This work offers a synthesis of research from the National Research Council's Committee on the Status, Contributions, and Future Directions of Discipline-based Education Research. Committee members are educators and researchers in the sciences as well as education and educational administration. They report on the status of discipline-based education research in undergraduate teaching and learning in physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, the geosciences, and astronomy, and ask how this research actually influences undergraduate science instruction in areas such as improving students' conceptual understanding and their problem solving abilities. The study makes recommendations for further research in areas such as differences among student populations and longitudinal studies of the transition to college. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)