Dr. Dana Vedder-Weiss (pictured below), of BGU's Department of Education and the Group for the Study of Learning in Informal Environments, has been selected to receive the NARST 2020 Early Career Research Award (ECRA). This honor recognizes her professional accomplishments as the most significant among other researchers nominated for the ECRA this year.
Dr. Vedder-Weiss's research is based on the premise that learning takes place throughout one's entire life-course, in a broad array of contexts and interactions, including those that are not specifically designed for learning. She draws on the notion that learning is a multidimensional process, entailing cognitive, social and affective dimensions, and unfolding in a socio-cultural context. Her innovative research agenda is approached through three inter-related lines of research: adolescents' motivation for science learning in and out of school, science learning in informal environments, and teacher informal on-the-job training.
Vedder-Weiss's research is characterized by an ever-expanding and novel suite of qualitative research methodologies including self-ethnography and linguistic ethnographic microanalysis, and her work has made a significant scholarly impact in the field in the areas of motivation toward science learning and informal learning.
Since 1928, NARST has promoted research in science education and the communication of knowledge generated by research. The ultimate goal of NARST is to help all learners achieve science literacy. NARST promotes this goal by 1) encouraging and supporting the application of diverse research methods and theoretical perspectives from multiple disciplines to the investigation of teaching and learning in science; 2) communicating science education research findings to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers; and 3) cooperating with other educational and scientific societies to influence educational policies.
