Professor Shirley Simon
- Qualifications and position:
- BA MSc PhD
- Professor in Education
- Head of Department of Geography, Enterprise, Mathematics & Science
- Faculty:
- Faculty of Culture and Pedagogy
- Department:
- Department of Geography, Enterprise, Mathematics and Science
- Summary:
- Teaching and research in science education; early career as a teacher for chemistry, then as research fellow for projects on investigations and progression in learning, lecturer for PGCE and MA in science education, PhD supervisor and director for research on argumentation, professional development, dialogic teaching in primary and secondary science.
- Teaching:
- PhD supervision for postgraduate students MA in science education
- Research Projects:
- ESRC: Talking to Learn in Science Education
ESRC: Understanding Post-sixteen participation in Mathematics and Physics
TDA: Effective Professional Development in Science Education (with Science Learning Centre London)
Wellcome Trust: Parents and Children's Attitudes Towards Assessment and Testing at Key Stage 2
- Postgraduate Research:
- Research Interests include argumentation and dialogic practice in science education, professional development of teachers. Postgraduate researchers:
Anne Robertson: Cognitive acceleration in primary science
Adrian Day: Systemic functional linguistic analysis of national tests
Elizabeth Wady: Graphical competence in secondary science and mathematics
Kyeongsoon Kim: Professional learning from Science Centre course
Simon Miles: The nature and experience of wonder in informal learning contexts
Sandra Campbell: Developing reflective practice through video analysis
Birendra Singh: Formative assessment in secondary science classrooms
- Professional Activities:
- Editorial Board of International Journal of Science Education
Article Awards Committee for Journal of Research in Science Teaching
- Conferences/presentations:
- Puppets Promoting Engagement and Talk in Science 2008 AERA New York
Puppets Promoting Reasoning and Argument Science 2008 NARST Baltimore
Evidence based professional learning for teaching argumentation in school science 2008 ASERA Brisbane
- Personal Country Knowledge:
- New Zealand, Australia, USA, Sweden: Research in Science Education
Contact details
- Email: S.Simon@ioe.ac.uk
Address:- Department of Geography, Enterprise, Mathematics and Science
Institute of Education
University of London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL
Office Location:- Room 807a
20 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AL
Publications
- Osborne, J., Simon, S. and Collins, S. (2003) 'Attitudes towards science: a review of the literature and its implications', International Journal of Science Education 25(9), 1049-1079.
- Osborne, J., Erduran, S. and Simon, S. (2004) 'Enhancing the quality of argument in school science', Journal of Research in Science Teaching 41(10), 994-1020.
- Osborne, J., Erduran, S. and Simon, S. (2004) Ideas, Evidence and Argument in Science. In-service Training Pack, Resource Pack and Video. London: King's College London and Nuffield Foundation.
- Simon, S., Erduran, S. and Osborne, J. (2006) 'Learning to teach argumentation: research and development in the science classroom', International Journal of Science Education 28(2-3), 235-260.
- Maloney, J. and Simon, S. (2006) 'Mapping Children's Discussions of Evidence in Science to Assess Collaboration and Argumentation', International Journal of Science Education 28(15), 1817-1841.
- Simon, S. and Maloney, J. (2006) 'Learning to teach 'ideas and evidence' in science: a study of school mentors and trainee teachers', School Science Review 87(321), 75-82.
- Simon, S. and Maloney, J. (2007) 'Activities for promoting small group discussion and argumentation', School Science Review 88(324), 49-57.
- Day, A. and Simon, S. (2007) ''Snakes aren't animals, they're worms': technical taxonomies and their effect on exam performance', School Science Review 88(325), 105-110.
- Turner, K. and Simon, S. (2007) 'Portfolios for learning: teachers' professional development through M-level portfolios' In J.Pickering, C. Daly and N.Pachler (eds), New Designs for Teachers' Professional Learning. London: Institute of Education, University of London.
- Simon, S. and Johnson, S. (2008) 'Professional learning portfolios for argumentation in school science', International Journal of Science Education 30(5), 669-688.
- Simon, S., Naylor, S., Keogh, B., Maloney, J. and Downing, B. (2008) 'Puppets promoting engagement and talk in science', International Journal of Science Education 30(9), 1229-1248.
- Simon, S. (2008) 'Using Toulmin's Argument Pattern in the evaluation of argumentation in school science', International Journal of Research and Method in Education 31(3), 277-289.
