Are you interested in learning more about science and/or mathematics learning, achievement, teaching, and/or educational programs?
Do you need a research partner?
Our Research Team at the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment may be just right for you. Below you can learn more about our research agenda, our research expertise, our current projects, and our funding.
Our Research Agenda
REA’s research agenda focuses on enhancing the understanding of the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We design our research efforts so that they yield information that is relevant and useful to educators, curriculum developers, policy makers, and researchers. We make explicit connections between research findings and implications for practitioners working in the field. We emphasize research that can promote increased equity in opportunities and outcomes for populations traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.
Our research attends to many different facets of STEM education within and across formal, semi-formal, and informal settings. Research projects include studies of the following:
- The status of science education in Bay Area elementary schools
- Promising instructional practices in Algebra 1 classrooms that serve high percentages of minority students
- Implementation of instructional materials in classroom and out-of-school settings
- Impacts of instructional materials on learning outcomes
- The relationship between teacher and student learning
- Impacts of teacher and/or staff professional development
- How multimedia support student motivation and student conceptual understanding
- Informal learning of science in afterschool settings
- The assets and capacities of San Francisco Bay Area science-rich education institutions
- Strategies to help field-trip chaperones engage with their student groups
- The nature of visitor inquiry at science center exhibits
Our Expertise
Our research team includes extensive experience and expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as those with deep content knowledge in science and mathematics. For more detail about our team see our staff biographies. At times, we augment our expertise by partnering with UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education faculty and researchers, as well as colleagues from other regional and national organizations.
Our Funding
Research is funded by multiple sources including federal grants, private foundations, private and public clients, as well as internal clients at the Lawrence Hall of Science.
Examples of recent research reports and articles are available upon request. To discuss a research partnerships or the possibility of developing your research interests, please contact Rena Dorph, REA Center Director, at rdorph@berkeley.edu (510) 642-6477.
