Demonstrations:
Their Purpose, Use, and Important Characteristics
As the importance of effective
science education increases in today’s technological world one
method that educators employ to increase student understanding of science
concepts is the use of demonstrations. Demonstrations have become an area of
great interest because they have the potential of significantly improving
student learning and retention of knowledge. On the negative side, however,
demonstrations often require large amounts of planning time and resources
from the educator. An important question remains, “Are demonstrations worth
the investment?”
In general, I am interested in
looking at why educators use demonstrations and the
characteristics of the demonstrations that they use. The overall question
guiding my research interest is: “Are there specific characteristics of
demonstrations that impact their effectiveness in terms of student
learning?”
There are two research questions
I am currently seeking to answer:
nWhy
do educators use demonstrations and how they believe demonstrations
affect student learning?
n What
criteria do educators use for selecting demonstrations, as well as, when
and how to use them?
Qualitative methods, including
interviews and observations, will be used to probe the
perceptions and opinions of educators in these areas.
Teacher Education Programs
Currently there is a large push
for teachers to receive better training, as well as recurrent
opportunities for professional development. I am interested in how future
and current teachers are being educated. In line with these interests I am
currently involved in an evaluation Youngstown State University M.S. in
Chemistry. This program is unique because it allows teachers to do their
research in the areas of chemistry, education, or chemistry education. It
also has three classes directly geared to teaching chemistry and the
integration of chemistry knowledge with pedagogical research knowledge. The
purpose of this evaluation is to examine the extent to which this program is
beneficial for teachers
