Carolyn Berger, assistant teaching professor and program coordinator in the Department of Educational Psychology’s counseling and student personnel psychology program, was recently featured in the Star Tribune’s video series Tomorrow Together. In the video entitled “Graduating in a Pandemic,” Berger gave tips for new grads as well as their potential employers.
Look for Berger at the 3:29 and 7:19 minute marks.
Britta Bresina, a fourth year doctoral student in the special education program in the Department of Educational Psychology, has been awarded the Russell W. Burris Memorial Fellowship in Educational Psychology.
Bresina received the award for her excellence and leadership in research, both independently and in collaboration with faculty and peers. Bresina’s overarching research goal is to identify cognitive processes that underlie reading comprehension difficulties that many students with learning disabilities (LD) experience, and to use this information to develop ways to individualize and intensify instructional approaches to meet these students’ learning needs. She is also interested in supporting teachers’ implementation of high-quality instruction with fidelity.
For her MA thesis, Bresina examined extant data to determine the relative contributions of teacher knowledge and skills and fidelity of implementation of Data-Based Instruction (an approach to individualizing and intensifying intervention for students with significant learning needs) to children’s early writing progress.
Bresina has presented her work at national and international conferences, and has several manuscripts in progress, in press, or recently published.
Bresina’s advisor Kristen McMaster, Stern Family Professor of Reading Success and chair of the Department of Educational Psychology said, “Britta is a strong student who is highly respected by her peers for her leadership. She is a valuable asset to our department, and is a promising young scholar.”
The Russell W. Burris Memorial Fellowship was established in memory of Russell Burris, professor emeritus of educational psychology. Dr. Burris studied what and how we learn, in particular “expertness,” focusing on areas that included trial advocacy, clinical medicine, and art history.
Visit the University of Minnesota Foundation’s website to support students, like Britta Bresina, by donating to the Russell W. Burris Memorial Fellowship in Educational Psychology.
Panayiota Kendeou, Guy Bond Chair in Reading and professor in the Department of Educational Psychology’s psychological foundations of education program, shared expertise and held an on-camera focus group with KSTP Channel 5 News on misinformation (recorded prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic).
The KSTP News investigation, “Vaccinating Misinformation: Past outbreak highlights dangers of current ‘info-demic” aired May 11.
In the segment, Kendeou shares findings from her past research on misinformation around vaccines and autism–which she and her colleagues conducted at that Minnesota State Fair in 2016. Kendeou also leads the focus group through an exercise demonstrating how easy it is to be duped by misinformation.
Watch the KSTP segment here (Kendeou appears at the 2:40 minute mark.)
Kendeou and her research group recently published several papers on how to reduce vaccine misinformation and the role of language in effective communication, including an edited book on Misinformation and Fake News in Education.
Learn more about Kendeou’s research in the Reading + Language Lab.
Marguerite Ohrtman, director of school counseling, director of MA clinical training, and teaching assistant professor in the counseling and student personnel psychology program, was recently quoted in the Star Tribune article, “Minnesota high schools reimagine graduation ceremonies to honor students during pandemic.”
Ohrtman, who is also the president of the Minnesota School Counselors Association, told the paper students will be resilient. “I just think if they can get through a global pandemic then adulthood will be easy, right?” she said.
Bonnie Westby Huebner Chair Professor Sashank Varma is co-director of the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD’s) new Learning Informatics Lab. The lab will bring together researchers from across campus to collaborate on data-driven projects.
Ten presentations from members of the Reading and Language Lab were accepted to the 2020 American Psychological Association (APA) – Division 15 and the 2020 Society for Text and Discourse (ST&D) conferences. The APA – Division 15 conference is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C. August 8-11. This year’s ST&D conference has been canceled due to COVID-19.
The primary questions addressed in the Reading and Learning Lab concern the relations amongst language and memory, with a focus on understanding and improving learning. In addition to these core issues, the lab is also involved with the development and application of technology-based interventions and assessments. The lab is directed by Guy Bond Chair in Reading Professor Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou.
Orcutt, E., Kendeou, P., McMaster, K., & The TELCI Team (2020, August). Efficacy of Technology-Based Early Language Comprehension Intervention (TELCI) in Struggling Comprehenders. Poster to be presented to the American Psychological Association Convention (Division 15) in Washington, D.C.
*Butterfuss, R.,*Kim, J., McMaster, K. L., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Development and validation of the Minnesota Inference Assessment. Poster to be presented to the American Psychological Association Convention (Division 15) in Washington, D.C.
