Faculty Research Areas 
Alsup, Janet
Research: Literacy and Language ? secondary school literacy and language arts pedagogy, teacher education, young adult literature, and teacher professional identity development. Alsup's areas of concentration are the teaching of composition and literature in secondary schools, critical pedagogy, adolescent literacies, and qualitative and narrative inquiry. She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association and the Midwest Modern Language Association.
Project: Dr. Alsup is in the process of completing a longitudinal research project that has culminated in a book manuscript entitled, Speaking from the Borderlands; Exploring Genres of Teacher Identity Discourse. The book should be released in fall of 05.
Balschweid, Mark
Research: Agricultural and Extension Education ? Teacher collaboration across disciplines, integration of science principles into the agriculture curriculum.
Project: Dr. Balschweid is currently working on a curriculum and teacher development project through the Indiana Department of Education and funded by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development to produce three advanced life science courses utilizing animals, plants, and food. When finished, these courses will count towards Indiana's Core 40 and Honor's diplomas as well as meet science requirements for university entrance. This project is funded through June 2007.
Bodner, George
Research: Chemical Education ? special emphasis on problem solving in general chemistry, organic chemistry and physical chemistry.
Project: I am involved in the new NCLT proposal from Northwestern, Michigan and Purdue. I'm co-P.I. on the NanoKids project based at Rice. This project will last for at least 5 or 6 years. I am also involved with the new School of Engineering Education.
Britsch, Susan
Research: Literacy and Language ? Original storytelling of young children, linking literacy and science curricula in the elementary school, literacy and technology. Britsch studies child language socialization in families and communities, as well as the connection between teaching style and what's appropriate in a specific community. She also studies children's stories, both oral and written.
Project: I am co-PI with Professor Dan Shepardson on the Children's Literacy and Science Project.
Lynn A. Bryan
Research: Science Education -- Bryan's interests center around science education aimed at K-12 and middle-school children. She teaches courses that help early childhood education majors with content, methods and materials for science curriculum planning instruction in life, earth, and physical sciences.
Project: Dr. Bryan is involved with the nCLT project and is the Co-PI of the Enhancing Elementary Teachers' Knowledge and Skills for Teaching Inquiry-Based Science project.
Capobianco, Brenda
Research: Science Education - Approaches to science teacher action research, issues of gender and diversity in science education. Capobianco's interests center around science and math education in elementary grades.
Project:Dr. Capobianco is the Co-PI of the Enhancing Elementary Teachers' Knowledge and Skills for Teaching Inquiry-Based Science project.
Cox, Beverly
Research: Literacy and Language ? Children's oral language and literacy development, prior to and during elementary school.
Project: I am currently involved in a research project involving 60 kindergarten children at two schools. I will follow these children through first grade. The purpose of this study is to investigate if and how emergent literacy is related to a child becoming a successful conventional reader of print in first grade since some have rightfully questioned this undocumented assumption. The children's attempts at emergent re adding and composition of a text for other children to read (through dictation) are being analyzed for their level of knowledge about reading and composing a written-for-others text at exit from kindergarten. During the coming academic year the children and their teachers will be re-visited at entry to exit from first grade to see if and how their emergent literacy knowledge impacted their becoming conventional readers of print in first grade. Data collection will be completed by June 2005. Completion of the analysis is expected by August 2005. A new and secondary research interest is evaluating the impact of technology on school learning. A colleague and I plan to conduct a research study with fourth grade students this fall. The study will employ science texts presented in three conditions: (a) the traditional print science test, (b) the traditional print science text and supplementary print materials, and (c) the same science text presented on a computer with supplementary texts linked to the main text through hypertext. The children in each condition will be given standardized reading text to assure that each group is approximately equal in the science topic gained in each condition. Planning calls for the data to be collected and analyzed by November 2004.
Dolby, Nadine
Research: Dolby's major reseach interests concern gobalization and curriculum; African youth cultures; popular culture, democratic practice, and schooling; whiteness in global perspective; cultural citizenship and social change; youth and political action, and qualitative inquiry. She is a part of the Curriculum Studies Program at Purdue.
