David Long

About Me

Degrees: Ph.D. Studies In Higher Education, University of Kentucky, 2010; M.A. Science Education, Bellarmine University, 2005; B.A. Anthropology / Geology, 1996

Research Interests: Dr. Long’s primary research interest is the ethnographic documentation and analysis of science learning at the social intersection of differing ideological, economic, and moral projects. He focuses on perennial problem of U.S. science education and communication, including the cognitive, social, and philosophical dimensions of student and teacher understanding of evolution, climate change science, and genetic engineering, with emphasis on how political and religious ideology mediates science education implementation in schools, universities, and in the civic discourse.

Bio: Dr. Long’s primary research interests focus on the areas of the science curriculum that have been affected by religious and political repression and polarization. This has included the impact of creationism in U.S. biology courses, as well as the politicization of climate change and climate change education. His work examines these issues from a social-structural perspective, as decision-making processes that (de)emphasize certain curricula are often influenced by religious and political ideology. He has served at PI or Co-PI on National Science Foundation-funded research projects, as well as with the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Kentucky Appalachian Rural Development Fund, and internationally with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, totaling over $1.5 million.

His published work has appeared in Policy Futures in Education, Environmental Education Research, the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Cultural Studies of Science Education, Research in Education, the Educational and Developmental Psychologist, the International Journal of Science Education, Educational Studies, among others.  He has published multiple practitioner-oriented chapters for the National Science Teacher Association Press, as well as various other science and religion scholarly chapters, and authored the book "Evolution and Religion in American Education: An Ethnography," published by Springer Nature.

In 2023, he was named a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion and is a member of the Kentucky Climate Consortium.  He has given many invited lectures, including presidential sessions of the American Educational Research Association, George Washington University, and the Smithsonian Institution.