The Discipline-Based Education Research Symposium will feature a keynote address by Nobel Prize recipient Carl Wieman, professor of physics and of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University.

Wieman earned the 2001 Nobel Prize for Physics. His keynote, “Taking a Scientific Approach to Science Education,” will discuss how research on how people learn is revealing much more effective ways to teach and evaluate learning than what is in use in the traditional science class.

The combination of this research with information technology is setting the stage for a new approach to teaching and learning that can provide the relevant and effective science education for all students that is needed for the 21st century. Although the focus of the talk is on undergraduate science teaching, where the data is the most compelling, the underlying principles come from studies of the general development of expertise and apply widely.

Following the keynote, Douglas Duncan, professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of Colorado, and Charles Henderson, professor of physics and the Mallison Institute for Science Education at Western Michigan University, will join Wieman in a panel discussion on the nature of DBER and how it translates to in-class practice and transforming university-level STEM education.

The symposium is 8 a.m. to noon March 9 at the Lied Commons.

For more information, visit the DBER Symposium website or RSVP online. For additional information, those interested can contact Lance C. Pérez, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, at lcperez@unl.edu or 402-472-3751.