Prior to entering the doctorate program at UW, Dr. Lemberger
taught science at the high school level for three years. Subjects
taught were physical science and biology. Some of this teaching
was in a stand alone ED program in Fond du Lac. Additionally,
Dr. Lemberger spent several years as a substitute teacher for
the Wild Rose School District. Dr. Lemberger had to opportunity
to substitute teach in almost all subject areas and grade levels.
This greatly expanded his vision of what teaching is all about.
Dr. Lemberger has developed a line of research on conceptual
change learning and teaching that includes several presentations
and publications. Dr. Lemberger also has eight years of experience
helping in-service and pre-service teachers learn how to teach
for conceptual change. From this prior work, it has become apparent
that more knowledge about the personal epistemologies that students
use to support misconceptions is necessary to develop new, more
effective conceptual change teaching strategies. Current conceptual
change teaching strategies have had mixed results suggesting
that some important variables have been overlooked. Dr. Lemberger’s
current research on personal epistemology will provide further
insight into the kind of teaching strategies needed to move
students’ thinking toward more scientific conceptions
of natural phenomena.
