Department of Secondary Education

Summary of Science Education
Doctoral Program

The Science Education Doctoral Program in the College of Education is committed to providing students with opportunities to examine and expand their pedagogical content knowledge and immerses them in the research process. In doing so, the program is able to graduate exceptional leaders to the field. The collective philosophy of the Science Education Program, therefore, is to foster a vision of scientific literacy that encourages: constructing theoretical and practical knowledge of the natures of science, developing habits of mind open to multiple scientific perspectives, stressing skepticism and critical thinking, developing conceptual understanding of epistemology applied to pedagogical content knowledge, embedding science in cultural, moral and historical contexts, and providing opportunities for students to generate their own meaningful questions and design approaches to investigate original issues relevant to the science education community.

The exploration of past, present, and future practices, and understanding how current decisions affect future trends is approached through a close professional and personal relationship between faculty and graduate students. This relationship includes advising and working together in directed studies and seminars, professional associations and informal gatherings. The fact that graduate students are regarded as professional colleagues with unique areas of expertise from the beginning of their association with the department contributes substantially to their development as science educators.