Conference: Connecting Chemistry Education Researchers and Practitioners — A Forum for Collaboration and Professional Growth

This project aims to serve the national interest by supporting the professional development of undergraduate chemistry instructors. Improving undergraduate STEM education requires that educators have meaningful opportunities to engage with research on evidence-based teaching practices and apply it in their own classrooms. However, many current professional development models rely on one-directional sharing of research findings, which often limits instructor engagement, ownership, and long-term impact. This project addresses this challenge by establishing the Methods in Chemistry Education Research (MICER) conference. Building on a successful model developed in the United Kingdom, MICER will create a space where approximately 100 chemistry educators, researchers, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars will collaboratively explore research methods and apply them to solve instructional challenges. Through hands-on workshops, structured discussions, and community-building activities, participants will work on real teaching challenges and explore how research methods can support instructional improvement. By fostering collaboration across institutional types and professional roles, this project will strengthen participants’ ability to design and evaluate teaching innovations. This project will organize a three-day Methods in Chemistry Education Research conference in July 2026 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, immediately preceding the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE). Grounded in research-practice partnership models, the project is designed to support bi-directional learning between educators and researchers. The specific objectives are to (1) enhance participants’ methodological skills for designing and evaluating research-informed instructional interventions, (2) promote collaboration across institutional contexts and career stages, and (3) establish a sustainable professional network focused on chemistry education research methods. To accomplish these objectives, the project team will implement expert-led workshops on qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods; facilitate structured roundtable discussions guided by the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) model to support collaborative intervention design; and provide a post-conference resource hub to sustain engagement. Project evaluation will include pre-, post-, and delayed post-surveys, analysis of participant-generated artifacts, and tracking of ongoing collaborations and dissemination activities. Findings will inform iterative refinement of the conference model and contribute to knowledge about effective professional development in STEM education. Dissemination efforts will include open-access workshop recordings, conference presentations, and publications, supporting broader adoption of research-informed teaching practices. By integrating methodological training with authentic instructional challenges, the Methods in Chemistry Education Research conference will advance understanding of how to effectively bridge research and practice in undergraduate STEM education and provide a scalable model for similar initiatives. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2542727 | Program: 04002627DB NSF STEM Education | Principal Investigator: Sam Pazicni | Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison, MADISON, WI | Award Amount: $49,998 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2542727 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2542727.html