*Butterfuss, R., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Revising misconceptions with multiple documents. 2020 Society for Text & Discourse Annual Conference. (Conference canceled)
*Butterfuss, R., *Harsch, R., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Partisan patterns of belief in science and trust in sources. 2020 Society for Text & Discourse Annual Conference. (Conference canceled)
*Butterfuss, R., *Kim, J., McMaster, K. L., & Kendeou, P. (2020). The influence of question timing and executive function on inferencing instruction. 2020 Society for Text & Discourse Annual Conference. (Conference canceled)
*Choi, D., *Butterfuss, R., *Kim, J., McMaster, K., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Genre Differences in Inference Making. 2020 Society for Text and Discourse Annual Conference. (Conference canceled)
*Harsch, R., *Butterfuss, R., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Epistemic Beliefs, Language, and Sources: Interactive Effects on Belief and Trust of Scientific Information. 2020 Society for Text & Discourse Annual Conference. (Conference canceled)
*Kim, J., Orcutt, E., *Weiers, L., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Using refutation texts to reduce interference from misconceptions in future contexts. 2020 Society for Text and Discourse Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA. (Conference canceled)
*O’Brien, M., McMaster, K., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Response to the Technology-Based Early Language Comprehension Intervention (TeLCI): Race, Language, and SES Factors. 2020 Society for Text & Discourse Annual Conference. (Conference canceled)
Orcutt, E., *Butterfuss, R., McMaster, K. L., & Kendeou, P. (2020). Scaffolding inferences in kindergarten: The role of executive function and language comprehension. 2020 Society for Text & Discourse Annual Conference. (Conference canceled)
*Denotes current or past student.
Bold text denotes faculty member or researcher.
Eight presentations from the Minnesota Youth Development Research Group (MYDRG) have been accepted into the 2020 Conference of the International Test Commission (ITC). Originally scheduled for July 14-17 at the University of Luxembourg, potential options of postponement of the conference to a further date are currently in discussion.
MYDRG was initiated by Professor Michael C. Rodriguez, CEHD Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, Diversity, and International Initiatives and Campbell Leadership Chair in Education and Human Development, at the University of Minnesota in 2007. The group consists of faculty members, graduate students (many from the Department of Educational Psychology), and researchers from different institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
*Caesar, J., & Rodriguez, M.C. Different ways to demonstrate mathematics achievement growth: Best practices. Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
*Ihlenfeldt, S., *Lamm, R., & *Do, T. Measurement invariance of an international developmental assets measure: Alignment across and within geographical regions. Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
*Lamm, R. Sensitivity analysis of the multigroup alignment method using the Developmental Assets Profile. Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Paixao, R. Construction and validation of the Evaluation Use Scale for Evaluation Systems (EUS-ES). Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Rodriguez, M.C. The International Developmental Asset Profile (iDAP) and social & emotional learning framework. Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
*Smith, M. Using psychometric models to scale social and emotional learning constructs. Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
*Smith, M., *Miranda, A., & Rodriguez, M.C. Investigating the multidimensionality of cultural resiliency in a multicultural environment. Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Zhao, Q., & Li, J., & Rodriguez, M.C. Comprehensive partitioning of students’ commitment to learning variance: Research on race groups in Minnesota Student Survey. Paper to be presented at the biennial conference of the International Testing Commission, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
*Denotes current or former student.
Bold font denotes Department of Educational Psychology faculty or researcher.
Amanda L. Sullivan, Birkmaier Educational Leadership Professor and coordinator of the school psychology program recently coauthored, Coping with COVID-19 As An Early Career Scholar (Part I) with Lindsay M. Fallon of the University of Massachusetts – Boston. This is the latest entry in the blog for the Early Career Forum, an organization co-founded and chaired by Sullivan with sponsorship from the Society for the Study of School Psychology to address the professional development needs of early career scholars in school psychology and related fields. This month’s post addresses the challenges this pandemic poses for early career scholars’ wellness, teaching, and research, and offers recommendations for going forward in this uncertain context.
Sullivan also spearheaded, with collaborator Bryn Harris of the University of Colorado – Denver, crowdsourcing of teaching resources, guest speakers, and administrator resources to help school psychology faculty nationally adjust to the rapid shift to online instruction and fieldwork.
Maya Benford, student in the Department of Educational Psychology’s counseling and student personnel psychology (CSPP) program, received the Potential School Counselor of the Year Award for 2020 by the Minnesota School Counselor Association.
Benford was selected from graduate students across the state for having the most potential as a school counselor. This is the fifth CSPP student selected in the past six years.
The University of Minnesota’s Department of Educational Psychology (Ed Psych) continues its rise on the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools Rankings.
Ed Psych has three programs among the top 10 in the nation on the 2021 list. Educational psychology, as a whole, rose in the rankings from number 10 last year to number nine this year. Special education, which has held a top-10 spot for several years, continued its tradition also placing ninth this year. Counseling and student personnel psychology leaped four spots to land at 10th place.
