Dr. Tretter's curriculum vita

Educational Background

• Ed.D., Curriculum and Instruction, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Teaching Areas

• Science Education 8-12
• Physics for teachers
• Field-based science explorations

Research Interests

• Conceptions of scale and scaling in science
• Organizing science instruction around unifying themes
• Incorporating nanoscience and nanotechnology into middle and high school science classrooms
• Diagnostic assessments of science teacher knowledge
• Science education

Professional Activities

• Researcher, Diagnostic Teacher Assessments in Mathematics and Science Middle Grades, grant through federal appropriation legislation
• Mentor for Groundwork Education in Mathematics & Science (GEMS) NSF grant, sceince doctoral students working with middle school science teachers

Honors and Awards

• 2008 Kentuckiana Metroversity Award for Instructional Development. Course developed: "Science beyond the Classroom" by Sherri Brown, Thomas R. Tretter, Nikki Votaw, and Beth Brown (October 2008).
• 2007 Kentuckiana Metroversity Award for Instructional Development. Course developed: "Remote Astronomy for Teachers" by Thomas R. Tretter, John Kielkopf, and Drew Foster (October 2007).
• 2006 Kentuckiana Metroversity Award for Instructional Development. Course developed: "Physics for Teachers: How Things Work" by Thomas R. Tretter, Sherri Brown and Jeffrey Wright (October 2006).

Publications

• Saderholm, J., & Tretter, T. R. (2008). Identification of the most critical content knowledge base for middle school science teachers. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 19(3), 269-283.
• Kubasko, D., Jones, M. G., Tretter, T. R., & Andre, T. (2008). Is it live or is it memorex? Students’ synchronous and asynchronous communication with scientists. International Journal of Science Education, 30(4), 495-514.
• Tretter, T. R. (2008). Nanoscience and conceptions of size and scale in pre-college education. In A. E. Sweeney and S. Seal (Eds.), Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education. Stevenson Ranch, CA: American Scientific Publishers.
• Tretter, T. R. (2006). Conceptualizing nanoscale. The Science Teacher, 73(9), 28-31.