Research

Chemistry Education Research, Inorganic Chemistry
Dr. Pratt’s scholarly background is in Chemistry Education Research (CER) and inorganic chemistry. CER is a branch of discipline-based education research (DBER) focused on understanding how to improve teaching and learning within the chemical discipline. Pratt’s research interests are wide ranging and include understanding how faculty members make decisions about their instructional practices, how to best use animations and multimedia to support learning, how chemistry is taught in informal settings (chemistry outreach), as well as pedagogies best for laboratory learning experiences. Investigations in CER and DBER include a variety of qualitative methods (e.g., interviews & surveys), quantitative methods (e.g., statistics), as well as theories developed in educational psychology, sociology, and science education.