PEN-900 Dissertation Research

Course Overview

The exciting and timely discipline called Educational Neuroscience provides an important level of analysis for addressing today’s core problems in education. Advanced doctoral students in Gallaudet University’s PhD Program in Educational Neuroscience (PEN) have studied the empirical foundations and methods from which the discipline draws its strength, in particular, Cognitive Neuroscience. Advanced doctoral students have also gained new knowledge into the optimal ways to marry scientific discoveries about how children learn with core challenges in contemporary education-crucially, in principled ways, and with ”two-way” communication and mutual growth to render knowledge that is usable, and meaningfully translatable for all children, especially for the young deaf visual learner. Armed with this powerful knowledge – and after having completed the Comprehensive Exam for the purpose of developing their dissertation proposal – the PEN doctoral student is now ready to advance ”full speed ahead” in his or her doctoral dissertation research, the writing of the doctoral dissertation, and, ultimately, the defense of the written doctoral dissertation. The purpose of this course is to facilitate students through these important steps. The culmination of these steps will be the ”oral” dissertation proposal and defense of the dissertation.