Faculty Profiles

• Ph.D. — Science Education, Purdue University (1997)
• M.S. — Secondary Education, Indiana University (1992)
• B.S. — Chemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology (1986)

• 2008 – present
  Professor
  Department of Curriculum & Instruction and Department of Physics
  Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
• 2005 – 2008
  Associate Professor
  Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Department of Physics
  Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
• 2003 – 2005
  Associate Professor
  Department of Science and Mathematics Education (2004-2005), Department of Science Education (2003-2004)
  The University of Georgia
• 1997 – 2003
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Science Education
  The University of Georgia
• 1994 – 1997
  Research Assistant
  Department of Curriculum & Instruction
  Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
• 1992 – 1996
  Graduate Instructor
  Department of Physics
  Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
• 1989 – 1992
  Teacher: Physics, Independent Scientific Research, Environmental Science
  Park Tudor School, Indianapolis, IN
• 1987 – 1988
  Assistant Pharmacologist
  Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN

• Distinguished Woman Scholar, Purdue University (2015-2016)
• President, National Association for Research in Science Teaching (2013-2014)
• Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year, Association for Science Teacher Education and Carolina Biological Supply (2013)
• Dean’s Award for Outstanding Faculty Scholarship, College of Education, Purdue University (2011)
• Editor-in-Chief (with J. Staver), Journal of Science Teacher Education (2008-2013)
• University Faculty Scholar, Purdue University (2007-2012)
• Study in a Second Discipline Fellowship, Purdue University (2006)
• Science Teacher of the Year, College Level, Georgia Science Teachers Association (2005)
• University of Georgia Teaching Academy (2004)
• D. Keith Osborn Faculty Senate Award for Teaching Excellence, The University of Georgia (2001)
• Kappa Delta Epsilon Honor Society Excellence in Teaching Award (2001)
• University of Georgia Outstanding Teaching Faculty Award (2000)
• Outstanding Research Paper Award, National Association of Research in Science Teaching (1999)
• Innovations in Teaching Science Teachers Award, Delta Education and the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science (1997)

• Joint Appointment
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy

Science teacher thinking in instructionally innovative settings: Nanoscale science education. Professor Bryan’s research in nanoscale science education focuses on teachers’ development of knowledge for teaching nanoscale science in middle and high school classrooms. Specifically, her research group is investigating middle and high school teachers’ knowledge of concepts, causal networks, and explanatory structures of nanoscale phenomena including size and scale, structure of matter, size-dependent properties, forces and interactions, self-assembly, models and simulations and tools and instrumentation.

Science teacher thinking in instructionally innovative settings: Physics curriculum reform. This project involves research on the large scale, multi-institutional implementation of a revolutionary course, Matter and Interactions (M&I), in the undergraduate physics curriculum.

Science teacher thinking in instructionally innovative settings: Technology enhanced environments. Professor Bryan is interested in using novel technologies to enhance not only teachers’ reflective thinking but also student learning. For example, in her recent work with M&I physics TA’s, Professor Bryan is infusing a Web-based video analysis tool, VAT (vat.uga.edu), into the TA preparation experiences at Purdue. Professor Bryan also has conducted research on the use of this tool to promote reflective thinking in preservice teacher education courses.

Science teacher thinking in culturally and linguistically diverse settings: Professor Bryan has collaborated with faculty from the University of Georgia, Benemérita Escuela Normal Veracruzana, and rural schools in Veracruz, Mexico. Her research in rural Mexican classrooms predominantly has focused on teachers’ knowledge for promoting social discourse practices in their classrooms that mediate their students’ transitions between science, school, and community contexts. Currently, Dr. Bryan is collaborating with the Jiangsu Institute of Education in Nanjing, China to conduct research and engagement activities in the rural schools of Wuxi, China. With funding from a Purdue University Asian Initiative Grant, Professor Bryan and faculty at JIE established the Sino-American Center for Science Education Research and Engagement at the Jiangsu Institute of Education in Nanjing, China in November 2006.

• Bryan, L. A., & Tobin, K. (Eds.). (in press). 13 Questions: Reframing Education’s Conversation: Science. New York: Peter Lang.
• Samarapungavan, A., Wills, J., & Bryan, L. (in press). Exploring the scope and boundaries of inquiry strategies: What do young learners generalize from inquiry-based science learning? In C. A. Chinn (Ed.). Conceptual Change and Transfer. Springer.
• Bryan, L. A., Magana, A. J., & Sederberg, S. (2015). Review of published research on pre-college students’ and teachers’ nanoscale science, engineering, and technology learning. Nanotechnology Reviews, 4(1), 7-32.
• Bryan, L. A., & Giordano, N. (2015). Pre-college nanoscale science, engineering and technology learning. Nanotechnology Reviews, 4(1), 1-6.
• Bryan, L. A., Moore, T., Johnson, C., & Roehrig, G. (2015). Integrated STEM education. In C. Johnson, E. Peters-Burton, & T. Moore (Eds.), STEM Road Map: A Framework for Implementing Integrated STEM Education (pp. 23-37). New York: Routledge.
• Bryan, L. A. (2012). Science education research on teacher beliefs. In B. Fraser, K. Tobin, & C. McRobbie (Eds.), International Handbook of Science Education (2^nd Ed.), pp. 477-498. Dordrecht: Springer.
• Bryan, L. A., Sederberg, D., Daly, S., Sears, D., & Giordano, N. (2012). Facilitating teachers’ development of nanoscience content knowledge. Nanotechnology Reviews, 1, 85-95.
• Magana, A., Brophy, S., & Bryan, L. A. (2012). An integrated knowledge framework to characterize and scaffold size and scale cognition (FS2C). International Journal of Science Education, 34, 2181-2203.
• Seung, E., Bryan, L. A., & Haugan, M. (2012). Examining physics graduate teaching assistants’ pedagogical content knowledge for teaching a new physics curriculum. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 23, 451-479.
• Daly, S., & Bryan, L. A. (2011). Model use choices of secondary teachers in nanoscale science and engineering education. Journal of Nano Education, 2, 1-15.