I recently attended a public meeting of the National Academies’ study on the Status, Contributions, and Future Direction of Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) where scholars presented papers on the current status and contributions of the scientific disciplines’ educational research fields. It was fascinating to hear these summaries from well-established fields, such as physics education, and relative newcomers, such as engineering education. As I listened, several cross-cutting themes were evident (e.g., how students struggle to apply abstract conceptual knowledge to specific disciplinary contexts) as was the definite influence of the discipline itself in shaping the educational research questions (e.g., in engineering education, there is a greater focus on professional skill building). And, some interesting questions emerged. (more…)