Stephanie Berg
Research in Chemical Education
Chemistry education research broadly studies the teaching and learning of chemistry in different ways. This can include investigating students' cognition (i.e., their reasoning or conceptual knowledge) and affect (e.g., emotions, motivation), exploring new evidence-based approaches for chemistry teaching and much more. The field of chemistry education research primarily uses methods from the social sciences. Researchers also use theory from different social science disciplines as a lens to both inform their study design and make sense of their data. The research in the Berg Research Group focuses on identifying ways to support the next generation of scientists by investigating ways to support chemistry students as they engage in science practices and investigating how science doctoral students with disabilities build and maintain their identities as scientists.
Our first line of research investigates methods to support chemistry students' engagement with science practices. Science practices are the things that we do to "do" science, such as analyzing and interpreting data or building and developing scientific models. One relatively understudied area of research in science practices is how feedback can be used as a tool to support students' reasoning. Engaging with feedback is inherent to constructing knowledge in science (i.e., using science practices) and is also necessary to advance one's career in science. Thus, our group is motivated to explore different ways to implement opportunities for feedback in the chemistry classroom and examine how chemistry students engage with different sources of feedback. We will primarily use qualitative methods, including interviews and written content analysis, to guide our research.
Our second line of research focuses on science doctoral students with disabilities and their identities as scientists. Ideally, all science doctoral students should have opportunities to develop their science identities (i.e., recognize themselves as scientists) and be recognized for the strengths they bring to their science community, including doctoral students with disabilities. However, disabled science doctoral students face challenges (e.g., inaccessible workplaces, lack of guidance with accommodations) that may make developing their science identities more difficult. Because of this, we are motivated to identify how disabled science doctoral students navigate constructing and maintaining their identities as scientists, as well as identify how different systems and structures may support or impede this overall. Our team plans to use qualitative methods, including interviews and questionnaires, for this work and incorporate other methods as the project progresses. and
Selected Publications
- Berg, S. A.; Moon, A. A Characterization of Chemistry Learners' Engagement in Data Analysis and Interpretation. Educ. Res. Pract. 2023, 24 (1), 36–49..
- Berg, S. A.; Moon, A. Prompting Hypothetical Social Comparisons to Support Chemistry Students' Data Analysis and Interpretations. Educ. Res. Pract. 2022, 23 (1), 124–136.
Stephanie Berg
Assistant Professor
LaTourette Hall 323
sberg@niu.edu
Education
Ph.D., University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 2024
Research Interests
Science practices in chemistry, feedback, disability in the natural sciences, science identity of doctoral students
