University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Bio

I currently hold a joint appointment in Geography & Environmental Sciences as well as Curriculum & Pedagogy. My background is multidisciplinary in nature, with ties to environmental education, multicultural science education and environmental science. My research focuses on children's voices, that is, understanding and validating what/how/why they think (about science and science concepts) in different educational and socio-cultural settings using drawings, photo-voice and interviews. My goal is to improve environmental literacy through inclusive curriculum and instruction.

My current projects include exploratory research on the new Denver Green School in the context of sustainability and environmental education, working with school gardens and urban farms to improve science learning for children, investigating the role of mentoring for tenure/tenure-track Asian/Asian American faculty in predominantly white universities, and developing a research methodology for visual arts in the sciences.

Select Publications

Den Ouden, K. & Wee, B. (in press) "Cultivation of social responsibility through school community gardens." In R. L. Oxford & J. Lin (Eds.), Transformative Eco-Education for Human Survival in the 21st Century.

Wee, B. (2010) Realizing the child's perspective: An exploration of young children's environmental ideas. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing.

Wee, B. (2009). "Understanding children's connections to the environment in the U.S. and Singapore: Implications for geography educators." Research in Geographic Education, 11 (2), 79-93.

Shepardson, D., Wee, B., Priddy, M., Schellenberger, L. & Harbor, J. (2009). "Water transformation and storage in the mountains and at the coast: Midwest students' disconnected conceptions of the hydrologic cycle." International Journal of Science Education, 31 (11), 1447-1471.

Riskowski, J., Davis-Todd, C., Wee, B., Dark, M. & Harbor, J. (2009). "The effectiveness of an interdisciplinary water resources engineering module in an eighth-grade science course." International Journal of Engineering Education, 25 (1), 181-195.

Wee, B. (2008). "Moving toward sustainability? The face of environmental education in Singapore." Green Teacher, 83, 35-38.

Wee, B., Shepardson, D., Fast, J. & Harbor, J. (2007) "Teaching and learning about inquiry: Insights and challenges in professional development." Journal of Science Teacher Education, 18, 63-89.

Shepardson, D., Wee, B., Priddy, M. & Harbor, J. (2007) "Students mental models of the environment." Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44 (2), 327-348.

Wee, B., Harbor, J. & Shepardson, D. (2006) "Multiculturalism in environmental science: A snapshot from Singapore." Multicultural Perspectives, 8 (2), 10-17.

Wee, B., Fast, J., Shepardson, D., Harbor, J. & Boone, B. (2004) "Students' perceptions of environmental-based inquiry experiences." School Science and Mathematics, 104 (3), 112-118.

Courses Taught

ENVS 1342, Introduction to Environment and Society
ENVS 5340, Multicultural Science Education
GEOG 3300, Population and Resources
GEOG 4995/5995, Travel Studies (Study Abroad in China)
SECE 5500, Nature of Science