Welcome to the EGSO Webpage!
Intellectual Groups within the College of Education
Following is a list of the various discussion and research groups which are currently
meeting, a statement of the groupís objectives, and the contact person(s) for the
group.
Literacy Colloquy.
Members, including graduate students and professors, meet weekly to discuss issues
related to literacy, discourse, and education. The typical meeting format is reading
and discussing an article. At some meeting, graduate students rehearse their conference presentations and job talks.
Contact: Dr. Jim Gavelek (gavelek@msu.edu)
Math Ed Seminar.
The principal activities in the Seminar have been to provide a forum for MSU faculty
and doctoral student to present and discuss their work in mathermatics education;
to invite luminaries in the employ of institutions other than MSU to present their
mathematics education-related endeavours; to read, analyze and interpret intellectually
grabbing articles pertaining to mathematics and mathematics education. The topics
treated in Seminar sessions have ranged all over a vast domain embracing pedagogy,
curriculum, assessment, teacher education (both locally and at other sites), research paradigms
and methods, administration, sociolinguistics, policy, politics, philosophy, psychology,
history, anthropology, sociology, and the discipline of mathematics itself. Each year its organisers adopt a theme. The only prerequisite for participation is
two years of high-school mathematics. For information of meetings, request that
your name be added to the e-mail list.
Contact: (Mr.) Bill Rosenthal (432-1503, mrbill@msu.edu)
The Mathematics Learning Research Group
is an informal group of faculty and doctoral students who share research interests
in learning, teaching, and using mathematics, in schools, workplaces and other settings.
The purpose of the group is to provide a supportive scholarly context for all members to conceptualize research, plan studies, discuss emerging results, and relate
those results to mathematical practice (e.g. learning, teaching, work) and subsequent
research. Doctoral students have used the group as a supportive setting for completing
the research components of their programs, especially their research practica and
dissertations. Participation is open to all faculty and students with compatible
interests. Meets bi-weekly.
Contact: Dr. Jack Smith (355-6682, jsmith@pilot.msu.edu)
Dr. Ralph Putnam (353-0637, putnamr@pilot.msu.edu)
Meta-analysis Group
is open to students and faculty with some interest and background in meta-analysis.
Some of the participants are currently working on meta-analyses; others are working
on methods. Meets biweekly at Erickson Hall.
Contact: Dr. Betsy Becker (bjbecker@msu.edu)
PERIG,
the Professional Education Research Interest Group, supports the research of its
members who investigate questions pertaining to the instruction and learning of students
wishing to be professional practitioners. Our members are primarily interested in
the education of medical and medical related professionals. We have aided members exploring
the learning strategies of medical students, the dynamics of transfer when teaching
medical fellows, the learning issues of the first year of practice after residency, the teaching of values to physical therapists. We meet periodically when there
is a need.
Contact: Dr. Steve Yelon (355-6684, yelons@ibm.cl.msu.edu)
Research in Technology and Education
is new research oriented group that will have two purposes. First, the group will
be a research practicum apprenticeship group (CEP 995) in which students can develop
and carry out their apprenticeship research. We will, as a group, discuss such issues
as proposal writing, development of research questions, choice of appropriate methods,
and collection and analysis of data. A second purpose of the group will be to provide
a place for faculty and students to discuss and think about their research related to technology and its role in learning, teaching and education. Tis will be a working
group whose primary function is to support one another in the development and carrying
out of research related to technology. It is thus important that participants have a commitment to regular (weekly) participation.
Contact: Dr. Ralph Putnam (355-6683, putnamr@pilot.msu.edu)
Dr. Yong Zhao (zhaoyo@pilot.msu.edu)
Sociocultural Research Group.
Formed in April of 1993, this group is an intellectual collective composed of faculty
and graduate students in the social sciences and education. Its members share interests
in studying and affecting relations between sociocultural processes, education, and individual learning/ development. Particular importance is placed on advancing
understanding of learning and development across multiple sociocultural contexts,
including the family, the school, the workplace, and the community. Members bring
a set of interrelated theoretical tools to bear on these interests including cultural-historical
theory, activity theory, discursive psychology, distributed cognition, and stiduated
learning. SCRG supports relevant student and faulty inquiry as a forum for the sharing of ideas and information among faculty members and students, as a discussion
group for reading and critiquing classic and current theoretical and research literatures,
as a resource for supporting and promoting research, conference presentations, and publications including research apprenticeships and dissertations, and as a collective
intellectual identity. Meets on a be-weekly to weekly basis.
