Scott McDonald
Co-Host of Science In-Between
Dr. Scott McDonald is a Professor of Science Education at The Pennsylvania State University and Director of the Krause Studios for Innovation in the PSU College of Education. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics. He was high school Physics teacher for six years before returning for a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies and Science Education at the University of Michigan. Dr. McDonald takes a design-based approach to research focuses on science teacher learning and student learning in the geosciences. He researches teacher learning, framed as professional pedagogical vision for ambitious and equitable science teaching practices. His current projects, in collabortion with Amy Pallant and Hee-Sun Lee at the Concord Consortium include The Geological Models for Explorations of Dynamic Earth (GEODE), GeoHazard: Modeling Natural Hazards and Assessing Risks project, and Geological Construction of Rock Arrangements from Tectonics: Systems Modeling Across Scales (GeoCRAFT).
Scott McDonald has hosted 248 Episodes.
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Episode 151: We Don't Already Do That
July 26th, 2023 | Season 3 | 45 mins 34 secs
In this episode, we discuss engineering practices and they're taught (or not) in science classrooms.
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Episode 150: Suck the Joy Out of Everything
July 19th, 2023 | Season 3 | 45 mins 18 secs
This week we talk about the SCOTUS decision about affirmative action and how we think it might impact higher education.
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Episode 149: A Cataclysmic Conversation
July 12th, 2023 | Season 3 | 39 mins 39 secs
In this episode, we discuss Richard Fenyman's "cataclysm sentence" and offer some sentences ourselves.
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Episode 148: In A Special Episode
July 5th, 2023 | Season 3 | 48 mins 37 secs
This episode we are joined by two of our team doing professional learning around the PA STEELS Standards to talk about what we have learned.
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Episode 147: To Lead or Not to Lead
June 28th, 2023 | Season 3 | 48 mins 13 secs
In this episode, we discuss leadership roles and the critical factors that relationships, trust and agency play.
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Episode 146: I Kill the Bit
June 21st, 2023 | Season 3 | 51 mins 25 secs
This week we talk about games and simulation and what kind or role they play in science education.
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Episode 145: Specks of Fish Spawn
June 14th, 2023 | Season 3 | 39 mins 25 secs
In this episode, Scott and Ollie discuss how the processes of writing and discussion help ideas form.
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Episode 144: High Grade Professional Work
June 7th, 2023 | Season 3 | 43 mins 41 secs
This week we talk about the difference between topic rebuttal and technique rebuttal. Really just a discussion of how to help people change their own minds.
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Episode 143: The Little General
May 31st, 2023 | Season 3 | 37 mins 43 secs
In this episode, we discuss Chapter 3 of David McRaney's book, How Minds Change and unpack the impact that perception has on our understandings and interpretations of the world.
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Episode 142: Always Second Fiddle
May 24th, 2023 | Season 3 | 44 mins 32 secs
This week we talk about what it means to do the relational work of teaching.
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Episode 141: Lists are Artificial
May 17th, 2023 | Season 3 | 51 mins 53 secs
In this episode, Scott and Ollie revisit and update the advancements of artificial intelligence and discuss its societal and educational impacts.
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Episode 140: Not VNOS or D-Man
May 10th, 2023 | Season 3 | 51 mins 54 secs
This week we talk about the Nature of Science.
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Episode 139: Some Portion of the Truth
May 3rd, 2023 | Season 3 | 45 mins 40 secs
In this episode, we discuss two articles on practice-based teacher education.
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Episode 138: Unintentionally Matching Outfits
April 26th, 2023 | Season 3 | 43 mins 51 secs
This week we talk about doing equity work with white teachers, especially in context where there are only white people in the room.
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Episode 137: Dispositional Throwdown
April 19th, 2023 | Season 3 | 1 hr 5 mins
In this episode, we debate the concept of dispositions in teacher education.
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Episode 136: Teaching Layer Cake
April 13th, 2023 | Season 3 | 46 mins 44 secs
This week we talk about facilitating different kinds of conversations we engage in because we teach people who teach people.