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ISEC 2021

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Gregory J. Kelly

Professor of Science Education and Senior Associate Dean for Research, Outreach, and Technology in the College of Education at Penn State University

Gregory J. Kelly is Distinguished Professor of Science Education and Senior Associate Dean for Research, Outreach, and Technology in the College of Education at Penn State University. His research investigates classroom discourse, epistemology, and science and engineering learning. He has published over 90 academic papers and handbooks chapters on topics such as discourse in science learning, epistemology of educational research, science inquiry, and epistemic cognition. His most recent work focuses on how uses of epistemic practices and tools foster student learning in science and engineering. His co-edited 2019 book, Theory and Methods for Sociocultural Research in Science and Engineering Education, provides theoretical foundations and methodological tools for examining classroom discourse in science and engineering settings. 

Dr. Kelly is the past editor of the journal Science Education and was co-editor of the Review of Research in Education (vols. 32 & 34). The Spencer Foundation and the National Science Foundation have funded his research. His scholarly work has been recognized with a National Academy of Education postdoctoral fellowship, the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Early Career Award, status as an American Educational Research Association (AERA) fellow, and the John J. Gumperz Memorial Award for Distinguished Lifetime Scholarship, Language and Social Processes Special Interest Group, American Educational Research Association (AERA).

 

Recent publications and CV are listed at: https://ed.psu.edu/directory/gjk13
 

Lynn Bryan

Professor at Purdue University 

Lynn Bryan is a Professor at Purdue University where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She is also the Director for the Center for Advancing the Teaching and Learning of STEM (CATALYST). She began her career in science education as a high school physics teacher, and since then has devoted her career to working with science teachers to bring innovative practices and cutting-edge science content into pre-college classrooms. Her recent awards include being named a Purdue University Provost Fellow (2019), Purdue University Distinguished Woman Scholar (2015-2016) and Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year, Association for Science Teacher Education and Carolina Biological Supply (2013). She served as President of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (2013-2014) and was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Science Teacher Education (2008-2013). Her current research interests focus on science teacher education, particularly teachers’ development and enhancement of knowledge and skills for teaching through the integration of science, mathematics, and engineering; teaching science at the nanoscale; and teaching science through modeling-based inquiry approaches. Dr. Bryan recently has co-edited two books—13 Questions: Reframing Education's Conversation: Science (2018, Peter Lang) and Critical Issues and Bold Visions for Science Education: The Road Ahead (2019, Brill).

Victor Sampson
Associate Professor of STEM Education
Fellow, Elizabeth Massey Chair in Education, The University of Texas at Austin

Victor Sampson is an Associate Professor of STEM Education and a Massey Chair in Education Fellow in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Sampson is an associate editor for the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and serves as learning section co-editor for the journal Science Education. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Zoology at the University of Washington, a Master’s degree in Teaching from Seattle University, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Science Education from Arizona State University. Dr. Sampson currently teaches undergraduate and graduate level STEM education courses that focus on how people learn, instructional design, and assessment. His research agenda centers on the broad question of how argumentation can be integrated into the teaching and learning of science to help students become more proficient in science. He has conducted studies that examine how students support and evaluate ideas through discussion and writing, group and individual meaning making during argumentation, and how teachers’ knowledge and views about science, learning, and science teaching affect how they teach.  He has also developed several innovative instructional approaches that are designed to promote and support the development of science proficiency.  Dr. Sampson has won several awards for his research including the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Research Award and the Early Career Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.  

Lim Tit Meng
Chief Executive, Science Centre Board

Dr Lim is the Chief Executive of Science Centre Singapore since 2010.  He is concurrently an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore.  He past leadership positions include Vice Dean of Science, Deputy Head of Biological Sciences, Director of Bioscience Centre, and Director of Special Programme in Science.  A major contributor to science education, he played an active role in shaping the biology curriculum in Singapore.  He has also championed the STEM Applied Learning Programmes in schools and has given numerous talks to popularise science.  He is the President of the Singapore Association for the Advancement of Science, President of the Singapore National Academy of Science, and the Vice President of the Association of Singapore Attractions Executive Committee. He is also in the Board of Directors of Temasek Innovates Foundation CLG ltd.  He is an elected Fellow of the Singapore National Academy of Science and Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Biology.  He has been elected President of the Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres since 2016, and was a Director on the Board of the Association of Science & Technology Centers from 2013-2018.  He also serves in the Singapore Bioethics Advisory Committee.  An alumnus of NUS, he was the first Direct Honours student in Zoology and graduated with a First Class degree in 1984. He was awarded the Churchill College Overseas Scholarship at the University of Cambridge in UK and obtained his PhD in 1987.  He was also the recipient of the Japan-Singapore Promotion for Science Fellowship (1991) and the Commonwealth Fellowship (1995-1996).  In 2016 he was recognised with the National Day Award, Public Administration Medal (Silver) and the National Day Award for Long Service.

Tan Aik Ling

Deputy Head (Teaching & Curriculum Matters), Natural Sciences & Science Education Academic Group, National Institute of Education

Associate Professor Tan Aik Ling is the Deputy Head (Teaching & Curriculum Matters), Natural Sciences & Science Education Academic Group, National Institute of Education.  Prior to teaching at NIE in 2007, Aik Ling taught Biology and Lower Secondary General Science at River Valley High School for 10 years. She was the subject head in charge of Media Resource Library, and later of Thinking and Project Work. She worked in developing young scientists interested in science projects.  Aik Ling spent two years (2005-2006) at Centre for Research in Pedagogy & Practice, NIE, working on research projects, including one that deals with Science Practical Assessment and another one which examines the infusion of nature of science and ethics of science into the science curriculum. Her current research interests deal with students’ perspectives and ideas about science as inquiry and how they construct their learning experiences through co-generative dialogues with their teachers. The students’ science learning experiences are studied through their classroom interactions, their ideas articulated at co-generative dialogue sessions, and their performance during term assessment. 

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