Doctoral Preparation of Scientifically Based Education Researchers

Abstract

Finding improved ways to train education researchers has taken on new urgency as federal legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 call for “scientifically based research in education.” The authors of this article suggest an approach to socializing doctoral students to a common “culture of science” (a set of norms for scientific inquiry) and preparing them for interdisciplinary studies that span the natural and social sciences. Drawing on developments in the fields of neuroscience, sociology of natural science, and the learning sciences, the authors argue for an approach to doctoral training that is consistent with a broad definition of scientifically based research.