This research guide is intended as an overview of library resources and services of particular relevance for students Professor Ann Rivet's Fall 2020 course MSTC 6502, Science Education Seminar. The resources, primarily electronic and accessible on and off campus, have been selected as ones that support the aims of the course: to offer "an overview of current research in science education including some of the major theoretical perspectives and research paradigms that guide modern science education inquiry." The guide also includes a section describing research consultation and assistance services and options for document retrieval and delivery available to all members of the Teachers College community.
Resources designated (CU) are accessible online through Columbia University Libraries.
Library Resources
Online Catalogs
EDUCAT - The most definitive record of the holdings of the Gottesman Libraries at Teachers College, including books, e-books, journals, e-journals, dissertations, media, and other specialized collections of all kinds.
CLIO Catalog - The union catalog of Columbia University Libraries (exclusive of the libraries of Teachers College, the Columbia Law School, and Jewish Theological Seminary), providing the most definitive record of individual libraries' holdings of books, e-books, journals, e-journals, dissertations, media, and other specialized collections of all kinds.
WorldCat - The union catalog of the contents of over 10,000 libraries worldwide, providing the means to do exhaustive searching by author, title, subject, and numerous other criteria and to find locations for specific items in libraries nearby and elsewhere. WorldCat is also freely accessible at worldcat.org.
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are the official subject terms prescribed by the Library of Congress for the cataloging of books and are in use in essentially all academic libraries. To find works pertaining to science education, science education research, issues of diversity and multicultural education in science education research, and related subjects, it may be useful to use some of the subject terms, or combinations of terms, listed below when searching the online catalogs of libraries at Teachers College, Columbia University, and other institutions.
- Science -- Study and teaching [Q181-Q183.4]
- Science -- Study and teaching (Preschool)
- Science -- Study and teaching (Primary)
- Science -- Study and teaching (Early childhood) [LB1139.5.S35]
- Science -- Study and teaching (Elementary) [LB1585-LB1588]
- Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary)
- Science -- Study and teaching -- Research
- Science -- Study and teaching -- Standards
- Science teachers -- Training of
Education in specific disciplines:
- Biology -- Study and teaching [QH315-QH320]
- Earth sciences -- Study and teaching
- Environmental sciences -- Study and teaching
- Life sciences -- Study and teaching
- Physical sciences -- Study and teaching
- Physics -- Study and teaching
For an overview of the call number system used in our library and many other academic libraries, see the Library of Congress Classification Outline page.
Periodical Indexes
Science Databases
Biological Abstracts (CU) - An index with abstracts to periodicals in biology and the life sciences. Provides access to biological and medical research findings, clinical studies, and discoveries of new organisms. Coverage is from 1969 to present and is international. See also Biological Abstracts Archive databases covering 1926 through 1968.
BioMed Central (CU) - Provides access to 207 open access biological and biomedical research journals, as well as current reports and meeting abstracts. BioMed Central offers information about current controlled trials, as well as topics in modern biology.
General Science Full Text (CU) - The H. W. Wilson science database, comprising abstracts, bibliographic indexing, and full text material from scholarly sources and specialized magazines. Indexing begins in 1984; full-text coverage in 1995.
GeoRef (CU) - Over 3 million references to geoscience journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports, and theses.
GreenFILE (CU) - Research database covering all aspects of the human impact on the environment, including content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
Oceanic Abstracts (CU) - Focused on worldwide technical literature pertaining to the marine and brackish-water environment, the database covers marine biology and physical oceanography, fisheries, aquaculture, non-living resources, meteorology, and geology, plus environmental, technological, and legislative topics.
PsycINFO (CU) - Covers the scholarly literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences
Education Databases
ERIC - Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational-related periodical literature, ERIC (which stands for Educational Resources Information Center) provides coverage of conferences, meetings, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, books, and monographs. In addition to this version, made available via the ProQuest platform, also accessible via the U.S. government ERIC site and through Ebsco ERIC.
Education Full Text - Provides comprehensive coverage of an international range of English-language periodicals, monographs, and yearbooks. Indexing coverage begins June 1983; abstracts are included beginning spring 1994; full text of some journals is available beginning in January 1996.
Education Index Retrospective - Provides cover-to-cover indexing for an international range of English-language periodicals and yearbooks; coverage from 1929 through mid-1983.
Education Research Complete - Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 2,100 journals, as well as full text for more than 1,200 journals, and includes full text for nearly 500 books and monographs.
Professional Development Collection - Designed for professional educators, this database provides a highly specialized collection of nearly 520 high-quality education journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles. The database also contains more than 200 educational reports.
Multidisciplinary Databases
Academic Search Premier - A multidisciplinary database providing full text for more than 4,600 journals, including nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals. See also Academic Search Complete (CU), a scholarly, multidisciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887.
JSTOR (CU) - An online archive of over 1,200 leading scholarly journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. Journals are always included from volume 1, issue 1 and include previous and related titles. The most recently published issues (the past 3-5 years) are generally not available through JSTOR, though they usually are through other e-sources.
