Ian Descamps
Education
- Ph.D., Physics Education Research, Tufts University, 2026
- M.S., STEM Education, Tufts University, 2022
- B.A., Astrophysics, Pomona College, 2019
Research Interests
- How do students come to meaningfully participate in disciplinary practices
- How do students collaborate in experimental physics settings
- How can instructors and learning environments, more broadly, support equitable and productive collaboration
- What conceptual, epistemological, relational, and cultural resources do students and scientists bring to bear in astrophysics contexts
About
I grew up in the mountains of western Montana, and love to get out into nature whenever and however I can (hiking, biking, and skiing). I'm also a fan of the San Francisco Giants, and baseball in general. I went to college outside of LA and am glad to be back in California after a stint on the east coast. My undergraduate degree was in astrophysics and although my research specialization has diverged, I've maintained a strong interest in galaxy evolution and satellite galaxies. At Tufts, I started off in the education department for my master's degree in science education, where I fell in love with qualitative methodologies: discourse analysis, interaction analysis, and design-based research. My PhD research focused on student autonomy, decision-making, and collaboration in instructional labs with learning-theory-driven designs. How do students respond to complex, open-ended experimental situations? How do students grapple with confusion and curiosity? How can we structure and support inquiry that is both meaningful to students and authentic to disciplinary practice?
My office is room 210 in building 25. If you stop by, odds are that I have some tea brewing that I'd love to share. Please stop by to commiserate about the 2026 Giants or if you want to chat about rigor and causality in qualitative research (other topics welcome, of course).