Chmiel, Marjee || Education 805 || 30 September 2009
My research interests lie in the intersection of science education, educational technology, and social science research methods. This paper will begin by examining potentially relevant Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
The main science education SIG in AERA is Science, Teaching, and Learning (STL-SIG). One of the aspects of the STL-SIG community that I find intriguing is how varied the educational backgrounds of its members are. This SIG had been around for over 20 years, but it had undergone a variety of name changes reflecting the changing needs and questions in science education. A large majority of the community has its intellectual home in departments of curriculum and instruction. However, the SIG is about 400 members strong and a diversity of backgrounds is represented (S. Brown, personal communication, September 27, 2009). Many scholars have advanced degrees in the sciences (biology, physics). Others come from learning sciences or psychology backgrounds. Some have advanced degrees in topics such as the history of science or philosophy of science. There are, of course, several that who spent many years in K-12 classrooms. Yet others approach the topic from policy and leadership angles. Naturally, this mix of scholars brings with it a mix of methodological approaches. In reviewing the STL-SIG websites as well as the primary journals read by their membership, the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and Science Education, it is clear that one of the primary concerns of researchers in this field is to move science education forward by helping students acquire “scientific literacy.”. The Journal of Research in Science Teaching is the official journal of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching, which has its own annual conference. During the 2009 AREA annual meeting, the STL-SIG called a special meeting to discuss the implications of a new presidential administration on science education in the U.S. Given the challenges many students face when learning science, the degree of support teachers across the grade levels to implement rigorous science education, and the local and national importance of having a scientifically literate as well as scientifically proficient citizen base, it is clear that the STL-SIG community is well served by the diversity of disciplines represented by its membership (AERA SIG Science, teaching, and learning, n.d.)
Both research methods and instructional technology host a wide variety of SIGs and it was interesting for me to parse through their different concentrations in order to help me better understand the aspects of these two disciplines that I really want to “drill down” into as part of my doctoral studies. Instructional technology is represented from a variety of angles including learning in virtual environments, classroom implementation, teacher technology development, media and culture, and several other SIGs that can arguably have connections to instructional technology. Currently, I am interested in the research base that can inform designers of technology-based learning tools. To this end I was most interested in what appear to be sister SIGs in the Learning Sciences SIG and the Advanced Technologies for Learning SIG. The Learning Sciences SIG investigates emerging technologies from constructivists and sociocultural learning (Brown, 1992) perspectives in order to develop new theories of learning while the Advanced Technologies for Learning SIG is interested in finding ways to develop learning technologies that can significantly and measurably enhance student learning. The community of scholars represented found in these organizations also hail from diverse backgrounds, with many of them having some formal training in computer science, software development, or media production. (yes, but you need to know that many of us belong to multiple SIGs and son there is a lot of overlap) Listed on their website as supporters, these sister SIGs name a dedicated professional organization called the International Society of the Learning Sciences, which has its own biannual conference (SIG_LS/ATL Home, n.d.).
There are several SIGs that specialize in various research methodologies. Here, again, I needed to “drill down” my interests. This semester, I’ve had the privilege of working with Professor Joe Maxwell, and I’m fascinated by his work on mixed-methods research (Maxwell and & Loomis, 2004) and his work on realism in qualitative research (Maxwell, 2004). Ideally, I would have liked to have seen a SIG dedicated to design based research, but I did not see such a SIG. I learned that some SIGs, such as the Applied Research in virtual environments for learning, utilize design based research, but nothing is dedicated to the method (C. Dede, personal communication, September 27, 2009). The closest thing I found was a relatively new SIG for mixed-methods research that has its own journal (The home of mixed methods special interest group, n.d.). The SIGs homepage also lists a 2007 conference dedicated to mixed-methods research and the site does not appear to have been updated since then.
I was encouraged to see that parts of my “interest Venn diagram” have firmly established routes in the world of AREA special interest groups and that other parts of my Venn appear to be emerging onto the seen. It provides some comfort that I can find a robust community of practice while moving the scholarship forward to new areas.
Works Cited
References
You must use hanging indented paragraphs for references in APA
AERA SIG Science, teaching, and learning (n.d.) Retrieved September 27, 2009 from AERA SIG Science, teaching and learning Web site: http://www.aera.net/Default.aspx?menu_id=218&id=816
Brown, A. L. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2(2), 141-178. (you are going to have to learn the rules of APA journal citations
Maxwell, J. A., & Loomis, D. M. (2003). Mixed methods design: An alternative approach. Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research, 1, 241–272.
You are missing a great many items in this citation – who are the editors of the work, for example. Please look up how to cite chapters in edited books
Maxwell, J. A. (2004). Causal Explanationexplanation, Qualitative qualitative Researchresearch, and Scientific scientific Inquiry inquiry in Educationeducation. Educational Researcher, 33(2), 3-11. doi: 10.3102/0013189X033002003.
SIG_LS/ATL Home. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2009 from SIG for Learning sciences and advanced technologies for learning Web site: http://www.rochester.edu/warner/aera/
The home of mixed methods special interest group. (n.d.) Retrieved September 27, 2009 from The home of mixed methods special interest group Web site: http://personal.bgsu.edu/~earleym/MIXEDMETHODS/
Your interests are quite well formed and it is excellent that you found SIGs that are so important to you. I suggest you also look at the Division D Measurement and Research Methodology website http://aera.net/divisions/Default.aspx?menu_id=70&id=69
More importantly however is the need for you to be diligent in editing your work, and in identifying the correct APA models for references and intext citations. The location of commas for example, may seem trivial but is exceedingly essential.
Grade: B+