Background

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•  I am a developmental psychologist with a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

•  For the past 25 years, I have taught courses in development, learning & cognition, and educational psychology. I have taught classes ranging from 5 students to 250, from beginning freshman to doctoral students, and using face-to-face as well as completely online formats.

•  For the most part, I take a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. This means that I believe that each of us constructs our own understanding of what we are learning based on what we already know, our goals and attitudes, and our current and past experiences. This doesn't mean there are no wrong answers (sorry!). But it does mean that we each take different things from the material presented and understand it in our own individual way. I try to make lots of interesting and useful information available, but it's up to the student to do the active, difficult work of integrating it within his or her own existing knowledge base and contexts of application. I'm here to help--but I can't do it for you!

•  I use my experiences as a way to better understand and teach material (though I try not to use too many family stories as examples!). I encourage students to think actively and critically about the theories and research we cover in classes in relation to their own personal and professional lives.

•  My research focuses on the development of problem solving skills, particularly mathematical problem solving. I have recently begun conducting research on the development of critical thinking skills in college students. I have also co-authored several textbooks in both child development and educational psychology, including The World of Children (2010; 2007), Perspectives on Child Development(2009; 2005), and Effective Teaching, Effective Learning (2000). Click on the research link to learn more about my work and research opportunities.

•  My husband and I have four children ranging in age from 16 to 21 years--so I have really lived much of the material I teach about in my development and cognition classes!

•  Every class is different, and I learn something new from my students every time I teach a class. I hope you will find the courses you take with me interesting and useful as well.

•  If you are in my online classes and get the chance, please don't hesitate to stop by and introduce yourself--I'd love to meet you F2F!

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