Ryan Summers

Ryan Summers is Associate Professor of Science Education in the Department of Teaching, Leadership, and Professional Practice. He is a former high school science teacher who now has the privilege of helping to prepare future K-12 teachers.

Dr. Summers completed his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus in science education. Since that time, he has continued to research two areas that relate to broad goals of science education. The first of these areas centers on the development of informed views about the nature of science in students in K-12 settings. In brief, this area draws from the history and philosophy of science to outline the characteristics of scientific knowledge, details of how scientific knowledge is generated, refined by the scientific community, and shaped by the cultural context in which it was created. The second area of interest involves understanding students’ attitudes toward science, including their general feeling about the subject and intentions to continue studying science in the future. Fostering positive attitudes toward science is important because the disposition students develop in K-12 can shape their appreciation of science as adults, and even their willingness to explore science-related careers.