| Overview
The CILS PhD program in Mathematics and Science Education
reflects the UCSC faculty’s research priority on inclusion
and learning in communities often underserved by schools.
Faculty share the view that it is essential to understand
the variation that occurs across cultural communities in order
to improve K-12 science and math education. Attention to the
learning approaches of underserved minorities is especially
crucial, now that 70% of the 100 largest U.S. school districts
are composed of students from African-American, Latino, and
Native American backgrounds. Many of these students are not
well served by the usual formats of schooling, and this is
especially true of the usual approaches to instruction in
science and math.
The UCSC Education PhD program was inaugurated during the
first year of CILS funding. Our creative program, heavily
influenced by CILS, is rapidly becoming a model for others
in its approach to working with diverse communities and integrating
research and practice. The trajectory of CILS work is consistent
with the Education faculty's previous work, and has helped
to consolidate this direction and to focus graduate students'
and postdocs' interests and expertise more explicitly in this
direction.
Supervision/Advising of Graduate
Students
Key faculty engaged in the UCSC CILS Education program include:
Doris Ash, Judit Moschkovich, Rodney T. Ogawa, and Jerome
Shaw. Additional faculty who co-supervise students include
Cynthia Pease-Alvarez and Julia Aguirre.
CILS faculty from the Education Department work closely with
CILS faculty from the Developmental Psychology department
to design, lead, and co-supervise CILS courses and students.
The focus of the work in Education includes scientific (Ash)
and mathematics (Moschkovich) discourse and meaning making
for bilingual speaking populations, for classroom teachers
(Aguirre, Shaw) and after school programs (Pease-Alvarez),
in school (Moschkovich) and in museums and aquariums (Ash,
Callanan), as well as policy issues that span classroom and
museum (Ogawa).
Required Courses
CILS Education PhD students take a required set of core courses,
work with faculty mentors on research of mutual interest to
the professor, the student, as well as to local museums and
schools. Required core courses (5 units each) include : Introduction
to Research (Educ 200A), Thinking Learning and Teaching (Educ
261 download
PDF file), Social and Cultural Context of Education (Educ
262 download
PDF file), Perspectives on Educational Reform (Educ 263
download PDF
file), Quantitative Methods (Educ 200B), Qualitative Methods
(Educ 200C), and at least one advanced Methods course such
as Discourse Analysis. All students are also required to take
2 units Proseminar each quarter. Students are required to
enroll in Research Apprenticeship each year, typically as
part of their research program with their advisor. In addition
Math/Science CILS students are required to take:
Mathematics/Science Education Specialization Requirements
Three courses are required for the CILS concentration
- One introductory specialization courses, such as the informal
learning course taught each Spring, alternating between
Psychology and Education,
2003 Rogoff Psychology 100L
2004 Ash Educ 286 download
PDF file>>
2005 Callanan Psych
2006 Moschkovich Educ
- One course from Cognition strand
- One course from Diversity strand
1. Intro Specialization courses
Ed 213B - Mathematics Education: Research and Practice
ED 212B - Science Education: Research and Practice
2. Cognition Strand (pick one):
* Conceptual change in science and math
* Language and mathematics/science learning
3. Diversity Strand (pick one):
* Equity in math and science education
* Gender in mathematics and science education
Specialization courses include
… Any PhD courses in the M&S Education specialization
… Advanced Research Methods in Math and Science Education
… Special Topics in Math & Science Education
… Readings in Math & Science Education
Courses offered in other departments: History of math, History
of science, Philosophy of math, Philosophy of science, Developmental
Psychology
CILS students participate in a monthly doctoral seminar for
all UC CILS graduate students as well as monthly video seminars
with faculty and students from King’s College London
and the Exploratorium. In addition to the weekly meetings
with their main advisor’s group, CILS students are also
invited to attend the lab groups of other CILS faculty. As
a result lab groups often are a mix of education, psychology
and natural science students in addition to the graduate students
of that specific faculty member. More information on the core
education PhD program is available at www.education.ucsc.edu.
Samples of Course Syllabi
|
