Teaching & Service
Teaching
Courses
PSY1800 Special Topics: Learning & Cognition (Summer, 2021)
Guest Lectures
“How People Learn", Fundamentals of Scientific Teaching and Pedagogy course for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers (WPI, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
"Single and Multi-Step Problem Solving", Teaching Mathematics in Preschool and Primary Grades course for undergraduate students (Purdue University, 2023).
"Pathways in Psychology", Introduction to Psychology for undergraduate students (Assumption, 2022).
"Synergies Between Cognitive Theory and Ed. Tech.", User Modeling course for graduate students (WPI, 2022).
“Problem Solving”, Cognitive Psychology undergraduate course (WPI, 2020, 2021).
“Evidence-Based Writing”, Heal the World first-year undergraduate course (WPI, 2020).
“Developmental Science”, Introduction to Psychology undergraduate course (WPI, 2020).
Creating Learning Communities
Emerging Perspectives on Early STEM Learning, Development, and Education Workshop
Through Purdue University's Center for Early Learning, I planned and hosted a two-day professional development workshop for over 30 interdisciplinary early-career researchers across Purdue University and the United States whose work intersects with early STEM learning research. The workshop was designed for researchers who identify as belonging to a group traditionally underrepresented in academia and included sessions to foster success as early-career researchers transition to faculty roles. For instance, speakers led sessions including Designing a Program of Research and Data Management and Sharing, and involve our group in the recording of a LIVE podcast episode hosted by developmental scientists.
Women's Young Investigator Fellowship
I led the Women's Young Investigator (WYI) Fellowship program which was funded by an internal grant from the WPI Women's Impact Network for four years to support women in STEM across all fields, from college freshmen to tenured faculty members, in a female research community.
STEM careers are known for being leaky pipelines and success for researchers lies in the ability to not just conduct great science but also share it with the broader research community. We aimed to stop the leaky pipeline by providing funds for women to disseminate their research at conferences in their field and by providing resources during our year-long program to help our fellows hone hard and soft skills as researchers through events such as professional development workshops and mentoring groups.
The impact of the WYI Fellowship was far-reaching, helping multiple students attend their first research conference with the provided funding and providing postdoctoral scientists and faculty members with opportunities to collaborate, disseminate and network at national and international conferences. From the four years of the program, the WYI Fellowship program supported 68 women as they represented WPI at 68+ research conferences, supporting the advancement of women in research at WPI in their careers and extending the impact of their work around the world.
LS&T Colloquium Series
Have you ever noticed that researchers, even in the same department, disagree on some fundamental points of their work? A few years ago, I realized that the theoretical and methodological perspectives held by one learning scientist would be completely contrary to the views of another. To encourage debate and a space for early researchers to form their own viewpoints, I started a program-wide series of brown bag discussions on hot topics in Learning Science research, fondly coined "LS & Beef".
Faculty, students, and postdocs at the LS & Beef sessions have tackled questions such as "What does Learning Sciences & Technologies even mean?", "Do you buy into the theory of embodied cognition?", "What should be the role of standardized assessments in education?" and "Is intelligence fixed?" and they are all still happily on speaking terms. Since the series of discussions was so well-received, I expanded the sessions to address topics such as "Going on the Academic Job Market" and "Open Science Practices", and to provide a space for program members to workshop job talks, presentations, and lightning talks with program-wide feedback.