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Eichinger, David
Research: Science Education ? Biology education, teacher preparation and professional development. Eichinger studies the role of collaborative problem solving in students' understanding of science concepts. He teaches courses about teaching biology at the elementary and secondary levels and the philosophy of science in science education. Eichinger is the associate editor of the Journal of Research in Science Tachning.
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Ertmer, Peg
Research: Educational Technology -- Technology integration in K-12 classrooms, case-based instruction, self-regulated learning. Ertmer's research focuses on the impact that student-centered instructional approaches-strategies have on both the processes and products of learning. This focus is translated into two specific interests that are integrated within her program of research.
Project: (1) Tech-Know-Build: A Technology Innovation Challenge Grant project with Crawfordsville Community Schools and Indianapolis Public Schools in which we are helping teachers adopt a problem-based learning pedagogy that is supported by technology. This project ends at the end of August 2005. (2) Case-based Instruction and the Ability to Solve Ill-Structured Problems. This research examines changes that occur in students' case analysis approaches as they gain experiences solving ill-structured problems presented through instructional design case-studies. This research is ongoing. (3) Becoming a Professional Development Coach: Carrots and Concerns; this project is in partnership with Lawrence Township Schools in Indianapolis. Research is being conducted to determine the effect of a "coaching" approach to professional development in the area of digital age literacy skills. This research is ongoing. (4) Co-PI of FIPSE project Increasing Access to Quality Learning through Effective Use of Peer Feedback in Online Discussions.
Fox, Wanda
Research: Consumer and Family Sciences and Extension Education -- Curriculum development, teacher education. Fox researches multicultural and curriculum issues, especially as they relate to consumer and family sciences education.
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Geahigan, George
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Greenan, James
Research: Career and Technical Education -- Special needs population, generalizable skills instruction, research and evaluation methodology. He focuses on career and technical education, formerly referred to as vocational education. His interests include ways of teaching skills that cross over into most types of careers - communication, reasoning and interpersonal skills. He studies ways to incorporate those skills into education and assess students' and adults' mastery of them.
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Hopkins, Carol
Research: Literacy and language -- Elementary reading instruction, preservice and inservice teacher education in literacy. Hopkins focuses on elementary-level instructional materials to determine the extent to which literacy research has been translated into practice.
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Knoeller, Christian
Research: Literacy and Language -- Literature in light of classroom discourse analysis and reader response theory. Knoeller's areas of expertise are Bakhtinian theory in educational research, classroom discourse analysis, teaching literature in conjunction with creative writing, and why teachers of English are encouraged to write.
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Krockover, Gerald
Research: Science Education -- Earth and Atmospheric Science Education, Informal Science Education, Energy Education, Educational Technology and Science Education, Gifted Science Education.
Project: Standards Based Science Instruction (2006); Science and Educational Technology Implementation (2007); Earthquake Education (2005)
Lehman, James
Research: Educational Technology -- Design, development, and implementation of interactive multimedia software, use of computer for group interaction in distance education. Lehman's interest's concern integration of technology in education. His research areas include computer applications in education, multimedia, and computer-mediated distance education.
Project:Dr. Lehman was the PI for P3T3:Purdue Project for Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology and one of the Purdue team for the Tech-Know-Build Technology Innovation Challenge Grant project with the Crawfordsville and Indianapolis schools. He is part of the team on a FIPSE project Increasing Access to Quality Learning through Effective Use of Peer Feedback in Online Discussions.
Mahurt, Sarah
Research: Literacy and Language -- Literacy collaborative, early literacy, teacher change. Mahurt is an expert in reading and writing education at the elementary-school level. She can also speak on school reform and ongoing teacher professional development.
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Malewski, Eric
Research: Malewski's teaching ties in closely with his research on critical theory, cultural studies, and curriculum studies.
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May, Jill
Research: Literacy and language -- Critical studies of children's literature texts, teaching literacy criticism in the elementary schools. She studies how reading helps children's development and what kinds of reading materials are most beneficial to children.
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Nakhleh, Mary
Research: Science Education -- Student and teacher cognition, the understanding of chemistry concepts, new technology in the chemistry classroom. Nakhleh's governing theoretical perspective of her research group is that learners create chemical knowledge from the information that they process and internalize. The sources of this information are varied: formal instruction, public knowledge from publications, prior knowledge of science, and practical experiences in using commercial products. Knowledge is also acquired in informal situations, such as information acquired from parents and friends.
