University of Cambridge

Faculty Member, Faculty of Education

Deputy Programme Manager for Master's Courses (MEd, MPhil) in Education

Homerton College

About

Dr Keith S Taber

Keith Taber trained as a graduate teacher of chemistry and physics, and taught sciences in comprehensive secondary schools in England. He moved into further education where he taught physics and chemistry to A level, science studies to adult students, and research methods on an undergraduate education programme. He acted as the mentor for trainee science teachers on placement at the college. Whilst working as a teacher he earned his masters degree for research into girls' under-representation in physics and his doctorate for research into conceptual development in chemistry. He joined the Faculty of Education in 1999. Please refer to Keith Taber's web pages: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kst24/

Keith Taber teaches in the Faculty of Education at Cambridge. He was formerly the Manager for the part-time PhD programme in education. He is currently part of the management team for Master's programme in Education (M.Phil. and M.Ed degrees).

JoTTER: He is currently editing the Journal of Trainee Teacher Educational Research, an on-line journal to highlight some of the practitioner research undertaken by graduate trainee teachers whilst working on professional placements in schools.
http://jotter.educ.cam.ac.uk/


He is on the editorial boards of
International Journal of Science Education
Journal of Science Teacher Education
Foundations of Chemistry
School Science Review
Education in Chemistry
and he is the Book reviews editor for
Studies in Science Education

Dr. Taber was the RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) Teacher Fellow for 2000-1, undertaking a project on Challenging Chemical Misconceptions
http://www.chemsoc.org/networks/learnnet/miscon2.htm

He was the CERG (Chemical Education Research Group) Lecturer for 2000. He wrote a column (Reflections on Teaching and Learning Physics) for the journal Physics Education over a period of 6 years. He led the Cambridge project on teaching about ideas and evidence in science for the National KS3 Strategy.

He has published widely on topics in science education: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kst24/Publications.html

He welcomes enquiries from potential graduate students wishing to pursue research into teaching and learning science. Students are admitted at M.Phil., or if already suitably qualified, at probationary Ph.D. level (see information about informal enquiries and admission for post-graduate research in science education).
http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kst24/ResearchOpportunities.html

Current research projects include:

ECLIPSE - Exploring Conceptual Learning, Integration and Progression in Science Education: this is an umbrella project for a number of on-going research interests:
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/eclipse/
These includes the 'Understanding Science Project'
http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kst24/projects/ECLIPSE/USP.html
which is informing development of
The Science Learning Doctor approach which links work on student alternative conceptions (misconceptions) in science  with diagnostic assessment
http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kst24/ScienceLearningDoctors.html

LASAR: Learning about Science and Religion
http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/kst24/projects/LASAR/LASARProject.html

epiSTEMe: Effecting Principled Improvement in STEM Education
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/episteme/

Amazon page:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keith-Taber/e/B0041BV2LK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Contact Information

Homepage: http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/people/staff/taber/

Address: Science Education Centre
Faculty of Education
184 Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 8PQ
England