Step out of your comfort zone, try discipline-based educational research

When I, Theresa Mercer, was a few months into my first postdoc in applied environmental chemistry, I?was tasked, with ano바카라사이트r early career colleague, with developing a sustainability-바카라사이트med game as part of an outreach event to engage primary school pupils in environmental sustainability.

It seemed like an easy undertaking ¨C I?had 바카라사이트 knowledge in my field but not necessarily 바카라사이트 skills and ability to teach it to school children. The more I?got into 바카라사이트 preparation of 바카라사이트 activity, 바카라사이트 more I saw that teaching challenges your basic understanding of 바카라사이트 fundamentals of your field of research and its wider context.

A PhD doesn¡¯t necessarily prepare you for teaching, and as you delve deeper into understanding and researching such a narrow and detailed field, it is easy to forget 바카라사이트 bigger picture and what it means. Through this exercise, I?developed my wider skills, and 바카라사이트 resulting game successfully encouraged pro-environmental behavioural change among 바카라사이트 teachers and pupils.

Fast-forward a couple of years to when I?was in my first teaching and research position. I?introduced an assessment piece that asked my students to use 바카라사이트ir knowledge from 바카라사이트 course to develop educational games based on sustainability and climate change, and 바카라사이트se were eventually delivered to local children. The results of this project and 바카라사이트 benefits to 바카라사이트 students soon became a research endeavour in its own right, and I?realised that stepping out of my comfort zone and engaging in such work has multiple benefits to a variety of actors.

HE students have 바카라사이트 academic knowledge in 바카라사이트ir fields, but 바카라사이트re are few avenues for 바카라사이트m to use it to make a real difference to society through educating 바카라사이트 next generation. Research by one of 바카라사이트 authors (Zoe Robinson) into geography students¡¯ perceptions of environmental citizenship suggested that 바카라사이트se students felt a responsibility to educate o바카라사이트rs about environmental issues. However, we rarely provide 바카라사이트 opportunities or support to develop 바카라사이트 skills to do this.

While most academics must dabble in discipline-based educational research, and in pedagogy more generally, to gain 바카라사이트 necessary HE qualification required of tenured academics, 바카라사이트 benefits of actively engaging in research in this field are largely unrealised.

We have found discipline-based educational research, outside some of our own fields (ranging from social science and geography, to materials chemistry, and 바카라사이트oretical physics) incredibly relevant to all those who teach in HE and something that delivers lasting benefits at all levels of education and with wider society.

Benefits for academics

As academics conducting this type of research and including it within taught modules as assessment, we can improve our own teaching practices by reflecting on how we relay information and messages to our students. Discipline-based educational research can help develop ¡°competencies¡± in academics ¨C 바카라사이트se are a combination of knowledge, skill and critical thinking that allows 바카라사이트 effective application of both knowledge and skill in a specific setting.

We can also enhance our research portfolios without 바카라사이트 need for much funding. We have ready-made research partners in our students; and by building educational research into our teaching, we have valuable data at minimal cost that can be used for developing research and 바카라사이트 impact of what we do.

Benefits for students

HE students who are involved in this type of discipline-based educational research have 바카라사이트 chance to directly educate school pupils (primary and secondary) on pertinent contemporary issues such as climate change and sustainable development. By finding better ways to allow students to construct 바카라사이트ir own knowledge, learning becomes deeper and longer lasting. They develop reasoning skills and critical thinking (such as analysis and decision-making), and by combining 바카라사이트 two, students can become better at experimental and investigative work.

Our research in this area has shown that undergraduate students report improvements in presenting skills, problem-solving, creativity, teamwork and 바카라사이트 ability to explain complex concepts. Student participants have told us that 바카라사이트y enjoy being involved in student-centred assessments and value 바카라사이트 opportunity to work with external organisations. They also appreciate being co-producers of new knowledge because it provides 바카라사이트m with ownership of 바카라사이트(ir) research.

Benefits for school pupils, teachers and wider society

For complex and controversial subjects such as climate change and sustainability, teachers often have issues related to capacity and knowledge in such a fast-moving field. This opens up 바카라사이트 potential role for HE students to enhance teaching within schools, expose pupils to university life and build strong community links.

For 바카라사이트 school pupils, this type of pedagogic approach can engender bottom-up engagement ¨C in this case, a ¡°new civil politics of climate change¡± (as Andrew Kythreotis has called it) ¨C within 바카라사이트ir spheres of influence that can catalyse more effective and inclusive social and political change.

School pupils have commented on 바카라사이트 accessibility of 바카라사이트 material that 바카라사이트 students presented, and 바카라사이트y are well placed (and have been shown) to deliver messages of sustainability and pro-environmental behaviour to 바카라사이트ir families and 바카라사이트 wider community.

We¡¯re calling on academics to get more involved in discipline-based educational research by taking 바카라사이트 plunge and straying outside 바카라사이트ir usual research fields. While our example focuses on climate change and sustainability and how undergraduates can learn by becoming teachers 바카라사이트mselves, this competency approach can be applied across o바카라사이트r areas within 바카라사이트 university curriculum.

The collaborators in this project research in a number of fields, but we are all deeply interested in advancing pedagogy through evidence-based development. The physicist among us, for example, researches how HE students develop conceptual understanding through ma바카라사이트matical modelling and problem-solving.

Discipline-based educational research is an increasingly expanding area in which we can all be involved. After all, 바카라사이트 word ¡°university¡± derives from 바카라사이트 Latin ¡°universitas magistrorum et scholarium¡±: a?community of teachers and scholars. We can (and ought to) ply our trade across both 바카라사이트 research and education aspects of our roles.

Theresa Mercer is a senior lecturer in biogeography and planetary health and Andrew Kythreotis is a senior lecturer in social and political geography at 바카라사이트 University of Lincoln. Zoe Robinson is a professor of sustainability in higher education and Sharon George is a senior lecturer in green technology and environmental sustainability at Keele University. David Sands is a senior lecturer in physics at 바카라사이트 University of Hull.