Biographical summary

Hello,

I am Digna Couso. I have a Bachelor of Physics and a PhD in Science Teaching. Nowadays I am a reader at the Faculty of Education at UAB. As a University professor, I teach initial training for primary and secondary school teachers at the undergraduate and master levels. I am also the director of CRECIM (Research Centre on Science and Mathematics Education) and the head of the Science Education Unit at the Dept. of Didactics of Mathematics and Science, since 2015. Since the start of her career in 2000, I have participated in more than 20 research projects funded at national and international level under the FP5, FP7 and H2020 European Commission programmes, and I have been national IP in 8 of them: CROSSNET; GIMMS; COMPEC; TRACES; PreSEES; STEAM4U, ATENCIÓ; ParticipAIRE. I am part of the consolidated research group ACELEC. Previously, I have been the IP (2015-2017) of the research group TIREC, recognized and financed, uninterruptedly since 1995, by AGAUR.

As a teacher educator, I have expertise in both primary and secondary school pre-service teacher training and in-service professional development in STEM. As a researcher, I show you my main lines of research, on which I invite you to read and participate:

• Communities of practice in STEM curriculum development, within the context and competence-based framework for STEM.
• Research based on the design of teaching and learning sequences and materials, particularly in participatory settings and using learning progressions as a design and validation tool.
• The perspective of the teaching and learning of inquiry focused on modeling in science and particularly in physics for the primary and secondary levels.
• Teacher training, both initial and in practice, from the perspective of professional development focused on the practical knowledge of the teacher and the establishment of communities of practice.

My latest research interests include:

• Equity and gender balance in STEM.
• The analysis of interest, self-efficacy and aspirations in STEM.

My more well-known research papers and contributions are in the field of Scientific Practices, particularly Modelling and model-based teaching and learning and in the construction of learning progressions of key Models in Science Education. I have published more than 15 papers, 5 of which are Q1, Q2 (2) and Q4 (2) JCR publications. I have also published more than 15 book chapters, some of them included in the prestigious international editorials Springer (2) and in a handbook on STEM by Roudledge (in press).

My work has also been shared in multiple conferences and events. I have presented in more than 50 national and international congresses, including 5 plenary presentations at international level: GIREP 2008 (Chipre), II CNIECyT 2010 (Colombia), ESERA Pre-Conference 2011 (Lyon), EPEF 2011 (Brasil) and SChEC 2017 (Chile); and 9 at national level, including: Congreso Scientix 2015 (Madrid), Encuentros APICE 2014 (Huelva), Jornadas Enciende 2010 (Madrid), Congreso Infancia y Ciencia 2011 (Barcelona), Mesas Redondas de APICE 2009 (Baeza) and II Congreso de Formación de Profesorado (2013).

My achieved international recognition may be demonstrated through her participation in the evaluation editorial boards of 5 JCR indexed magazines and in multiple international conferences on the same field (ESERA 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15; GIREP 08 and Enseñanza de las Ciencias 05, 09, 13), including co-edition of Proceedings in ESERA 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 and support to the organization of 4 international conferences (GIREP 02, ESERA 05 and Enseñanza de las Ciencias 09 and 13). I have also co-directed the 1st School of Young Researchers of APICE (2012) and the direction of the IFIIE-MICINN Summer School at UIMP (2011). I have also taught doctorate courses at the Universidade de Sao Paolo (Brasil) and the Universidad Católica de Concepción (Chile).

If there is something that interests you as much as me, do not hesitate to browse my website and write me.

Thank you.