Education: BS, Physics, Kansas State University, 2003; MS, Physics, 2004; PhD, Curriculum and Instruction – Science, 2013. At SPU since 2012.
Kara Gray is the interim director of the Integrated Studies Program and an assistant professor of Physics at Seattle Pacific. She teaches physics content courses and courses designed to prepare learning assistants to teach. Prior to coming to SPU she worked with the Physics Education Research Group at University of Colorado, Boulder where she focused on the Colorado Learning Assistant Model for preparing undergraduates to assist students in introductory STEM courses. As an undergraduate, Dr. Gray worked with the Kansas State University Physics Education Research Group.
Dr. Gray’s research interests align closely with her teaching responsibilities. She is interested in how to improve student learning and engagement using courses designed from constructivist and scientific inquiry perspectives with an emphasis on student model building. Kara’s research also focuses on preparing teachers to teach energy as presented by the Next Generation Science Standards – with an emphasis on elementary teachers. Her work tends to emphasize formative assessment as a teaching philosophy that focuses on grounding instruction in students’ ideas.
In recent quarters, Dr. Gray has taught Development of Concepts in Physical Science I and II, Introduction to the Nature of Science, and Special Topics: Preparing to Teach.
Selected Publications
- Otero, V. K., & Gray, K. E. (2008). Attitudinal Gains Across Multiple Universities Using the Physics and Everyday Thinking Curriculum. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 4(2), 020104.
- Gray, K. E., Adams, W. K., Wieman, C. E., & Perkins, K. K. (2008). Students Know What Physicists Believe, But They Don’t Agree: a Study Using the CLASS Survey. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 4(2), 020106.
- Rebello, N. S., Zollman, D. A., Allbaugh, A. R., Engelhardt, P. V., Gray, K. E., Hrepic, Z., & Itza-Ortiz, S. F. (2005). Dynamic Transfer: A Perspective from Physics Education Research. In J. P. Mestre (Ed.), Transfer of Learning from a Modern Multidisciplinary Perspective (pp. 217–250). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.
- Engelhardt, P. V., Gray, K. E., & Rebello, N. S. (2004). How Many Students Does It Take Before We See The Light? The Physics Teacher, 42(4), 216–221.
- Cho, J. H., Law, B. M., & Gray, K. E. (2002). Strong Critical Adsorption at the Liquid-Vapor Surface of a Nonpolar Mixture. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 116, 3058.
Please view Dr. Gray’s CV (PDF) for additional publications.