ProQuest (CU) - Provides broad multidisciplinary coverage of scholarly journals, newspapers, dissertations, and other types of publications; for international coverage and access to full texts of dissertations only, search ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, a subset of ProQuest.
Federated Search Engines
Super Search (via Gottesman Libraries) - To search some or all of our periodical indexes, plus EDUCAT and CLIO, simultaneously for books, journal articles, reports, dissertations, etc.
Quicksearch (via Columbia University Libraries) - To search the catalog, multiple periodical indexes, and other web resources simultaneously within a variety of subjects and disciplinary subcategories.
Google Scholar - Provides the means to search for scholarly research across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other web sites.
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia of Education (2nd Edition) - The 2003 version of the classic resource in education and related fields.
Encyclopedia of Science Education (CU) - "Aimed at graduate students, researchers, developers in science education and science education research . . . The topics to be covered encompass all areas of science education and it includes biographical entries on science educators, as well as educators whose work has had an impact on science education as a research field."
E-Collections
BioOne (CU) - Provides access to critical, peer-reviewed research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences through collaboration among scientific societies, publishers, and libraries.
Ebook Central - Online books across a range of subject areas; searchable, under Browse Subjects, by Education, Science & Technology, etc. and various sub-topics, and by author, title, and other criteria.
Oxford Scholarship Online (CU) - Provides the full text of classic and newly published Oxford University Press books in biology, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, psychology, and other disciplines.
Handbooks of Research
Print Resources
Handbook of Research on Science Education (2006)
Handbook of Research on Science Teaching and Learning (1993)
International Handbook of Science Education (2003)
E-Resources
Handbook of College Science Teaching - The 38 chapters are organized into eight sections dealing with attitudes and motivations; active learning; factors affecting learning; innovative teaching approaches; use of technology; special challenges; pre-college science instruction; and improving instruction.
Handbook of Research Design in Mathematics and Science Education (CU) - Offers 32 chapters in seven sections: the need to address priority problems; reflecting on instruments and methods; teaching experiments; classroom-based research; clinical methods; curriculum design as research; and toward assessment design. Chapters cover topics such as standards-based reform, transformative teaching, and technology design.
Handbook of Research on Science Education, Volume II - This 2014 publication "builds on the foundation presented in Volume I" (see print version above) and is divided into six key sections: Theory and Research of Science Education Research; Science Learning; Diversity and Equity in Science Learning; Science Teaching; Curriculum and Assessment in Science; and Science Teacher Education.
Second International Handbook of Science Education (CU) - In this 2012 research handbook more than 100 leading scholars from the global science education community contributed 96 chapters in 11 sections focusing on sociocultural perspectives and urban education; learning and conceptual change; teacher education and professional development; equity and social justice; assessment and evaluation; curriculum and reform; argumentation and nature of science; out-of-school learning; learning environments; literacy and language; and research methods.
Reviews of Literature
Annual Reviews (CU) - Reviews of topics in numerous disciplines published as annual journals; see series for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, and many others.
Review of Educational Research - A publication of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the RER publishes quarterly critical, integrative reviews of research literature bearing on education, including conceptualizations, interpretations, and syntheses of scholarly work.
Review of Research in Education - A publication of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the RRE provides an annual overview and descriptive analysis of selected topics of relevant research literature through critical and synthesizing essays.
Citation Indexes
Scopus (CU) - Abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources with smart tools to track, analyze, and visualize research.
Web of Science (CU) - Comprising the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Science Citation Index Expanded, this database supports searching by topic, author, or publication name, and is also a major means for doing cited reference searching, to find articles that cite a person's work.
Google Scholar - Provides the means to search by author or publication title, and indicates and provides links to works that have cited the documents retrieved.
Digital Archives
Academic Commons - Columbia University's online repository, where current faculty, students, and staff can deposit the results of their scholarly work and research.
Internet Archive - A non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies, and music, as well as 150 billion archived web pages.
PocketKnowledge - The social archive of Teachers College, including unpublished manuscripts and archives from the library's collections, documents from other departments and administrative offices College-wide, and the work of TC students, faculty, and researchers.
Bibliography and Citation Management Programs
Citation Management Software - An extensive description of and guide to the use of Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote, courtesy of Columbia University Libraries.
Library Services
Ask a Librarian - Explore a variety of kinds of research support: submit an email reference query to librarians; request a research consultation with a Gottesman librarian; review frequently asked questions via the library's Knowledge Database.
Course Reserves - E-Reserves provides online access to digital course readings, including e-journal articles and book chapters, as well as call numbers for physical course reserves materials (books, DVDs, videos, etc.). More information about E-Reserves and physical Course Reserves can be found on the Course Reserves page.
Requesting New Materials - Teachers College students, faculty, and staff may use the materials request form to request library materials not owned by Gottesman Libraries, or the Columbia Morningside Campus Libraries.
Workshops - The Gottesman Libraries' education program offers a calendar of workshops on citation management, research techniques, and academic writing processes. Visit the Events page on the library’s website to learn about and RSVP to upcoming workshops.