The Department of Educational Psychology is part of the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) which was rated the 13th best public education graduate school in the nation. In U.S. News & World Report’s entire list of 255 schools, CEHD placed 22nd overall. Rankings are based on student selectivity, faculty resources, and research activity, as well as from assessments by peers and educational professionals.
The American Psychological Association (APA) recently interviewed Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou, Guy Bond Chair in Reading and professor in the Department of Educational Psychology’s psychological foundations of education program. The Editor Spotlight introduces Kendeou as incoming editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology.
For more information on Kendeou’s bio and research, visit her Reading + Learning Lab site.
The 20th Annual Educational Psychology Graduate Student Research Day (GSRD) was held on February 28, 2020 to celebrate outstanding student accomplishments in research. GSRD provides an opportunity for graduate students to present their research and to be recognized by peers and faculty.
The event took place in the Mississippi Room in Coffman Memorial Union and featured four student research paper presentations and 23 posters on display with students available for Q&A. Faculty, peers, alumni, and prospective students were able to walk around and learn more about the variety of research taking place within the department. Following the event, the department hosted a reception for presenters and attendees at the Campus Club.
GSRD is a well-attended and well-recognized event at the University of Minnesota, and the Department of Educational Psychology continues to be pleased with the excellent work students produce on their research accomplishments.
View the 2020 GSRD program for more information on presentation and program topics.
Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou, Guy Bond Chair in Reading and professor in the Department of Educational Psychology’s psychological foundations of education program, has been named a fellow by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
Kendeou was nominated by her peers and selected by AERA for her notable and sustained research achievements. She will be inducted April 18 during the 2020 AERA Annual Meeting in San Fransisco, California.
For more information on Kendeou’s research, visit her Reading + Learning Lab site.
Faculty, researchers, and graduate students from the College of Education and Human Development’s Department of Educational Psychology (Ed Psych) and Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I)—as well as the American Indian Studies Department (AIS) in the College of Liberal Arts—will present at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), June 19-23 in Nashville, Tennessee. ICLS brings together researchers focused on issues of learning, with a special interest in work that highlights the sociopolitical dimensions of learning and social justice.
Bye, J. K., Chuang, P.-J., Anthony, L. E., & Cheng, P. W. (accepted). Teaching the purpose and meaning of algebraic variables through systems-of-equations story problems: Multimedia approaches. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Chen, B., Shui, H., & Haklev, S. (accepted). Designing orchestration support for collaboration and knowledge flows in a knowledge community. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Chen, B., Chang, Y.-H., & Groos, D. (accepted). Bridging public discourse and knowledge building discourse in science classrooms with the IdeaMagnets tool. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Contreas, E., Varma, K., Student Voice and Student Choice: Middle School Science Teachers Foster Identity Using a Social Learning Environment. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
DeLiema, D., & Dahn, M. (accepted). Envisioning debugging cultures at the intersection of emotion, problem solving, and identity: Portraits of three girl coders. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Elliott, C. H., Radke, S., DeLiema, D., Silvis, D., Vogelstein, L. (accepted). Whose video?: Surveying implications for participants’ engagement in video recording practices in ethnographic research. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
DeLiema, D., Sharma, G., Valerie, J., Cabrera, A., & Smith, S. (accepted). Temporal and geographical features of programming substrates: Navigating code structure, behavior, and function during debugging. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Fong, M., Aalst, O. W-V., Flood, V., & DeLiema, D. (accepted). When features become bugs: Stance-taking around refactoring in a coding classroom. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Marin, A., Halle-Erby, K., McDaid-Morgan, N., Meixi., Collins, C., Booker, A., Bang, M. (accepted). Ethics and Researcher Learning. [Symposia] Deepening perceptions of learning: Studying and designing ethical practice with researchers, teachers and learners. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Meixi. & Elliot-Groves, E (accepted). Storywork with homelands towards families’ collective continuance. [Symposia] The power of storytelling and storylistening for human learning and becoming. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Meixi. (accepted). Stories, social dreaming, and collectivizing teacher education towards family futures. [Symposia] Taking on the Task of Reimagining Teacher Education: Positioning Teachers as Emergent Learning Scientists within Complex Political and Ethical Ecologies. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Meixi., Rincón-Gallardo, S., Elox, M.J., (accepted) Movements within the poetic and the political: Stories of everyday collective action within Tutoría networked communities of learners. [Symposia]Global Perspectives on Social Movement Collective Action as Learning. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Ouyang, F., Chang, Y.-H., & Scharber, C. (accepted). Can an instructor and students build collaborative partnership in an online course. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Tzou, C., Meixi., Starks, E., Peterson, S., Ramayon, A., Braun, A., Ortiz, S.M., Bell, P., Bang, M.,(accepted). TechTales: Supporting the Centering of Family Stories in Family Engineering Learning. [Symposia] Exploring the Dynamics and Potentials of Reimagining and Engaging Intergenerational Learning. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Valerie, J., Aylward, G., Varma, K. (accepted) I solved it! Using the Rubik’s Cube to Support Mental Rotation in a Middle School Science Classroom. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Varma, K., Contreas, E., Loiselle, T., Rohloff, C., Lopez, I, Bullard, S., Simpson, L., & Abdi, A. (accepted). Creating Equitable Connected Learning Experiences for Teachers, Students, and Parents. In the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Nashville: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Bold text denotes University of Minnesota faculty or researcher.
