Deborah Herrington, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry

Deborah Herrington, a chemistry education researcher, teaches introductory and organic chemistry as well as chemistry and physical science courses for pre-service teachers.  Dr. Herrington's interest in teacher professional development stems from her experience as a high school chemistry teacher and work on the evaluation team for a new chemical education masters program at Youngstown State University (YSU).  This experience, combined with her background in chemistry and educational research, makes Dr. Herrington uniquely qualified to implement and study an innovative professional development program for high school chemistry teachers.

Dr. Herrington graduated from Purdue University with a Ph.D. in chemical education where she worked with Dr. Mary B. Nakhleh.  At Purdue Dr. Herrington gained experience in educational research by (1) designing and conducting her dissertation project which examined teaching assistant and student perceptions of effective chemistry laboratory instruction (Herrington & Nakhleh, 2003), and (2) assisting in the evaluation of the YSU Masters Degree in Chemistry with Concentration in Chemistry Education, FIPSE Project P116B011231.  Dr. Herrington's interests in effective college chemistry instruction also encompass the use of active learning strategies in the classroom (Herrington & Clark, 2007; Herrington, 2004; Herrington & Yezierski, 2004).  The TI project furthers her interests in effective chemistry instruction by focusing on professional development of high school chemistry teachers to promote scientific inquiry instruction.

While pursuing her Ph.D., Dr. Herrington continued to integrate her interest in chemistry research with education by working with Dr. Jillian Buriak on a small inorganic research project (Buriak, Klein, Herrington, Osborn, 2002).  Prior to pursuing a Ph.D., Dr. Herrington obtained a Master of Science in Organic Chemistry from the University of Waterloo under the guidance of Dr. Russell Rodrigo (Carlini, Fang, Herrington, Higgs, Rodrigo, & Taylor, 1997) and taught high school chemistry in Ontario, Canada.  Her high school teaching experience provided Dr. Herrington with an understanding of the challenges that high school chemistry teachers encounter in trying to modify their teaching practices.  In addition, Dr. Herrington's chemistry research background and the opportunity to work with two veteran teachers who also held Master's degrees in science allowed her to personally experience how an understanding of the way scientific research is conducted can impact classroom instruction. 

References

Buriak, J.M., Klein, J.C., Herrington, D.B., Osborn, J.A. (2002). Chemistry: A European Journal, 6(1), 139.

Carlini, R., Fang, C.-L., Herrington, D., Higgs, K., Rodrigo, R., & Taylor, N. (1997). Australian Journal of Chemistry, 50, 271.

Herrington, D.G. (2004). "Chemistry is a full contact subject": Methods for actively engaging students in large organic lectures.  Talk presented at 87^th Canadian Chemistry Conference.

Herrington, D.G. & Clark, K. (2007). “Engage and assess your students with clickers.”  Workshop presented at the Grand Valley State University’s 13^th Annual Fall Conference on Teaching and Learning.

Herrington, D.G., & Nakhleh, M.B. (2003). What defines effective chemistry laboratory instruction?  A teaching assistant and student perspective. Journal of Chemical Education, 80, 1197-1205.

Herrington, D.G., & Yezierski, E.J. (2004). Engaging students through group work in lectures. Proposed workshop for GVSUs Fall Teaching Conference.

Ellen Yezierski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry

Ellen Yezierski, a chemistry education researcher, teaches introductory chemistry as well as chemistry courses for pre-service elementary and high school teachers.  Dr. Yezierski’s concern for teacher professional development began when she was a high school chemistry teacher/department chair and was the impetus for her earning a Ph.D. and entering the field of teacher education and chemistry education research.  Dr. Yezierski's unique and specialized experiences as both a researcher and a high school chemistry teacher provided the necessary background to design, implement, and study Target Inquiry.

Dr. Yezierski graduated from Arizona State University (ASU) with a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction (Science Education) in May 2003 after working with esteemed science education researchers such as James Birk, Dale Baker, and Michael Piburn.  Her dissertation research focused on the particulate nature of matter and conceptual change in middle school, high school, and college students (Yezierski & Birk, 2006).  Dr. Yezierski developed expertise in instrument development, statistical analysis, and conducting interviews.  Her dissertation work with chemical misconceptions informed the writing of the Annotated Instructor's Edition for Birk, J., Bauer, R., & Marks, P., A Conceptual Introduction to Chemistry (2006).  Her current research interests focusing on the professional development of high school chemistry teachers and the promotion of scientific inquiry require the expertise gained from her previous work.

Quality instruction focused on active learning and inquiry-based strategies are at the forefront of her work.  Dr. Yezierski's successful implementation of active learning strategies in her own courses has encouraged and influenced GVSU colleagues across departments to reform their instructional strategies.   Prior to pursuing a Ph.D., Dr. Yezierski taught high school chemistry for seven years and served as a science department chair, making her well-versed in school environments and the professional development needs of teachers.  Additionally, over the course of her 18-year career in education, Dr. Yezierski planned a restructured high school, authored learning cycles in chemistry (Birk & Lawson, 1994), taught in a college inquiry lab program at ASU, and designed and implemented a SMET professional development program to promote equity (Labrie, et al., 2003), served as an assistant coordinator for a non-traditional Master of Education program at ASU (See ACEPT), has worked to integrate her research experience with misconceptions to improving large lecture instruction (Birk & Yezierski, 2003), and continues to drive the implementation of inquiry-based reforms in large classes by consulting the POGIL project (Yezierski, et al., in press).  Dr. Yezierski's experience in curriculum development, implementation, and evaluation along with her expertise in high school and college teaching serve teachers in Target Inquiry.

References

Arizona Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (ACEPT) NSF DUE-9453610. (See  http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1996/nsf96146/fy95.htm)     

Birk, J., & Lawson, A. (1994). Chemistry: A Critical Thinking Approach. Tempe, AZ: National Science Foundation. 

Birk, J. P., & Yezierski, E. J. (2003). Paper-and-Glue Unit Cell Models. Journal of Chemical Education, 80 (2), 157-159.

Labrie, A., Lemanowski, V., Smiley, B., Yezierski, E., Baker, D., & Anderson-Rowland, M. (2003). A New Look at Gender Equity Professional Development for Secondary Science/Mathematics Teachers and Counselors. Proceedings of the American Association for Engineering Education 2003 Annual Conference & Exposition.

Yezierski, E. J., & Birk, J. P. (2006). Misconceptions about the particulate nature of matter: Using animations to close the gender gap, Journal of Chemical Education, 83 (6), 954-960.

Yezierski, E. J., & Birk, J. P. (2006). Particulate nature of matter assessment, Journal of Chemical Education Digital Library (QBank).

Yezierski, E., (2007). Annotated Instructor's Edition for Bauer, R., Birk, J., & Marks, P. A Conceptual Introduction to Chemistry, Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Yezierski, E. J., Bauer, C. F., Hunnicutt, S. S., Hanson, D. M., Amaral, K. E., & Schneider, J. P. (in press). POGIL implementation in large classes: Strategies for planning, teaching, and management. In R. S. Moog & J. N. Spencer (Eds.). Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society Symposium Books.