Douglas Clark

Professional Title
Associate Professor
Organization/Institution
About Me (Bio)
Douglas Clark is an associate professor of science education at Vanderbilt University. Clark completed his doctoral and postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley and his master’s at Stanford. His research analyzes students’ science learning processes in technology-enhanced environments and digital games with a particular focus on conceptual change, representations, and argumentation in these environments. Much of this research focuses on public middle school and high school students in classroom settings. Clark’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation.
Vanderbilt University
09/01/2011

This development and research project designs, develops, and tests a digital game-based learning environment for supporting, assessing and analyzing middle school students' conceptual knowledge in learning physics, specifically Newtonian mechanics. This research integrates work from prior findings to develop a new methodology to engage students in deep learning while diagnosing and scaffolding the learning of Newtonian mechanics.

Vanderbilt University
09/01/2017

This project will design and study new learning environments integrating mathematical and computational thinking. The project will examine how to design learning modules that place mathematics concepts. By exploring how different kinds of designs support learning and engagement, the project will establish a set of design principles for supporting mathematical and computational thinking.

Vanderbilt University
09/01/2008

This project is focusing on the redesign of popular commercial video games to support students’ understanding of Newtonian mechanics. In support of this goal, SURGE develops and implements design principles for game-based learning environments, integrating research on conceptual change, cognitive processing-based design, and socio-cognitive scripting. These enhanced games bridge the gap between student learning in non-formal game environments and the formalized knowledge structures learned in school by leveraging and integrating the strengths of each.