Emily van Zee

Some of you met Emily van Zee this morning - she happened to be in town (on an advisory board that Stamatis is also on) and he invited her to come and observe the Energy Project today.  She is now faculty at Oregon State University (where Mary Bridget is headed) and has a long history in PER, since before it was really established as a research subfield.  Here are a few of her papers so that people can be more aware of her contributions. (I could only find a handy pdf of one; if you find the others, please go ahead and link to them.)

Student and Teacher Questioning during Conversations about Science
Emily H. van Zee, Marletta Iwasyk, Akiko Kurose, Dorothy Simpson, and Judy Wild
Journal of Research in Science Teaching 38(2), 159-190 (2001)
Choice quote: "Typically we elicited student thinking by asking questions that develop conceptual
understanding. These included questions to help students clarify their meanings, explore various points of view in a neutral and respectful manner, and monitor the discussion and their own thinking. We also elicited student thinking by practicing quietness through long wait times, attentive silence, and reticence."

Using questioning to guide student thinking
Emily H. van Zee and Jim Minstrell
Journal of the Learning Sciences 6(2), 227-269
Defines a particular type of question, the reflective toss,  that a teacher uses to give a student responsibility for thinking.

Reflective discourse: developing shared understandings in a physics classroom
Emily H. van Zee and Jim Minstrell
International Journal of Science Education 19(2), 1997
Choice quote: The study examines ways of speaking that foster the communication of physics principles through reflective discourse. By reflective discourse we mean classroom discussions during which three conditions frequently occur: students express their own thoughts, comments and questions rather than recite a textbook exposition; the teacher and individual students engage in an extended series of questioning exchanges that help students better articulate their beliefs and conceptions; and student/student exchanges involve one student trying to understand the thinking of another.