Review of the current state of pedagogical research in acoustics

Humans have pursued new and innovative methods for teaching for most of human history. While early teaching was largely informal and unstructured, the past 150 years have seen the field become more formalized, with the establishment of journals dedicated to reporting educational research findings. The creation of the Bureau of Education in 1867, which later evolved into the Department of Education, marked a significant push toward formalizing the evaluation of educational methods. Numerous educational research organizations and journals were founded in the early 20th century, each contributing to the systematic study of teaching practices. Additionally, discipline-specific journals and organizations, such as the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), have emerged to focus on methods within their respective fields. Research on acoustics education is still spread across various disciplines and journals. Now the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is creating a more formal technical interest in the effectiveness of acoustic education to consolidate some of the work being done. This presentation will explore the current state of acoustics education research across multiple disciplines, providing a survey of key studies and accepted metrics used to evaluate teaching methods.