Best science education graduate programs?

[useasdirected]

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read this post. I have sifted through looking for its existence elsewhere, about six pages, and have not come across this.

Do we know about the best science education programs in America? US News does not categorize this area.

I graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics at a top-twelve school (but, believe me, I am not `top-twelve' material; I formed the all-important bottom-half of our department's bell-curve to `help' the talented students), and want to enter an education program that offers a well developed specialization in science education. Do we know of such places? Is it Berkeley or Michigan or someplace else?

It is hard to navigate US News rankings because `science education' is an unlisted domain perhaps because that kind of specialization science departments individually administer on their own. I made a list of potential programs but then it became threadbare through more research. So, I am turning here to this well-vetted forum.

For example, Stanford is ranked No. 4 in America in EDUCATION (GRE 631/719 and a bevy of Nat'l Acad. of Educ. scholars) while U.C. Berkeley is ranked No. 12 (GRE 612/631 and many fewer NAE scholars), and both have curriculum and instruction programs. However, Stanford does not appear to have a science education Ph.D. thread, barely three professors engage in science, and it appears there is no science education institute attached to that university (but allows its Stanford SUSE students to take classes at Berkeley GSE...?).

Berkeley, however, boasts a throng of science specialists, maintains a science program called SESAME, and an institute fronts it, Lawrence Hall of Science, which is a major center of informal science education practice and research.

Harvard GSE has a grand reputation, but has just two professors working in the area (both appear to be psychologists, not physicists), no science education Ed.D. program, but collaborates on education issues with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. There also does not appear to be any kind of science education culture at HGSE beyond the Ed.M curriculum and instruction candidates.

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) has a distinct science education degree, three professors in it, and graduate classes in science education.

Washington (Seattle), Maryland (College Park), and Colorado (Boulder) universities have active, rigorous, and well-known physics education research groups, but they administer science education through their physics departments. I do not want to go that route. Once was enough {wipes forehead}. I have been obsessed with physics since the age of 15, have had a job in it, and it is my mental gatekeeper, but, I do not have the mettle to go through a physics Ph.D. program and the heinous curriculum it entails (e.g., Berkeley's science education curriculum demands 9-12 physics credits of its candidates, but a physics department requires the full 30 credits all in the said major; and I am looking for a humane mix of science and pedagogy).

So, if anyone know about very good science education programs or how to read in between the US News graduate education school rankings to extrapolate which universities are most promising in a science specialty, I would sincerely appreciate a response, any response. I am curious to know which ones form the best.

-E.A.

Edited April 24, 2011 by useasdirected

[FingersCrossedX]

First, what is your professional goal? Are you trying to get a master's and teach or a PhD and research? If you are trying to get a PhD I'd say you need to look at the research the professors are doing and see if it aligns with what you want to study. Do you want to work with them? If you are trying to get a master's and teach, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, you don't necessarily need to go to the top school. Master's degrees aren't usually funded and that's a lot of debt to go on to a moderately paying job. You may want to look at less expensive state schools with reputable ed programs. You have the science background, obviously. That's not what you need to learn. You will be getting your master's mostly for pedagogy, so a good state school will teach you how to teach and not leave you with as much debt.

I don't know much about science education programs specifically but I hope what I said helps.

[useasdirected]

Hi!

Thank you for your timely response. I think you definitely nailed it when you wrote, ``look at the research the professors are doing and see if it aligns.'' I want to study for a Ph.D. and be a researcher, but, I also want to be qualified enough to be an AP science teacher (in case I have a change of heart and move into teaching), too, which is why I inquired on this forum about strong science education programs, which do both, teach the MA/PhD students both science and pedagogy, so the candidate can be strong in both. (For example, top of the best mathematics education programs rigorously teach both, so, I am looking for such places).

Haha, no, I did not take it the wrong way, I, too agree that as for a master's degree, it is unlikely worth attending a top school and amassing an avalanche of debt.

I have found two or three professors with whom I want to work, but, the schools in which they are embedded are quite nebulous to me because I have so little experience with the nomenclature ``school of education''.

Anyhow, your response did help. I suppose that in addition to finding the right advisor, I want to take the ``right'' courses. I want to avoid the extreme of `all pedagogy', as most education schools are, even if they have a science education track.

-EA

[FingersCrossedX]

A doctoral degree is very research focused. You won't be getting the background required to teach at the high school level unless you are trying to get a MA. Even if you TA classes, teaching high school is completely different. If you want to be a teacher later you might look into an alternative certification program or something along those lines. As far as I know all PhD programs are to teach you to research not really to be a teacher. Being a good teacher is hard and you will need a teaching specific background to be effective. I think you need to nail down which one you want to do. Research or teach. After all when you write your SoP, you'll have to have a clear picture of what you want to do. If you haven't established you're true goals, it will show on your application. Admission committees are looking for someone they think is certain in their goals and will therefore finish the PhD program and get a job. Its important for them because you are their investment. They are going to be giving you a lot of money so they want you to succeed and make them look good.

