Peter Garik
Program Director, Science Education
Clinical Associate Professor
Dr. Peter Garik is a clinical associate professor and director of the Science Education program at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. He has a secondary appointment in the College of Arts & Science in the Physics Department. His work focuses on science education in high-need school districts.
Dr. Garik is the BU co-investigator and partner in the GLOBE Mission Earth Project, a collaboration of multiple universities funded by a grant from NASA’s Science Activation (SciAct) Program to engage teachers and students in project-based learning with GLOBE Protocols and NASA learning assets. He is also a principal instructor in the BU Learning Assistant Program and one of the initiators of the Improving Teaching of Physics (ITOP) Program for in-service physics teachers.
With collaborators at BU, Dr. Garik has been working in the high-need Providence Public School District to improve science teaching in grades K-12 since 2015. He is the PI for the Physical Science Urban Noyce Scholars (PSUNS) Project, funded by the NSF Noyce Program, and works with pre-service Robert Noyce Scholars. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Physical Society, the International History and Philosophy and Science Teaching Group, the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, and the National Science Teachers Association.
Recent News
Education
PhD, Cornell University, Theoretical Physics
MSc, Cornell University, Physics
BSc, SUNY at Stony Brook, Physics and Mathematics
Courses
CAS NS101 Integrated Science I
WED SC 521 Introduction to STEM Theory and Practice (for Learning Assistants)
WED SC 539 Explaining Science: A Philosophical Perspective
WED SC 575 Introduction to Science Education
Research
Selected Grants
Principal Investigator, Preparing Post-Baccalaureate and Undergraduate STEM Majors in the Physical Sciences to be Teachers in High-Need School Districts: Sponsor: National Science Foundation (DUE-1660681), 3/15/2017 – 3/1/2022
Principal Investigator at BU, co-investigator for NASA CAN Mission Earth: Fusing GLOBE with NASA Assets to Build Systemic Innovation in STEM Education Sponsor: NASA, 1/3/16 – 1/2/2021
Principal Investigator, Boston University Noyce Urban Science Scholarships (Project BoNUSS) Sponsor: National Science Foundation, (DUE-1240055), 9/15/12 – 8/31/19
Principal Investigator, Conference Meeting: How Can the History and Philosophy of Science Contribute to Contemporary Science Teaching? Sponsor: National Science Foundation, (DRL-1205273), 1/15/12 – 6/30/16
Principal Investigator, Improving the Quality of Teachers of Physics, Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. (1/1/05 – 12/31/07).
Physics for Boston Public School Teachers of Physics, National Science Foundation via subcontract w/Boston Public Schools. (1/1/04 – 12/31/06).
Selected Publications
“Teaching the Conceptual History of Physics to Physics Teachers," P. Garik, L. Garbayo, Y. Benétreau-Dupin, C. Winrich, A. Duffy, N. Gross, and M. Jariwala. Science & Education, 24(4), 387-408 (2015). DOI 10.1007/s11191-014-9731-9
"Report on a Boston University Conference December 7–8, 2012 on How Can the History and Philosophy of Science Contribute to Contemporary US Science Teaching?" P. Garik and Y. Benétreau-Dupin. Science & Education 23(9), 1853-1873 (2014).
“The Impact of Conceptual History on Teachers’ PCK,” Charles Winrich, Babson College, and Peter Garik, Andrew Duffy, Nicholas Gross, and Manher Jariwala, Boston University. International History and Philosophy of Science Teaching Group Conference, Pittsburgh, June 2013. http://archive.ihpst.net/2013-pittsburgh/conference-proceedings/
“Investigating the Effect of Peer Teachers on Learning Environments in Large STEM Courses,” Knight, M.T., Garik, P.S., Moser, A., Hammond, N., Jariwala, M., Spilios, K., Seliga, A., Gross, N., Dill, D., and Goldberg, B. 2013 Annual International Conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico April 6 -9, 2013 (Conference CD).
“The Impact of an Immersive Course on K-8 Teachers' Content Knowledge,” E.C. Allen, P. S. Garik, M.D. Nolan, T. Hunt, E.M. Jariwala, G. Stevens, B. Goldberg. 2013 Annual International Conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico April 6 -9, 2013 (Conference CD).
“Interfacial Cellular Mixing and the Determination of Global Deposit Morphology,” P. Garik, J. Hetrick, B. Orr, D. Barkey, and E. Ben-Jacob, Physical Review Letters 66, 1606 (1991).
“The Formation of Patterns in Nonequilibrium Growth,” E. Ben-Jacob and P. Garik, Nature 343, 523 (1990).
Selected Presentations
“Using GLOBE Hydrology Protocols for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Socioscientific Issues in a High Need Urban District,” K. Johnson, D. DeRosa, P. Garik, B.T. Anderson, C. Farny, and Evangeline Harris-Stefanakis. Poster presented at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Society, San Francisco, CA, December 9-13, 2019.
“Preparing Noyce Scholars for Culturally Responsive Practice,” P. Garik, T. Wooley-Brown, D. DeRosa, D. Dill, A. Duffy, and M. Greenman. Poster presented at the Annual Noyce Summit, Washington, DC, July 10-12, 2019.
“GLOBE Phenological Gardens in Urban Schools: Using School Gardens to Engage City Students in Science,” P. Garik, K. Johnson, and D. DeRosa. Presentation accepted for the 2019 National Conference of the NSTA. St. Louis, MO, April 11-14, 2019.
“Building Bundles of GLOBE Activities: Facilitating Urban Teachers Implementation of Project Based Learning,” P. Garik, K. Johnson, B. Anderson, D. DeRosa, C. Farny, M. Koch, and E. Stefanakis. Presented by K. Johnson. Washington, DC, December 10-14, 2018.
“Noyce Scholars Reflecting on Culturally Responsive Teaching Experiences in the High Needs Science Classroom,” P. Garik moderator. 2018 Noyce Northeast Regional Conference, New York, NY, April 19-21.