Status, Contributions, and Future Direction of Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER)

The National Science Foundation has funded a synthesis study on the status, contributions, and future direction of discipline-based education research (DBER) in physics, biological sciences, geosciences, and chemistry. DBER combines knowledge of teaching and learning with deep knowledge of discipline-specific science content. It describes the discipline-specific difficulties learners face and the specialized intellectual and instructional resources that can facilitate student understanding. This 30-month study will build on two workshops held in 2008 to explore Evidence on Promising Practices in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education. It will answer questions that are essential to advancing DBER and broadening its impact on undergraduate science teaching and learning. An interdisciplinary panel of experts will synthesize empirical research on undergraduate teaching and learning in the sciences; explore the extent to which this research currently influences undergraduate instruction; and identify the intellectual and material resources required to further develop DBER. The final product will be a consensus report that will provide guidance for future DBER research. In addition, the findings and recommendations of this study may invite, if not assist, postsecondary institutions to: increase interest and research activity in DBER, and improve its quality and usefulness, across all natural science disciplines guide instruction and assessment across natural science courses to improve student learning bring greater focus to issues of student attrition in the natural sciences that are related to quality of instruction

MEETINGS	LOCATION	RESOURCES
Committee Meeting 1 June 28-29, 2010	Keck Center, Room 101 500 5th Street, NW Washington, DC	Agenda
Committee Meeting 2 October 18-19, 2010	Keck Center, Room 201 500 5th Street, NW Washington, DC (limited space)	Agenda includes links to papers and presentations	Commissioned Papers
Committee Meeting 3 December 3-4, 2010	Beckman Center Irvine, CA	Agenda includes links to papers and presentations	Commissioned Papers
Committee Meeting 4	Keck Center, 500 5th Street, NW Washington, DC (limited space)	Agenda	Commissioned Papers
Committee Meeting 5	Jonsson Center Woods Hole, MA	Agenda This meeting is closed to the public	Commissioned Papers

COMMITTEE
Committee Membership
STAFF
Natalie Nielsen Study Director Heidi Schweingruber, Deputy Director, BOSE Margaret Hilton, Senior Program Officer, BOSE Anthony Brown, Senior Program Assistant, BOSE