Right now it sounds like you are looking at teaching as a back up. You need to decide what is your main goal and go for that 100%. You can't have both teaching and research.

[useasdirected]

Ah, yes, I understand what you mean. Thanks for the response.

[tobeythorn]

FYI, I don't know much about Harvard, but Dr. Eric Mazur works there and does some interesting research related to undergraduate physics education.

[tbmow]

Take a look at Boston University. They have some interesting applied programs

[useasdirected]

Ah, right, I forgot about Prof. Eric Mazur! Yes, he is quite active in physics education research. And, as for the other, thanks for the Boston University science education link! I am committing to finding a professor with the strongest possible overlap, and not necessarily that the program has a science education program (which is important at the MA level), as FCx pointed out. Anyway, thanks.

-E

[Ed_Doc]

Ah, right, I forgot about Prof. Eric Mazur! Yes, he is quite active in physics education research. And, as for the other, thanks for the Boston University science education link! I am committing to finding a professor with the strongest possible overlap, and not necessarily that the program has a science education program (which is important at the MA level), as FCx pointed out. Anyway, thanks.

-E

The catch here is, of course, that you can't apply to the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and state that you want to work with Professor Mazur in your statement of purpose, because he's not on the faculty of that particular graduate school. To do so, you'd have to apply directly to the physics PhD program at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).

As a current HGSE EdD student whose research focuses on cognitive science and science education (I likely work with both of the professors you alluded to), I can say that HGSE has a great need for more science education faculty. However, the school itself is trending more towards Economists, Quantitative Methodologists, and Policy Analysts.

[Ed_Doc]

Hi, I think you should continue your studies from Harvard University. It is a private institution in Cambridge, Mass., just outside of Boston. This Ivy League school is the oldest higher education institution in the country and has the largest endowment of any school in the world. Hope this will be helpful for you. Thanks!

______________________

attention difficulties

Err...yes. You could also ignore my first hand observations and follow this advice...

[useasdirected]

Hi, I think you should continue your studies from Harvard University. It is a private institution in Cambridge, Mass., just outside of Boston. This Ivy League school is the oldest higher education institution in the country and has the largest endowment of any school in the world. Hope this will be helpful for you. Thanks!

What the...? Generated by a joomlabot? Anyway, tut, I chatted about your comment with a knowledgeable friend, and she echoed the same sentiment about HGSE shifting focus, or at least not being the science education inner sanctum for which I am looking. I have gotten some good advice on this thread, have looked about MA schools-programs, and matching PhD advisors (irrespective of institution). I have a laundry list . Anyhow, best wishes on your program there under Mazur and the corresponding GSE mentor.

-E

[Sweetbowler]

Hi, I am very interested in the type of Science Education program you were looking for. Any luck in finding a program? What programs were you able to find that were close to what you were looking for?

Thanks.

[Songbird222]

Anyone applying to Science Education PhD programs for Fall 2016? I'd love to connect!

I'm applying for the SESAME program at Berkeley, and the Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education (CTE) program at Stanford. Because of my newly expanded family, I need to stay in the Bay Area, so I'm not applying (right now) for any opportunities out of the area.

[iheartscience]

Same boat, Songbird. What is your area of interest? 

[Songbird222]

11 hours ago, iheartscience said:

Same boat, Songbird. What is your area of interest? 

Hey there! My interests are mainly in undergraduate STEM education, and promoting diversity in the sciences. My particular focus in grad school is broad, but I selected faculty members at each university who were doing work to generally accomplish these goals. What about you? I saw in the other thread that you completed the MACSME MA program. What was your focus in that program? Are you involved in K-12 teaching?

[iheartscience]

I've been a science teacher in middle and high school settings for 7 years, but I came to education from a science research background. One thing I liked about MACSME is that several of our courses overlapped with the SESAME program, and I got a taste of education research from both the literature and research end. My masters project examined supporting preservice science teachers in developing progressive, inquiry-oriented teaching practices; now that I have a few years of teaching under my belt, I want to more deeply understand how students understand (and misunderstand) how science works, how those understandings manifest through reading and discourse, and the kinds of classroom experiences that can support strong understandings of the nature of scientific knowledge. 

I really liked the structure of SESAME, so I was bummed to conclude that there wasn't anyone doing research in my specific area of interest right now (unfortunately, Berkeley has lost a few faculty in science education recently). However, I do remember a couple doctoral students mentioning that they felt supported in pursuing their own independent projects in the program, even if it didn't neatly overlap with a professor's research.

I remember quite a few people in SESAME were focused on undergraduate STEM education. Who were you interested in working with at Berkeley? Is there a particular discipline within undergraduate STEM education that you hope to focus on?

[Songbird222]

On 12/30/2015 at 8:21 AM, danyyyy101 said:

Science education graduate programs might help expand a student’s career options within the field of education. Science education deals with the instructing and educating of science content to different learners. Although not traditionally considered part of the scientific community, the field of science education includes work in science content, science process, social science, and teaching pedagogy.

If a science education degree is a specialty you are considering, you can search for a science education graduate program by degree type. 

.Net

 

Not helpful.