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STEM Education

Doctorate
Overview
Application Requirements
Faculty
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Application Deadlines
Fall: Dec 15
Spring: n/a
Summer: n/a
School/Department

Education

Program Director
Julia Gouvea
Location
Medford/Somerville
Format
On-campus
Commitment Options
Full-time
Part-time (Daytime)
Average Duration
Varies
Credits
Varies
Contact

gradadmissions@tufts.edu


Overview

The PhD in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education prepares students for careers as researchers and educators who will contribute to improving STEM education.

STEM Education is an interdisciplinary program that involves collaborations with the Tufts departments of Child Study and Human Development, Sociology, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics & Astronomy, as well as Chemical and Biological Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, and Mechanical Engineering. Faculty and students in STEM Education also work with the Institute for Research on Learning and Instruction (IRLI) and the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO).

Program Outcomes

As a student in the STEM Education doctoral program, you'll complete and communicate original research by working closely with peers and program faculty on research and outreach projects. You'll complete coursework on learning and instruction in the STEM disciplines; sociocultural and historical foundations of education; and research methodologies. Your studies will culminate with a dissertation based on an original research study.

Graduates of the STEM Education program pursue careers in many areas of PreK-university STEM Education. About 40% of graduates conduct research or teach in higher education institutions. About 25% of graduates are K–12 educators. And about 35% have research or administrator positions in educational institutions including museums, non-profits, and universities.

Examples of positions held by STEM Education alumni include:

  • Program Coordinator for Math and Science at Lakes Region Community College
  • Research Scientist at Educational Testing Service (ETS)
  • Manager of Research and Evaluation at the Museum of Science and Industry
  • Tenured and tenure track faculty at research institutions around the world

Application Requirements

We strongly recommend that applicants explore current faculty research and reach out to potential mentors and the Program Director prior to submitting an application. 

  • Application fee
  • Resume/CV
  • Personal Statement: Tell us about what motivates you to study STEM Education at Tufts. Describe experiences, research questions or dilemmas that have motivated you to pursue further study in STEM Education. Your personal statement should be between 1500-2500 words. 
  • Writing Sample: Where the personal statement is about your motivations, this should be a sample of your scholarly writing about a topic in STEM Education, citing references from relevant literature. The writing sample could be: a paper you have written for a prior course in STEM education; a research paper you have written for publication; a proposal for research that you are interested to study.
  • Official TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test, if applicable
  • Transcripts: One official copy of each of your college transcripts
  • Three Letters of Recommendation.

Tuition and Financial Aid

See Tuition and Financial Aid information for GSAS Programs.

Faculty

Person Placeholder

Andrew Izsak

Professor and Department Chair of Education
The psychology of mathematical thinking, teachers' and students' understanding and use of inscriptions, multiplicative reasoning, applications of psychometric modeling for assessment and research in mathematics education.
Person Placeholder

Brian Gravel

Assistant Professor
Brian's research focuses on students' representational practices in science and engineering studied using design-based research on learning technologies and socio-technical learning environments. This work builds from the development of SAM Animation, which is stop-motion animation software developed at the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach. Brian co-developed SiMSAM: a multi-representational toolkit to support creative computational modeling activities for middle grades learners. Curious about design, play, and making, his more recent work involves partnerships with researchers and educators to start Nedlam's Workshop in 2014, a makerspace in an urban high school that emphasizes multidisciplinary inquiry. Through this work, he developed both empirical and theoretical contributions focused on heterogeneous design, STEM literacies in making, and analyses of how communities of makers organize to support each other's practices. Collectively, his research complicates and expands the field's understandings of how inquiry unfolds in making contexts, and how makerspaces can be a site for equitable and dignified participation in STEM. Brian's newer work involves teachers engaging in playful computational making to study how they (re)negotiate relationships to inquiry, disciplines, computational tools, and heterogeneous ways of knowing. This includes the exploration of geographies of care and responsibility that support STEM learning environments that center wellbeing. His scholarship examines the many facets of making and making spaces in schools, both in the United States and abroad. Brian's collaborative research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the LEGO Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation.
Person Placeholder

Kristen Wendell

Associate Professor and Stacey and Robert Morse Fellow
learning sciences, engineering education, design practices, design discourse, project-based learning
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