Conference Title: Improving STEM Teaching & Learning by Collaborations Between Cognitive Scientists and Discipline-Based Education Researchers

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

This is a two-day working conference to be held at NSF headquarters in Arlington, VA, in spring 2016 to discuss ways of increasing collaborations between cognitive scientists and discipline-based education researchers. Working groups will discuss the three themes: (1) standards for evidence in cognitive science and discipline-based education research, (2) bridging the engineering of instructional solutions and innovations and attributing causality to those solutions and innovations; and (3) facilitating communication and collaboration across CS and DBER communities. The goal of the meeting is to discuss obstacles, opportunities, and policies that could be used as input in a national dialog to increase collaborations among CS and DBER Researchers. Despite advances in communication and occasional collaboration across these two fields, research from cognitive science that could be applied to improve teaching and learning in the STEM fields remains largely unknown to STEM scientists and discipline-based education researchers. Similarly, research-based instructional strategies in STEM remain largely unknown in the learning sciences. This meeting will convene key leaders from both fields for the purpose of discussing important methodological, practical, and philosophical issues in order to promote increased dialog and collaborations across the two communities.