George E. DeBoer is deputy director for Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He oversees the project's programs and activities in the areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
DeBoer joined Project 2061 from the Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Science of the National Science Foundation, where he served as program director. He is also Professor of Educational Studies Emeritus at Colgate University. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at Colgate, he held a number of administrative positions, including director of the Graduate Summer Session, director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program, chair of the Education Department, and acting director of the Division of Social Sciences. Prior to becoming a university professor, DeBoer taught chemistry, biology, and earth science at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois, and chemistry, biochemistry, and microbiology at the Evanston Hospital School of Nursing, Northwestern University Medical School.
DeBoer is the author of A History of Ideas in Science Education: Implications for Practice (Columbia University Teachers College Press, 1991) and The Role of Public Policy in K-12 Science Education (Information Age Publishing, 2011) as well as numerous articles, book chapters, and reviews. He has made presentations at national and international conferences, including annual meetings of the International History and Philosophy of Science and Science Teaching Group, the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, the American Educational Research Association, and the National Science Teachers Association, among others. He has also served as science education advisor to the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology in China. His primary research interests include clarifying the goals of the science curriculum, analyzing the history of science education, exploring the many meanings of science literacy, and investigating ways to assess student understanding of key science ideas.
DeBoer holds a Ph.D. in science education from Northwestern University, an M.A.T. in biochemistry and science education from the University of Iowa, and a B.A. in biology and chemistry from Hope College. He is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is a member of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, the National Science Teachers Association, and the American Association of University Professors.