Wouter Spaan

Wouter Spaan is a Lecturer/Researcher at the Centre for Applied Research on Education, affiliated with the Faculty of Education (FE). With an ORCID ID (0000-0002-2070-0202), his work focuses on enhancing science education through practical work that integrates hands-on and minds-on learning. He has been actively publishing since 2015, with recent contributions in 2024.

• Research Areas: Secondary Education, Teacher Behavior, Cognitive Load, Evidence-informed Pedagogy, Learning Experience, Educational Design, Practical Work, Critical Thinking Development

Spaan’s research explores how students engage with practical work in secondary science education, emphasizing cognitive load management and evidence-informed teaching practices. His work synthesizes hands-on and minds-on approaches, particularly in physics education.

Recent publications (2022-2024) highlight his educational design studies on 'Thinking-Back-and-Forth' during practical work, focusing on teacher behavior, student learning experiences, and pedagogical frameworks. These studies have been published in Research in Science and Technological Education.

• Academic Activities: Invited talks at workshops (2019-2020), participation in the 4th World Conference on Physics Education (2024), and ongoing educational contributions (2020-2025) supervising student theses and developing teaching practices.