Associate Dean's Message:
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Michael E. Beeth completed his undergraduate studies in biology and chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Steven Point. He then taught high school science courses in biology, chemistry, and general science for ten years in Illinois and Wisconsin. During his tenure as a high school science teacher he completed a Master's of Science in Education degree at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and attended numerous summer institutes focused on learning and teaching genetics. He currently teaches science and environmental education methods courses in the undergraduate preservice education program and a graduate seminar on classroom research in the Curriculum and Instruction Master's degree program at UW Oshkosh.

In 1993, he completed his doctoral studies in Curriculum and Instruction (Science Education) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His doctoral research investigated the implications that two theoretical constructs from the Conceptual Change Model, status and the conceptual ecology, have on student learning. His research on theoretical aspects of learning in science is now augmented by two additional lines of inquiry. First, understanding the role of the teacher in creating conditions necessary for students to engage in conceptual change learning, and second, understanding what, in addition to the science content, needs to change when students engage in learning as conceptual change.