Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Kinesiology @ University of Wisconsin - Madison

Three years of National Science Foundation funding is available for a postdoctoral scholar in the Science Education Research Lab led by Dr. Janet Branchaw in the Department of  Kinesiology in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This is an  in-person (not remote) position. 

This collaborative NSF funded project with Dr. Jennifer Doherty at Michigan State University  will use interviews, focus groups, student work and in-class observations to investigate  how students at three diVerent institutions (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan  State University, and Waubansee Community College) learn to make sense of complex  physiological problems. 

Specifically, the research team will employ microgenetic learning analysis to adapt,  revise and integrate coordination class theory and metacognition theory to develop a new learning theory that describes: Aim 1. students' conceptual development of Flux and  Mass Balance principle-based reasoning over-the-semester in introductory physiology  courses; and Aim 2. the mechanisms of learning by which classroom practices framed by  principles support the development of principle-based reasoning over-the-semester. 

The postdoctoral scholar will be expected to collaboratively conduct research and write  manuscripts with the inter-institutional research team, as well as mentor undergraduate  researchers at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The postdoctoral scholar will be  encouraged to identify, develop, and lead lines of research in the project, and they will  be empowered to take these lines of research with them to their next position.