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Nelson, Lynn
Research: Social Studies Education - History of social studies education and the cultural context in which social education takes place.
Project: I have completed a book that is concerned with teaching history in the middle and high school for Prentice Hall and will begin to examine civic, economic and history education in Russia and the Soviet Union. This research will extend into the next eight to ten years.
Newby, Tim
Research: Educational Technology -- Learning and motivation and the impact of various instructional strategies. Newby studies motivational factors in instructional design and development, and how to develop strategies in order to incorporate intrinsic motivation into instruction.
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Peters, Jerry
Research: Agricultural and Extension Education -- Uses of Reflective Teaching in teacher preparation, student assisted instruction. Peters studies how to improve the teaching of agriculture with an emphasis on teacher effectiveness and innovative aspects of teaching. He is developing a new teaching strategy for secondary teachers called Student Assisted Instruction
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Phillion, JoAnn
Research: Curriculum Studies -- Curriculum Studies; teacher knowledge, teacher education for multicultural, multilingual, multi-valued contexts.
Project: I am currently engaged in a research project funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada entitled School Landscapes in Transition: Negotiating Diverse Narratives of Experience (2003-2006) which focuses on immigrant education issues in the Canadian inner-city school I have been involved with for many years.
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Richardson, Jennifer
Research: Educational Technology -- K-12 technology integration, online learning environments and how social presences and interactions affect student's perceptions.
Project: Some projects she's currently involved with are the impact of digital literacies, cognitive engagement and social presence in online courses, technology barriers faced by pre-service teachers and exploring the intersection of secondary ed teacher practices. She is Co-PI of FIPSE project Increasing Access to Quality Learning through Effective Use of Peer Feedback in Online Discussions.
Robinson, William
Research: Literacy and Language -- intersections of literary theory and reading theory, teaching secondary cognitive reading.
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Schaffer, Scott
Research: Educational Technology -- learning, knowledge, and performance support in organizations, design of online learning and performance support system.
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Schmitt, Maribeth
Research: Literacy and Language -- Reading Recovery, early intervention, metcognition. Schmitt studies literacy education in elementary and middle schools. She was the first director of the Indiana Reading Recovery program, which provides special training for teachers who work one-on-one with first-grade pupils who otherwise might not learn to read. Schmitt is on the editorial review boards of The Reading Teacher, a journal of the International Reading Association, and Literacy, Teaching and Learning
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Shepardson, Dan
Research: Science Education -- Children's ideas and science learning, social interactions, alternative assessment in science, environmental science and education.
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Talbert, Allen
Research: Agricultural and Extension Education -- Under represented populations in agriculture, adult education. Talbert's research addresses the attitudes and perceptions of minorities towards agriculture.
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Van Fossen, Phillip
Research: Social Studies Education -- Economic education in high schools, internet use in social studies classrooms and economic education in post-Soviet countries.
Project: I am currently working on a project that evaluates the impact of Internet-based curriculum in social studies/citizenship education on students in grades 3-8. This curriculum model, known as the WebQuest is widely used, but has not been systematically evaluated. This project has evolved our of the last two Ackerman Center summer institutes. I am also working on a project that is trying to identify characteristics of the ?ideal' technology-used in social studies classrooms.
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Weaver, Gabriela Cornejo
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Wood, Terry
Research: Mathematics Education -- Interrelationship of teaching and students' learning of mathematics. Wood specializes in elementary mathematics education, specifically in teacher education and the interrelationship of teaching and learning mathematics in elementary school classrooms. She has published extensively on mathematics education at the primary level, and was principal investigator for a $859,000 grant from the National Science Foundation study "Recreating Teaching of Mathematics in the Elementary School." Wood is an editorial board member of the professional society "Educational Studies in Mathematics Education" for 2000-2002.
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College of Education : Purdue University : West Lafayette, IN 47907-2098
Phone: 765-494-2341 : Fax:765-494-5832 : Email: education-info@purdue.edu
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