The National Academies

National Research Council

Board on Science Education

Status, Contributions, and Future Directions

of Discipline Based Education Research

Public Agenda
Third Committee Meeting
December 3-4, 2010
Beckman Center
Irvine, CA

NOTE: This meeting is being held to gather information that will help the committee conduct its study. Committee members often engage in discussion and questioning for the specific purpose of probing an issue and sharpening an argument. The comments of any given committee member may not necessarily reflect the position she or he actually holds on the subject under discussion, to say nothing of that person's future position as it evolves over the course of the project. Similarly, at this time, the committee as a whole is drawing no conclusions and making no recommendations. In fact, the committee will deliberate thoroughly before writing its final report. Once the draft report is written, it must go through a rigorous review by experts who are anonymous to the committee, and the committee must respond to this review with appropriate revisions that adequately satisfy the Academy's Report Review Committee before it is considered an NRC report. For these reasons, observers who draw any conclusions from today's discussions about the position of the committee or any individual member regarding findings or recommendations in the final report will be doing so prematurely.

Friday, December 3, 2010
8:00 a.m.	CLOSED SESSION
8:30 a.m.	OPEN SESSION
	Welcome Susan Singer, Chair, Committee on Discipline Based Education Research (DBER), Carleton College
	Epistemology in the Science Disciplines Moderator: Ken Heller (University of Minnesota), study committee member
	Presenter: Elliott Sober (University of Wisconsin-Madison), presenting a paper on epistemological similarities and differences among the sciences	Paper
	Respondents: Susan Singer (Carleton College), study committee chair Kim Kastens (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University), study committee member
	Discussion and Q&A (9:15 a.m.)
10:05 a.m.	Break
10:45 a.m.	Cognitive Science Research within and across Science Disciplines Moderator: Tim Slater (University of Wyoming), study committee member
	Presenter: Mary Hegarty (University of California, Santa Barbara) presenting a synthesis of the cognitive science research on the roles of spatial abilities in the science disciplines and the use of graphical displays in the sciences	Presentation	Paper
	Presenter: Rich Mayer (University of California, Santa Barbara), presenting a paper on applying the science of learning to undergraduate science education	Presentation	Paper
	Respondents: Michael Martinez (University of California, Irvine), study committee member Laura Novick (Vanderbilt University), study committee
12:30 p.m.	Working Lunch: Discuss key findings from engineering and chemistry, refine questions for subsequent speakers
1:00 p.m.	Adjourn Open Session
1:15 p.m-8:30 p.m.	CLOSED SESSION
Saturday, December 4
8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.	CLOSED SESSION