Ph.D. Program in Urban Education (Planning)
Faculty Advisory Group on Science, Mathematics, and Technology in Education

Proposed Research Focus Areas for SMT Education

TEACHER PREPARATION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Preparation of teachers for K-12 SMT education; implications of new curriculum standards and higher expectations for student achievement; partnerships and collaboration between schools and universities; integrating SMT education with learning in other subject areas.

How can university SMT departments and programs in Education most effectively collaborate in the preparation of teachers for K-12 SMT education?

How can we promote effective forms of curriculum articulation and partnerships in SMT education along the urban education "K-16" continuum (e.g. school-to-college transition; university, school, community, and corporate partnerships; comparisons of secondary school and adult education programs and innovations)?

What are the most effective approaches in SMT teaching and curriculum, and the preparation of teachers of SMT education, needed to increase student achievement across the full spectrum of culturally diverse urban populations and implement systemic reform?

How can we effectively integrate SMT education with learning in other subject areas, e.g. science with writing and language arts, mathematics with arts and social studies education?

 

NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

Opportunities and challenges of new information technologies for the teaching and learning of science and mathematics, and the preparation and development of teachers in SMT education; evaluating critiques of technology in science and mathematics education; educational relevance of changing relations of science, mathematics, technology, and society in historical and contemporary perspective; policy issues in the use of new information technologies in K-16 education.

What are the relative advantages of face-to-face learning with a human teacher, independent or group exploration in a laboratory setting, and synchronous and asynchronous collaborative interaction with intelligent information technologies? How can these approaches be most effectively combined in classroom-based, distance education, or open learning models to promote learning by various categories of students?

How can we best assure equality of educational opportunity in relation to access and use of new information technologies in education?

How has the development of material and symbolic technologies changed the processes of learning and investigation in mathematics and the natural sciences historically? And how are they being changed today? What implications does understanding of these processes have for the teaching of science and mathematics?

How can we teach students to critically evaluate various claims about the relationships among mathematics, science, technology, society, and culture in prior historical periods and today? What are the implications of these claims for mathematical and scientific education?