different kind of research, design‐based implementation research (DBIR). DBIR in education focuses on what is required to bring interventions and knowledge about learning to all students, wherever they might engage in science learning. This research focuses on implementation, both in the development and initial testing of interventions and in the scaling up process. In contrast to traditional intervention research that focuses principally on one level of educational systems, DBIR designs and tests interventions that cross levels and settings of learning, with the aim of investigating and improving the effective implementation of interventions. The article concludes by outlining four areas of DBIR that may improve the likelihood that new standards for science education will achieve their intended purpose of establishing an effective, equitable, and coherent system of opportunities for science learning in the United States. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 281–304, 2012     

Dynamics of Scientific Engagement in a Blended Online Learning Environment

Research in Science Education - We investigate in-service teachers’ scientific engagement in a blended online science inquiry course. We analyze a shift from teachers following instructions...     

Hierarchy as a theme in the US college, 1880–1920

How did the undergraduate college rapidly position itself as the gateway to middle-class US employment between 1880 and 1920? This article attempts to explain one part of that process. Drawing on Weberian organisational theory, transnational intellectual history and case studies of three institutions, it identifies hierarchy as a defining aspect of both modern society and the modern workplace – one that must be comprehended and mastered by the successful ‘white collar’ worker. The author describes the turn-of-the-century transformation of the US college in the context of its increasingly hierarchical nature, as opposed to traditional explanations that focus on human capital production or the incorporation of the German research university model. Hierarchical structures in the hidden and extra-curriculum of the US college helped establish it as the pre-eminent testing ground for aspiring bureaucratic workers.