These are a few of our current and recent projects the Daniel Research Group has been involved in over the years.
Current Projects:
College Science Learning Research Group
Tree-Thinking and Representational Competence: Tree-thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving by interpreting, comparing, and generating phylogenetic trees, has been a long-standing area of research for the Daniel Research Group. Much of our research focuses on representational competence, and trees serve as a great model for study given their dynamic and complex nature. We have had multiple grants supporting aspects of tree-thinking research (NSF CCLI #0837015; TXST Speed Networking for Researchers Multidisciplinary Team Incentive; TXST REP; Richard Wallace Research Incentive Grant). Outcomes from tree-thinking projects have included the development of a manipulative tree model, creation and implementation of novel assessments, explorations of relationships between representational competence, mental rotation, content areas, word association, and/or religiosity, capturing biometric eye tracking data to explore focal interactions, design of instructional interventions, etc. Currently, the Daniel Research Group is working to develop a valid and reliable assessment series to capture changes in tree-thinking and serve as a diagnostic tool for commonly held alternative conceptions associated with these diagrams. Much of this work has been used to support the book, Towards a Framework for Representational Competence in Science Education.
Informal Science Education Research Group
Research Rangers: This project is about inspiring people to spend more time exploring the natural world around them. We want to encourage and support people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to enjoy and study wildlife in their local area and to observe and record information about the local environment. Research Ranger’s research and education program is delivered through a network of organizations, providing resources, training, and events (https://researchrangers.wp.txstate.edu/)
Communicating Science Research Group
Science Messaging in Informal Environments: The Daniel Research Group is currently working with aquaria partners to explore issues with communicating complex issues of localized conservation content, socioscientific issues, through exhibit design. Our group has been collecting data on exhibit design choices, intended messaging outcomes, visitor interpreted messages, and biometric data on aspects of exhibit design most attended to during visits. The goal for this project is to better understand what may be causing miscommunication issues associated with the targeted exhibits and how to better serve aquarium visitors. Current students working on this project include doctoral candidate, Jenn Idema, and undergraduate researchers, Victoria Reyes, Ryan Ament, and Dominique Ocampo.
Past Projects:
ACCEYSS: The Association of Collaborative Communities Equipping Youth for STEM Success (ACCEYSS) is an NSF funded project (NSF INCLUDES DDLP – 1764404) that focuses on bringing together organizations (non-profits, community-based, schools, and faith-based) looking for ways to best meet the educational needs of historically underrepresented and underserved minority children that are interested in later pursuing undergraduate STEM Degrees. The Daniel Research Group role on this project is to help with instrument development, data collection, and analysis to identify influential factors on recruitment and persistence in STEM degrees as well as document assets with the community and at Texas State University (e.g., tutoring centers, summer programs) that can be used to support project efforts. Visit the ACCEYSS Project Website
BRidging InterDisciplinary Gaps in Education Sciences (BRIDGES): BRIDGES is a community for interdisciplinary researchers (Supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. DBI-2017278) interested in science education. Our community began with a pre-conference workshop designed to help those interested in science education research to build collaborations between the learning sciences and discipline-based education research. After the workshop, the BRIDGES founding team continued to research barriers and levers to interdisciplinary research, instituted a Blogging initiative to reach a broader audience, and offers continuing professional development. BRIDGES is a community designed to foster and support collaborations and allow professionals that don’t fit into traditional academic boxes the opportunity to find a niche. We are currently building the Community of Practice among interdisciplinary researchers and creating a model of the factors that influence faculty identity as an interdisciplinary researcher. The model will include how professional identity interacts with other identities to impact perceived cohesion, participation in specific communities, and decisions about persisting in the profession. This project will also identify intervention strategies that work to improve cohesion, participation, and persistence. (https://bridges.wp.txstate.edu/)
OUTSIDE: Over, Under, and Through: Students Informally Discover the Environment (OUTSIDE) was an NSF funded project (DRL-ISE 1224051) focused on exploring the role of technology while teaching and learning in an outdoor environment in Mississippi. This project included 196 participants in a study to measure changes in ecological awareness, the impacts of participation planes (technology, social, and natural) on interactions, and to develop a new interpreter professional development model. This new interpreter professional development model combines two crucial elements to train undergraduate students as interpreters. The first involves participation in an initial two-day workshop focusing on environmental science content, accessing related resources, pedagogy for working with the public, engaging audiences, communicating accurate science information, and means for incorporating web-based technology in informal settings based on National Research Council (NRC) recommendations. Upon completion of the workshop, the second element of the interpreter professional development model provides interpreters with the opportunity to learn while experiencing programming firsthand through job shadowing. Products of this project included: 1 project app, 11 national and 4 invited presentations, and 5 publications: 2 published articles, 1 doctoral dissertation, 1 master’s thesis, and 1 honors college thesis. The Daniel Research Lab is actively working on the next steps of this research line to build upon the developed interpreter development model through a project entitled, “Minding the Hill Country” (Project Currently in Development).
Visualizations AURE Valuable: Visualizations in Authentic Undergraduate Research Experience are Valuable investigates the challenges that students struggle to visualize abstract STEM concepts within the field of biotechnology, develop accurate representations of science concepts, and transfer and apply this knowledge to broader applications. The combination of a virtual learning environment and an authentic research setting offers a platform for students to visualize abstract STEM concepts easily and receive feedback to build new knowledge and understanding within the context of a realistic study. In this collaborative project with Purdue University, our research group is currently exploring the impact of an authentic virtual environment educational intervention on college student learning, engagement and representational competence skills. We are targeting students enrolled in an authentic research lab course series that is affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science Education Alliance program (www.hhmi.org/sea). Students in these biotechnology courses sequence go from “dirt to data” by isolating unique bacterial viruses from local soil samples and decoding their genomes.