Contact: Dr. King Beach (kdbeach@pilot.msu.edu)
The Science Brown Bag Lunch Group
began about two years ago, following an ìagrumentî at a conference between myself
and Don Stump of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Itís an informal opportunity
for faculty from the College of Natural Science and the College of Education (and
anyone else who is interested) to get together and discuss issues in science education,
both K-12 and post-secondary. We meet for an hour (noon to 1:00) approximately every
three weeks. Recently, we started having our meetings in Room E, off the east side
of the Food Court in the International Center, so weíre no longer a true ìbrown bag
lunchî since we need to buy lunches in the Food Court and turn in the receipts (at
lest $25 worth) in order to reserve and use the room for free. We have a web site
that includes an archive of past announcements of meetings that would allow someone to get
a sense of the group at : http://pilot.msu.edu/user/rtsmith/BBL/. If anyone has
any questions they are more than welcome to get in touch with me.
Contact: Dr. Tim Smith (rtsmith@msu.edu)
African Education Research Group (AERG)
is a group of students and faculty with interest in issues relating to education
in Africa. The group generally meets every other week during the academic year.
A wide range of speakers and discussions cover ongoing research, dissertation proposals,
and reports on recent work/study in Africa.
Contact: Dr. Anne Schneller (355-5522, annes@ibm.cl.msu.edu)
Tangeni Iijambo, student coordinator (iijambot@pilot.msu.edu)
Asia Pacific Educational Colloquium (APEC)
features educational issues in Asian Pacific nations and promotion of understanding
of different Asian cultures. The group consists of students mainly from Asian nations,
as well as students from non-Asian nations, and American students and faculty members who are interested in issues in Asia. For the last couple of years, the group
activities were student panels, students research presentations, faculty member research
presentations, writing seminar, talk about fellowships/assistantships, tactics for
preparing for AERA proposals, pot-lucks.
Contact: Suseela Malakolunthu (malakolu@pilot.msu.edu)
Meg Koshimura (koshimur@pilot.msu.edu)
Colloquium on Learning and Action in Social Studies (CLASS)
is a graduate student-faculty forum for those who share an interest in debating the
issues, trends and possibilities of social studies education. The group meets regularly
to discuss articles and books in the field, present conference papers and publication drafts, and exchange information about professional opportunities. CLASS meetings
are open to all interested persons. To join the CLASS listserve, which provides
information on meeting dates, topics, presenters and field trips, contact:
Contact: Lynn Brice (bricelyn@pilot.msu.edu)
Education and Society Forum
is not intended as a study group, but as a community forum, a place to build relationships
between ourselves, between the univerity and the larger community, specifically around
issues of education, broadly defined. Some of the issues which will be raised in this and future forums include: the role of ìexpert knowledgeî in a postmodern
world; the role of technology in changing educational experiences and sites for
education; the relationship between the church and the public school.
Contact: Don Hones (honesdon@pilot.msu.edu)
Stella Raudenbush (K-12 Service Learning Center)
Educational Policy Group.
This is a new group that is being organized (Summer 1996). The purpose of this group
will be to provide a venue in which people can follow up in their areas of interest,
present research, discuss current educational policies at local, state and national
levels,possibly prepare for comprehensive exams, possibly share common readins and
analyses. Anybody with an interest in the broadly-defined world of educational policy
is welcome to join.
Contact: Philip Kelly (353-3738 (school), 545-3248 (home),
kellyphi@pilot.msu.edu)
Gender-Equity Group
is a forum for those doctoral students and faculty who are interested in discussing
issues, brainstorming about our research ideas, and talking abtou teaching in relation
to equity issues in education. This is not a group for women only! We also have
members who are in chemistry and anthropology, not just in the college of education.
We meet about once a month, and we encourage everyone who wants to take the lead
at a meeting to do so. We choose an article to serve as a centerpiece for discussion,
but members have found meetings to be places to share interesting books, articles, and
conference experiences.
Contact: Paula Lane (333-4431, lanepaul@pilot.msu.edu)
Becky Packard (351-6882, packardb@pilot.msu.edu)
The Women's Issues in Science Education (WISE) Group is a community of graduate students
and faculty at MSU who have an interest in gender and science, in schools or in the
workplace. We gather together to discuss gender issues which affect our teaching,
research and lives, and to support our efforts, individually and collectively, in all of
these areas. We are eager to include new members in our group who share our
concerns and commitments and who would like a safe place to explore
feminist ideas. If this is you, please contact one of us for more information.
Elaine Howes (orenelai@pilot.msu.edu)
Lori Kurth, (kurthlor@pilot.msu.edu)
Paula Lane (lanepaul@pilot.msu.edu)
Laura Markham (markham@pilot.msu.edu)
Gail Richmond (gailr@msu.edu)
Kathy Roth (rothk@pilot.msu.edu)
Deb Smith (debsmith@msu.edu)