Rate My Professor David Geelan

Professor David Geelan holds the degrees of PhD, MEd, BEd(Chem), CGertSci(Phys), and GCertHE. He taught secondary school physics and chemistry in Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia, and has served as a teacher educator in Papua New Guinea, Canada, and Australia. Geelan has conducted teacher professional learning workshops in South Africa and the Philippines and has developed and taught online courses since 1995. He is Professor and was National Head of the School of Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia, with responsibilities across multiple campuses. Geelan is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Geelan's research specializations encompass physical sciences education in physics and chemistry, teacher explanations of scientific concepts, qualitative and mixed research methodologies, and educational technology including mobile learning and classroom technology integration. He has authored and edited numerous books, including Complexity and Simplicity in Science Education (Springer Nature, 2021, with K. Nichols and C. McDonald), Theorising Personalised Education (Springer Nature, 2017, edited with B. Garrick and D. Pendergast), Connected Science: Strategies for Integrative Learning in Science (Indiana University Press, 2013, edited with T.A. Ferrett et al.), Undead Theories: Constructivism, Eclecticism and Research in Education (Sense Publishers, 2006), and Weaving Narrative Nets to Capture Classrooms: Multimethod Qualitative Approaches for Research in Education (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004). Notable journal articles include "Epistemological Anarchy and the Many Forms of Constructivism" (Science & Education, 1997, 376 citations), "The Many Forms of Constructivism" (Journal of Chemical Education, 2001, 343 citations), "Differentiated Learning: From Policy to Classroom" (Oxford Review of Education, 2014, 231 citations), and recent works such as "Towards a Constructivist View of Instructional Explanations as a Core Practice of Science Teachers" (2024) and "A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses on the Impact of Formative Assessment on K-12 Students’ Learning" (Sustainability, 2024, 82 citations). His scholarship has advanced understanding of constructivist teaching practices and science education methodologies.