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Welcome to the Department of Science and Mathematics Education. We offer graduate-level programs in formal (k-12), free-choice, and college science and mathematics education. Whether you want to become a science or math teacher, free-choice educator, or education specialist in a college science or math department, choose the appropriate option on the right to discover the program that best fits your needs.
In the news:
We're Expanding! Faculty Position Hires in the College of Education
The College of Education is currently hiring three tenure-track positions in STEM education including an assistant professor position in cyberlearning, an open-rank position in mathematics education, and an open-rank position in science education.
Oregon Sea Grant has received a five-year, $2.6 million grant for Learning Research
Oregon Sea Grant has received a five-year, $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the creation of a free-choice learning lab at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
OSU names Larry Flick as Dean of the College of Education
Larry Flick has been named dean of the College of Education at Oregon State University, succeeding Sam Stern, who is returning to his faculty position after a sabbatical.
Shawn Rowe honored as "emerging scholar"
Shawn Rowe, Oregon Sea Grant professor of Free-Choice Learning, has been honored by his professional peers at Oregon State University with the Phi Kappa Phi “Emerging Scholar” award for 2010-2011.
Rowe, who is based at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, is an assistant professor and Oregon Sea Grant marine education specialist who has helped shape OSU’s efforts in the field of science and math “free-choice learning” – the learning people do outside formal academic settings. That work has included working with graduate students to design and test the effectiveness of aquarium education exhibits, bringing public school teachers together with scientists to increase their science and math teaching skills, and engaging with ocean scientists and OSU and across the US to help them more effectively communicate with the public.
College of Education to focus on STEM, cultural and linguistic diversity
As its historic home undergoes extensive physical remodeling, the College of Education at Oregon State University is moving ahead on an academic transformation that will focus research and teaching in two key areas.
Education dean Sam Stern said the college is reorganizing its programming to focus on two major areas – science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and cultural and linguistic diversity.
What contributes to teaching effectiveness of GTAs teaching in science, math, and technology areas? The following report generated from the dissertation project of Dr. Sue Ellen DeChenne (PhD 2010), models various factors including GTA training and supervision that affect the teaching of STEM GTAs. To find out what you can do to improve the teaching of your GTAs read further.
We are pleased to announce that Dr. John Falk and Dr. Lynn Dierking were presented with the John Cotton Dana Award for Leadership at the American Association of Museums meeting in L.A. last week. John Cotton Dana was a progressive museum leader and thinker who founded the Newark Museum in 1909 as a resource for the working people of Newark. He believed to his core that museums should be useful, and support the lifelong learning of their communities. This award is presented only on occasion, and the last one was awarded in 2002. The committee made a unanimous decision this year to present two individual awards, “recognizing those outside the museum field who exhibit outstanding leadership and promote the educational responsibility and capacity of museums.”
Are you a SMED teacher alumni? We've just created a new Facebook group called "Oregon State University's SMED Teacher Alumni". Become a member to connect with old friends as well as to receive interesting science and math education resources and event announcements.
We are pleased to announce that SMED Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education Dr. Rebekah Elliott and her collaborative team have recently been recognized with a 2010 award for Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) Article for their article "Conceptualizing the Work of Leading Mathematical Tasks in Professional Development." Please see the press release below for full details.
AACTE Awards Educators from Oregon State University, University of Washington, and WestEd for Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 16:29
For Immediate ReleaseContact: Kristin McCabe
Washington, DC (February 17, 2010) The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) will present one of two 2010 awards for Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) Article to a collaborative team of authors for their article "Conceptualizing the Work of Leading Mathematical Tasks in Professional Development."
This award recognizes exemplary scholarship in the areas of teacher education or of teaching and learning with implications for teacher education. The award will be presented Saturday, February 20, during the Wilbur J. Cohen Lecture at AACTE's 62nd Annual Meeting & Exhibits in Atlanta, GA.
The article, published in the September/October 2009 issue of the journal, was a collaborative effort by researchers at Oregon State University, the University of Washington, and WestEd.
The article examines the quality of teachers' professional development for mathematics education and is based on the authors' research on how leaders learn to cultivate mathematically rich professional development environments. Based on their analysis, the authors believe that professional development leaders in mathematics need to cultivate sociomathematical norms for teacher explanation and employ practices to orchestrate discussions on developing teachers' specialized knowledge of mathematics education.