All doctoral students are required to pass a qualifying examination and an oral defense of this exam prior to formal admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree.
Schedule a date for your exam with your Supervisor and the other two members of your Qualifying Exam Committee. All three must be members of the STEM Education Graduate Studies Committee. The Graduate Coordinator (Jeffrey Grimes), needs to be informed of the dates.
Please note the following:
a) you should book the oral defense about 2 months before - you will reserve a room for your oral exam through the C&I seminar & conference room request site
b) you should work with your Supervisor to determine when the exam will start, noting that you will have four weeks to complete it once it begins (committee members are responsible for sending their questions to the graduate coordinator the week before the exam starts)
c) you are responsible for sending the completed exams to the committee members upon the completion of the four week period
d) the exam defense date must be 1-2 weeks after the completion of the exam
The qualifying exam committee will select a set of four questions with the goal of permitting the student to demonstrate evidence of their ability to review the literature in an area, to demonstrate a sufficient breadth of knowledge in the field, or to show technical competence in particular methods or techniques.
Responses should be word processed, double-spaced, and follow APA formatting. Generally, responses run 10-15 pages for each question. There are three members on this committee, one of whom acts as Chair. These individuals may be selected by the student but must be members of the STEM Education GSC. The Graduate Adviser must make the final approval.
The qualifying exam is a take home exam. Students have four weeks to complete the exam and must not consult with anyone about the exam during this time except qualifying exam committee members. Students are not allowed to discuss or share their specific questions or responses with other students, at any time during or after the exam. This rule includes outside assistance with editing and proofreading.
At the two-hour oral examination, committee members may ask questions on the students' written responses or on any other aspect of mathematics and science education within the students' expected program of work. This may include questions specific to content.
Following the conclusion of the oral examination, the committee will meet and decide on one of the following options: pass, pass with conditions, fail. There is a form that they sign. Any and all conditions placed on a student must be met prior to advancement to candidacy.
Note: Students must work with the Graduate Coordinator and Graduate Adviser to submit their program of work to the GSC for approval upon successful completion of course requirements and their qualifying exam. The GSC will meet to address questions in cases where a student’s candidacy is not approved unanimously. Approval must be made by a majority vote, and conditions may be attached.
