Dr Richard Brock

Biography

Before joining King’s, Dr Brock worked as a secondary physics teacher. He is interested in learning in science education, particularly in critiquing the concepts of knowledge and understanding.

Dr Brock has used the microgenetic method, which uses relatively high frequency sampling to develop fine-grained representations of change, to study students' learning. He is interested in how short-term and long-term changes to students' learning can be represented.

Through his work on the PGCE, and with colleagues Alex Manning, Emma Towers and Helen Damon, Dr Brock has developed an interest in researching teacher wellbeing. They are interested in critiquing the wellbeing support available to teachers and developing new approaches to supporting teachers' and trainee teachers' wellbeing.

Dr Brock's research has also examined the nature of tacit knowledge and its role in science education and he has developed a series of booklets with the Institute of Physics that list stories for use in teaching physics.

Research

Dr Brock's current research focuses on a number of areas:

• The nature of knowledge and understanding in science education
• Teacher wellbeing
• Timescales of learning
• Tacit knowledge in science education
• The use of narratives in physics education

To see more about Dr Brock's research and a list of publications, please visit his PURE research profile. 

Teaching

Dr Brock teaches on the following programmes:

• PGCE Science Education (Physics)
• STEM MA
• MA Education

PhD supervision

Dr Brock's current doctoral students are:

• Dave Dennis (2020-present), Resolving voices: How do Pre-Service Teachers and Early Career Teachers develop their professional knowledge within different settings?
• Jonny Berliner (2020-present), Barriers and facilitators to educational engagement for neurodiverse students in secondary chemistry classrooms.
• Liam Cini O'Dwyer (2021-present), Perspectives, barriers and opportunities around the issues of queer youth’s inclusion and participation in Science education.
• Chris Reid (2022-present), Learning Science: What’s curiosity got to do with It?

He is happy to supervise students interested in researching:

• Learning or conceptual change in science education
• The epistemology of science as it relates to teaching and learning
• Narratives in science education
• Projects related to science education that adopt quantitative methods or analyse secondary data sets.