The purpose of this study was to learn how education doctorate students create the problems of practice researched in their dissertations, and the potential impact of their research on their local contexts to enhance the generation of knowledge.  Three research questions guided this study: 1) How do education doctorate students derive their problems of practice?, 2) What is the nature of the problems of practice that the students have studied?, and 3) What are the reported impacts the study of problems of practice has on doctoral students’ local contexts?  To answer these questions, the researchers conducted a document analysis of 19 dissertations.  Student dissertations included a diverse set of problems of practice largely determined by their professional roles.  The findings indicate a need for further refinement of the concept of a problem of practice and how the education doctorate program and their candidates employ the concept of a problem of practice in their dissertations and how this impacts local contexts. Furthermore, the nature of their problems of practice researched through the dissertation contributed to the perceived impact on the local context of the author.

Ecosystem services provided by marine inter-and sub-tidal benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages are often overlooked given their benthic location that is not evident to most observers. The macro-flora and macro-fauna that are the basis for these assemblages are impacted by changes in physical, chemical, and hydrological short and long-term alterations to their habitats. Globally, benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages can be categorized to examine ecosystems services provided by these highly productive coastal areas and the significance of the biodiversity of these assemblages should not be taken for granted. Ecosystem services provided can be categorized just as other global ecosystem services. The ecosystem services provided by marine coastal zones thus include Provisional, Supporting, Regulating, and Cultural Services. Significant environmental impacts to all of these types of ecosystem services have ensued from both natural and human events during the last decade. In addition to ongoing coastal human activity related threats to these areas, the disturbances to these assemblages immediately after a natural disaster event are currently a focus of research. Quantifying the impacts across the subunit of macroinvertebrate benthos is a focus of much current research. The current knowledge base and predicted recovery timeframes, in addition to the need for further investigation of long-term environmental societal factors are important globally.

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Biological research entails myriad techniques and considerations for proper experimental design and data collection. The duality of field-based research techniques and laboratory protocols makes introducing this topic to high school and undergraduate college students a challenge. Two invertebrate models that serve as wonderful tools to support an inquiry process to balance techniques in the field and in the laboratory are terrestrial isopods and water bears. Both are easy to collect and rear, are relatively little-known species, and offer the chance for students to work directly with aspects of natural history, ecology, and biology. The 10-step process presented here offers an outline to follow in guiding students through a research cycle in the course of a semester (16 weeks).

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