个人简介

Dr. Ellen Yezierski received a B.S.Ed. in chemistry (minor in physics) from the University of Arizona in 1989 and taught high school chemistry for seven years. Dr. Yezierski received an M.Ed. in secondary education with an emphasis on educational psychology from Northern Arizona University in 1996 and worked as an education consultant to Motorola, Inc. and several media publishers. She received a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction (Science/Chemistry Education) from Arizona State University in 2003. While pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dr. Yezierski became familiar with the challenges of actively engaging students in large classes. She has worked to integrate her research on the particulate nature of matter and conceptual change to improve teaching in large lecture courses. Dr. Yezierski spent 7 years as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) where her implementation of active learning strategies in her own courses along with workshops have encouraged and influenced GVSU colleagues across departments to reform their instructional strategies. Dr. Yezierski received a 2008 Pew Teaching Excellence Award for these efforts. Dr. Yezierski has taught courses in introductory chemistry as well as physical science and chemistry courses for pre-service elementary and secondary teachers. She serves on the Executive Committee for the Division of Chemical Education, the Board of Publication for the Journal of Chemical Education, the Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of Chemical Education, and the Editorial Board for the Science Educator. Yezierski's scholarly work since 2003 has focused on the promotion of scientific inquiry in high school chemistry. With support from GVSU, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, Dr. Yezierski and Dr. Deborah Herrington (GVSU) have designed and implemented a new professional development model known as Target Inquiry (TI) (www.gvsu.edu/targetinquiry). The pilot study of TI has shown that the model improves instruction and student outcomes and continues as a collaboration between Herrington's and Yezierski's groups. Dr. Yezierski is implementing the TI model at Miami University, thus building a rich "lab" to investigate new research questions related to inquiry instruction, teacher change, and the effects of high school teacher professional development on teachers and their students.

研究领域

Inquiry instruction, teacher change, and student effects of teacher professional development

Research in the Yezierski Group focuses on improving conceptual understanding of chemistry with a focus on the mechanics and dynamics of teaching chemistry and teacher change. The goal of our work is markedly reforming instruction across a variety of grade levels (middle school, high school, and college) and learning environments (formal and informal); however, our current work focuses on high school and college formal chemistry learning environments. Projects employ quasi-experimental designs as well as phenomenological methods which explore particulate-centered curricula, scientific reasoning, chemistry self-concept, formative assessment beliefs and practices, documenting and characterizing pedagogical content knowledge, evaluating external representation use in inquiry instruction, and alignment between stated and enacted curricula.

近期论文

查看导师新发文章 （温馨提示：请注意重名现象，建议点开原文通过作者单位确认）

Harshman, J. & Yezierski, E. (2015). Guiding teaching with assessments: High school chemistry teachers' use of data-driven inquiry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 16, 93-103. DOI: 10.1039/C4RP00188E Carmel, J. H., Jessa, Y., & Yezierski, E. (2014). Targeting the development of content knowledge and scientific reasoning: Reforming college-level chemistry for nonscience majors. Journal of Chemical Education, 91(5), 46-51. DOI: 10.1021/ed500207t Philipp, S. B., Johnson, D. K., & Yezierski, E. J. (2014). Development of a protocol to evaluate the use of representations in secondary chemistry instruction, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 15(4), 777-786. Yezierski, E. J. (2014). Observation as a tool for investigating chemistry teaching and learning. In D. Bunce and R. Cole (Eds.) Tools of Chemistry Education Research; ACS Symposium Series; Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society. Chapter DOI: 10.1021/bk-2014-1166.ch002; ISBN13: 9780841229402; eISBN: 9780841229419 Herrington, D. & Yezierski, E. (ASAP). Professional development aligned with AP Chemistry curriculum: Promotin science practices and facilitating enduring conceptual understanding, Journal of Chemical Education. Nielsen, S. E., Scaffidi, J. P., & Yezierski, E. J. (2014). Detecting Art Forgeries: A Problem-Based Raman Spectroscopy Lab, Journal of Chemical Education, 91(3), 446-450. DOI: 10.1021/ed400319k Yezierski, E. J., & Herrington, D. G. (2013). The road to scientific literacy: How Target Inquiry is improving instruction and student achievement in high school chemistry. In B. Wojnowski and S. Koba (Eds.), Exemplary Science Practices in Professional Development. Washington, DC: National Science Teachers Association. ISBN 978-1-936959-07-5 Harshman, J. T., Bretz, S. L., & Yezierski, E. J. (2013). Seeing chemistry through the eyes of the blind: A case study examining multiple gas law representations. Journal of Chemical Education, 90(6), 710-716. DOI: 10.1021/ed3005903 Carmel, J. H., & Yezierski, E. J. (2013). Are we keeping the promise? Investigation of students' critical thinking growth. Journal of College Science Teaching, 42(5), 71-81. Mills, M. E., Blue, J., & Yezierski, E. (2013). Self-efficacy in introductory physics in students at single-sex and coeducational colleges. American Institute of Physics: Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, 1513, 78-81. DOI: 10.1063/1.4789656 Christian, B. N., & Yezierski, E. J. (2012). A new frontier for chemistry education research. Journal of Chemical Education, 89(9), 1337-1339. DOI: 10.1021/ed300629y Christian, B. N., & Yezierski, E. J. (2012). Development and validation of an instrument to measure student knowledge gains for chemical and physical change for grade 6-8, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 13(3), 384-393. DOI: 10.1039/c2rp20041d Supplemental Material can be found here and here . Christian, B., & Yezierski, E. (2012). A change for chemistry. Science Scope, 35 (8) 60-65. Bridle, C. A., & Yezierski, E. J. Evidence for the effectiveness of inquiry-based, particulate-level instruction on conceptions of the particulate nature of matter, Journal of Chemical Education, 89(2), 192-198. DOI: 10.1021/ed100735u Herrington, D., Luxford, K., & Yezierski, E. (2012). Target Inquiry: Helping teachers use a research experience to transform their teaching practices. Journal of Chemical Education, 89(3), 442-448. DOI: 10.1021/ed1006458 Yezierski, E. J., & Herrington, D. G. (2011). Improving practice with Target Inquiry: High school chemistry teacher professional development that works, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 12(3), 344-354. DOI: 10.1039/C1RP90041B Herrington, D. G., Yezierski, E. J., Luxford, K. M., & Luxford, C. J. (2011). Target inquiry: Changing chemistry high school teachers' beliefs about inquiry instruction and their classroom practice, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 12(1), 74-84. DOI: 10.1039/C1RP90010B Schiller, E. & Yezierski, E. (2009). No more leaks: A process-oriented lesson exploring the invention and chemistry of disposable diapers, Science Scope, 33(2), 33-38. Kennedy, L. M., Yezierski, E. J., & Herrington, D. G. (2008). Whose science is it anyway? Models of science according to chemistry students, faculty, and teachers, The Science Educator, 17(1), 1-9.