Discipline-based Education Research:
  A rich resource for improving student learning in physics and other sciences

Systematic research on learning and teaching that is conducted by science faculty is an efficient means for achieving cumulative improvement in student learning. When instructional innovations have been carefully tested and documented, they are more likely to persist and extend beyond a particular instructor or institutional setting. Thus, cumulative progress becomes possible. Results from systematic studies indicate that physics students from the introductory to the graduate level often have similar conceptual and reasoning difficulties. These findings have been used to guide the development of curriculum that has proved effective in undergraduate education, in the preparation of graduate teaching assistants, and in the professional development of K-12 teachers. The examples are from physics but analogies can readily be made to other disciplines.

The Mathematical Education of Teachers: A national and local view

In 2001, the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) released their report, The Mathematical Education of Teachers. The MET report stresses the intellectual substance in school mathematics and the special nature of the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching. This report is one of a series of reports that call for improving mathematics education in our K-12 schools and which argue that investing in good teachers is the key step in improving K-12 education in America. We will discuss the recommendations found in several of those reports with an emphasis on the MET report.

On the local level, we will discuss UNL's Mathematics Semester, an innovative approach to preparing future elementary school teachers to be outstanding teachers of mathematics.