Robert Eugene Yager earned a biology teaching degree from Iowa State Teachers College in 1950, launching decades of accomplishments in science education. He received master's and doctoral degrees in plant physiology from the University of Iowa, where he began a paradigm-shaking reformulation of how we think about teaching and learning in science. Recognizing the increasing necessity for scientific and technologically literate citizens, Yager helped establish the Science-Technology-Society approach to teaching science. It became synonymous with, and an early version of, inquiry teaching that pervades nearly every level of science education today. Yager brought more than $10 million in science education reform funding to Iowa, and his outreach projects have touched nearly every district in the state.
Over the course of his career, Yager served as president of seven prestigious national organizations; he has directed more than a hundred National Science Foundation institutes for teachers and workshops for students. He has published more than six hundred books, chapters, and research reports. After his 50-plus-year career in the science education department of the University of Iowa, Yager continues to teach, write, and conduct research in emeritus status. Yager will be honored during the fall 2008 Commencement. He passed away in August 2019.
From an article in Northern Iowa Today, vol. 92, no. 2 (Fall 2008), page 17.