Dr. Thomas McCloughlin

Thomas John Johnston McCloughlin is an Assistant Professor of Biology & Education. He majored in Crop Productivity (applied botany) and Hydrobiology (aquatic - freshwater and marine) as part of his first degree (Ulster).

He holds Masters degrees in Education and Theology. His doctorate (TCD) concerns the cognition of biological natural kinds and their classification.

Dr. McCloughlin is the curator of the DCU Science Archive & Herbarium and is engaged in research on the History & Philosophy of Science (HPS) especially in biology, and the material culture of science in schools and colleges and their educational modalities.

Dr. McCloughlin is engaged in research concerning plant ecology (Herbarium Studies) and how this can be incorporated into school education, woodland ecology - ecosystem restoration and invertebrate ecology in watercourses, the estuaries of north County Dublin, e.g. water quality entering the estuaries, especially phosphate pollution and its sequestration and again how this can be incorporated into school education.

Research Interests

Learning in biology at all levels in school education involving research using the following methods: Repertory Grid Analysis, Bayes Nets, conceptual framework mapping techniques, structural equation modelling in examining causal pathways in natural learning environments, Rasch Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling.

History, Philosophy and Sociology of biology at all levelsin school education and in the following themes: experimental biology in history: photosynthesis, transpiration, plant growth; herbarium studies. Nature of Biology (as a subset of nature of science). The philosophy of biology as it relates to biology education.

Systematics: Natural variations in species, biometrical and bioinformatical applications concerning dicotyledonous plants (teratology) and digenean trematode parasites. Plant distribution and herbarium studies.

Teaching Interests

1. Teaching environmental and biological studies employing outdoors
2. Fieldwork incorporating data-logging using hand-held computers.
3. Integration within SESE and other subjects such as Art
4. Heutagogical approaches to student learning
5. Teaching science education using personal responsive devices (clickers).
6. Teaching in an informal setting, apprenticeship models, and according to the constructivist paradigm