Skip to main content
Stephen Witzig

faculty

Stephen Witzig, PhD

Associate Professor

Education

Contact

508-910-9030

w{mx~mkDyqewwh2ihy

Balsam Hall 9178

Education

2012University of MissouriPhD in Science Education

Teaching

Programs

Teaching

Courses

A content course designed to gain an understanding of the basic processes accounting for environmental changes. The fundamental question of why the natural world is the way it is will be addressed with topics that support how students can be facilitated in exploring the natural world and making educated decisions pertaining to natural resource and environmental issues appropriate for the secondary biology classroom.

Contemporary theories of learning in STEM education. The course helps students understand ways of knowing and how this drives research and applies to research in STEM education. Particular attention will be given to enabling students to situate their research in relevant theoretical frameworks and understand the implications of theoretical frameworks on research design.

Focuses on developing the dissertation proposal, including conducting a full literature review, identifying the theoretical perspectives and relevant research framing the proposed dissertation research, a clear statement of the research questions and significance of the problem, a description of the research methods and design, and a work plan that identifies how data will be collected and analyzed.

Focuses on developing the dissertation proposal, including conducting a full literature review, identifying the theoretical perspectives and relevant research framing the proposed dissertation research, a clear statement of the research questions and significance of the problem, a description of the research methods and design, and a work plan that identifies how data will be collected and analyzed.

Teaching

Online and Continuing Education Courses

Marine science for teachers, in application to the local environment. This is a classroom/field-based science course for middle school general science teachers and high school biology teachers that will link specific learning standards from the Massachusetts State Frameworks to the local environment. Sample MCAS questions from fifth, eighth and tenth grade science and technology examinations will be analyzed.
Register for this course.

A content course designed to gain an understanding of the basic processes accounting for environmental changes. The fundamental question of why the natural world is the way it is will be addressed with topics that support how students can be facilitated in exploring the natural world and making educated decisions pertaining to natural resource and environmental issues appropriate for the secondary biology classroom.
Register for this course.

Research

Research awards

  • $ 599,926 awarded by National Science Foundation for Connecting Undergraduates to Biodiversity Instruction through Citizen Science (CUBICS)
  • $ 13,000 awarded by Lloyd Center for the Environment, Inc. for Lloyd Center-STEM Education PhD Fellowship Program

Research

Research interests

  • Development of teachers’ specialized knowledge for teaching science
  • Socioscientific issues based education
  • Informal science contexts & field based teaching/learning
  • Scientific practices & formative assessment in science

Select publications

  • Sickel, A. J. & Witzig, S. B., (Eds.) (2017).
    Designing and teaching the secondary science methods course: An international perspective

  • Witzig, S. B., Halverson, K. L., Siegel, M. A., & Freyermuth, S. K. (2013).
    The interface of opinion, evaluation, and understanding while learning about a socioscientific issue
    International Journal of Science Education, 35(15), 2483-2507.
  • Witzig, S. B., Freyermuth, S. K., Siegel, M. A., Izci, K., & Pires, J. C. (2013).
    Is DNA alive? A study of conceptual change through targeted instruction
    Research in Science Education, 43(4), 1361-1375.

Dr. Witzig holds a Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Missouri. He joined the UMass Dartmouth faculty in 2012 and teaches courses in both the Ph.D. program in STEM Education as well in the Masters of Arts in Teaching programs. Stephen’s research focuses on the development of teachers’ specialized knowledge for teaching science, scientific practices, and bridging research relationships among scientists, classroom teachers, and science teacher educators. His work focuses on the sources of teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge, how experience shapes knowledge, socioscientific issues based education, qualitative methods in science education, and areas of student learning including the roles of students and teachers in learning science. He has published his work in the International Journal of Science Education, Research in Science Education, Journal of College Science Teaching, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, among others and has a co-edited book entitled Designing and Teaching the Secondary Science Methods Course: An International Perspective.