Collaborative Research: A Conference to Promote Collaborations between Undergraduate Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry Education Researchers

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Assessment/Research (91) This project is a collaborative project conducted by STEM education researchers from Purdue University and the San Diego State University Foundation. The project seeks to transform the compartmentalized way in which mathematics and science education research is conducted and reported by bringing together leading researchers in undergraduate mathematics, physics, and chemistry education for two four-day intensive conferences. The conferences are designed to create collaborative research programs and build capacity for integrative work by involving discipline-based education researchers and a significant number of graduate students in mathematics and science education. The theme of the conferences is to connect researchers across disciplines with complementary interests and expertise to one another. The conferences will drive forward the integration of education research in mathematics, physics and chemistry, enabling more rapid advances than could otherwise be achieved independently. Sharing insights across disciplines as well as results from cross-disciplinary studies has the potential to lead to more robust research methodologies suited for use in all three communities, the development of areas of common interest and connectivity, and the development of transformative integrated practices. To promote collaboration among researchers in the math, physics, and chemistry education communities, the project offers three peer-reviewed mini-grants at each conference. These will foster the interdisciplinary research needed to address areas of inquiry common to math, physics, and chemistry education. The project team includes nationally recognized researchers in undergraduate mathematics, physics, and chemistry education who have organized national or international conferences in their fields. The project offers a first-rate opportunity to build community and connections among researchers in mathematics, physics, and chemistry education and to extend these to education researchers in biology, engineering, and the learning sciences. The inclusion of senior level graduate students and post-docs builds capacity across fields for collaborative research. By sharing emergent findings within and across these disciplines, the communities can share perspectives to strengthen the outcomes of research and practices that emerge from these conferences and broaden their impact. Beyond the research community, the findings from this project can be used to challenge current classroom practices and to lead to new ideas for creating educational materials and teaching strategies that have the potential for directly impacting educational practices in STEM. The project is building capacity by fully supporting 21 graduate students who show promise of building a research program that involves collaborations between math and science education. A team of external evaluators are documenting and assessing the effectiveness of the project through an outcome-based, mixed method design.