Dr. Elizabeth B. Vaughan

Research Interests

The pedagogical practices that undergraduate students encounter in their STEM courses can have a wide variety of impacts on their learning experiences. While discipline-based education researchers have begun to explore the impacts of some pedagogical practices on STEM students’ learning experiences, the landscape of these practices is vast and ever evolving. Differences in learning contexts (e.g., course environment, instructors’ implementation styles, etc.) may result in differential impacts for students, even in two courses that use the same practice(s). In order to provide the best possible education to students, we must continue to improve our understanding of the ways in which pedagogical practices impact students’ learning experiences. Therefore, the Vaughan Research Group is interested in investigating the impact of popular, novel, and/or innovative pedagogical practices on student learning experiences in chemistry classrooms. Student researchers in the Vaughan Research Group will develop their skills in discipline-based education research, curriculum design, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis.