Science Education
Overview
The science education graduate program offers K-12 teachers, curriculum specialists, scientists and other education professionals the opportunity to investigate contemporary issues related to science learning, teaching, assessment, curriculum, and teacher professional development. Graduate students may specialize in the following areas within the science education program:
- biology
- chemistry
- earth/space science
- elementary science education
- geoenvironmental
- physics and astronomy
- K-12 integrated STEM
Master’s-level graduates often serve as lead science teachers, science department heads, science curriculum coordinators, or science specialists for museums or nature centers.
The doctoral program is research-oriented and includes completion of a dissertation. Graduates provide leadership in science education through positions at colleges and universities in both education and science departments, school districts, informal education settings, or governmental agencies.
Our Faculty
The science education faculty are internationally known and are engaged in fundamental and applied research, and curriculum and teacher professional development. They also hold joint and courtesy appointments in the Departments of Biology; Chemistry; Physics and Astronomy; Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science; Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication; Technology Leadership and Innovation; and the School of Engineering Education. See our list of faculty and see an overview of their research projects at the following links:
Science Education Faculty
Program Highlights
- The science education faculty are extremely successful in obtaining external funding as PIs and Co-PIs that supports research, science teacher professional development, and curricular development initiatives.
- The science education program has the highest concentration of jointly appointed faculty from the Colleges of Science, Engineering, Agriculture and the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. Because of these joint appointments, we engage in highly productive collaborations with faculty from science, engineering, agriculture and technology on externally funded projects, undergraduate and graduate teaching, and course design and development.
- The program has initiated and developed the integration of engineering design in core undergraduate science courses for elementary education majors; and in collaboration with the Center for Advancing the Teaching and Learning of STEM (CATALYST), an integrated STEM degree concentration for undergraduate teacher education majors, a graduate level integrated STEM degree certificate, and an integrated STEM concentration for graduate students seeking an online Master’s degree through the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.