Jeffrey J. Rozelle, who received his Ph.D. from the College of Education in 2010, is expected to receive an Outstanding Doctoral Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) during the organization’s international conference this April.
Rozelle is one of two scholars nationwide selected for the honor, acknowledging that his dissertation has been judged by colleagues to have the greatest significance in the field of science education this year.
His in-depth study explored differences in pre-service science teachers’ learning experiences as they move between teacher education courses and their school-based field placements. Rozelle, a graduate of the Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy program (now Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education, CITE), spent more than 400 hours in the field collecting data.
“Research has long shown that there is a perceived gap between teacher education and the schools,” he said. “I try to look closely at what’s going on in these teachers’ professional lives that might account for that gap.”
The reseach, for which he has two manuscripts now in review, has implications for many components of teacher preparation across content areas, from formal teacher education courses to induction programs. His advisor was Suzanne Wilson, professor and chairperson of the Department of Teacher Education.
Rozelle is now an assistant professor of science education at Syracuse University. Originally from Dayton, Ohio, he spent nine years as a high school science teacher in Cincinnati.