Course Description
Research and evaluation studies in science education.
Athena Title
Research Seminar in Science Ed
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ESCI 6990E
Semester Course Offered
Offered fallOffered summer semester every odd-numbered year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
to understand general principles for analyzing an educational research report to ascertain the issue being investigated, the procedure by which it was investigated, the credibility or viability of the evidence presented, the applicability of the conclusions to classroom contexts, and commonly encountered ethical issues in research practice to understand basic principles and levels of educational measurement to select and interpret the results of common descriptive and inferential statistical procedures to survey the range of philosophical bases behind the use of qualitative research methods in education to practice common basic skills of data gathering , analysis, and presentation in qualitative research to survey the research base from the literature that relates to selected topics in science teaching and prepare an appropriately formatted literature review
Topical Outline
Nature, role, and types of research Typical parts of a research report Core concerns of research design Research questions, hypotheses, and foci Identifying and gathering research literature Types of data; Descriptive statistics; Measurement in education Identification and operational definition of variables Validity and reliability of quantitative measures Threats to internal validity; Quasi-experimental research design Statistical hypothesis testing: General principles and bivariate methods Multivariate statistics; Interpreting statistical output Basic philosophies and principles of qualitative research and theory generation Qualitative data gathering Qualitative analysis, interpretation, and mode of expression Mixed/eclectic methods; Interrelationship of purpose, audience, and methodology Evaluating and synthesizing research literature Development and evaluation of classroom research plans