Keynote Speaker: Phillip Sadler

KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
How Teacher Decisions about Content and Pedagogy Affect Student Success and Persistence in Science Study

U.S. schools are unique in the variety of teaching methods and curricula used for teaching science. Freedom to choose pedagogies and materials are most often vested with the classroom teacher. Because of this natural variation, epidemiological methods can be used to mine the backgrounds of college science students taking introductory science courses for predictors of performance and persistence while controlling for demographic differences. In surveying thousands of students in randomly selected introductory college biology, chemistry, and physics courses across the U.S., we have put to the test teachers' and professors' beliefs about the kinds of preparatory experiences and key resources that predict successful performance in college science. I will report on our findings on the value of lab experience, technology, demonstrations, coverage, block scheduling, Advanced Placement, Physics First, project work, and mathematics preparation, particularly for under-represented groups.

About Philip Sadler
Philip M. Sadler heads the Science Education Department at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. As F.W. Wright Senior Lecturer in Astronomy, he teaches graduate courses in science education as well as undergraduate science at Harvard University. His work informs national policy debates on the teaching of science and professional development. Dr. Sadler has won awards for his research from the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the American Institute of Physics. He is the inventor of the Starlab Portable Planetarium. The materials and curricula that he has developed are used by an estimated fifteen million students yearly.