Professor Clayton Cook, John W. and Nancy E. Peyton Faculty Fellow in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing in the Department of Educational Psychology, and his colleagues from the University of Washington recently received a four year, $3.6 million grant by the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) to study the effects of trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT) in schools.
The researchers will examine the effects of an implementation strategy designed to improve the adoption and delivery of a TF-CBT by school mental health professionals.
According to Cook, co-principal investigator on the project, “We aim to address the longstanding science-to-practice gap that prevents youth from accessing needed, high quality mental services.”
Department of Educational Psychology’s special education program faculty, staff, and students participated in the Association of College Educators – Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACEDHH) conference in Atlanta, February 13-15.
Brynn Roemen, PhD student, presented “Educational Apps in American Sign Language (ASL): What’s out there and what’s needed in 2020.”
Susan Rose, PhD, emeritus faculty member, presented “Data Based Practices: The Avenue to Student Success.”
Debbie Golos, PhD, associate professor, played a part in several presentations during the conference.
In addition to presenting and attending the main event, Golos; Janet Caven, instructor; and Roemen also participated in the preconference on bilingual education.
This post was originally published on the Improving Campus Climate Blog.
As part of the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) First Year Experience program, all first-year students take a First-Year Inquiry (FYI) course addressing the shared question: “How can one person make a difference?” Associate Professor Rose Vukovic, Department of Educational Psychology, asked students in her Fall 2019 FYI course to examine data from the 2018 Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey. Survey responses showed first-generation students and students of color felt less valued at the U of M Twin Cities than other students. Vukovic’s students, in their first semester of their first year of college, wrote essays reflecting on the survey results and how non-marginalized students can help make campus a more inclusive place to live and learn. Below are excerpts from student response essays, published with their permission.
Joseph Rios, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology’s quantitative methods in education program, has been awarded $10,000 to study if instructor and course evaluations can predict whether or not science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students continue with their academic major.
Rios received the funding from Bluenotes Group to support his research. The funding will be used to support data collection from January 2020 to May/June 2020. Rios will present his findings at the Bluenotes Group Global 2020 conference in Chicago, August 2 through 5, 2020.
Faith Miller, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology’s school psychology program, has been named associate editor for School Psychology.
A publication of the American Psychological Association, Division 16 (School Psychology), School Psychology has the second highest impact factor in the field of school psychology and is ranked 17 out of 59 of all journals in the psychology-education category.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Miller on her new leadership role in the field!
Tayler Loiselle began her undergraduate career in 2012 as a student in the Institute of Child Development’s child psychology program, now known as the developmental psychology program. She recalls, “At the time, I wanted to become a school counselor.”
But as she delved deeper into CEHD’s offerings, other areas beckoned. While pursuing her major in child psychology, Loiselle began working in Professor Albert Yonas’ lab in the Institute of Child Development (ICD) where she studied vision and perception development in humans. She enjoyed conducting research and sought out additional opportunities to apply research to help students in the classroom. It was then she met Keisha Varma, associate vice provost for Equity and Diversity and associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology (Ed Psych), and began working on a second research project studying the relationship between scientific reasoning ability, executive function, and motivation in middle school students.
Today, Loiselle’s career goals look a bit different. She’s currently a PhD student in Ed Psych studying with Varma and plans to continue working in community-engaged research—with a focus on education—after graduation. As a graduate student, Loiselle has had the opportunity to work with Varma’s ESPRIT Project, a National Science Foundation-funded project dedicated to fostering more equitable sciences practice in middle school classrooms by including parents in students’ learning. Her latest research is with the Institute on Community Integration’s (ICI) TIES Center.
The TIES Center is a National Technical Assistance Center on Inclusive Practices and Policies based out of ICI’s National Center on Educational Outcomes. Similar to Project ESPRIT, the TIES Center works with families, communities, and educational leaders. Loiselle is working with ICI researchers Sheryl Lazarus and Terri Vandercook on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education to increase time, instructional effectiveness, engagement, and state support for inclusive practices for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Through her research experiences in CEHD, Loiselle has learned that researchers working with schools must strive to build authentic connections and trust between students, teachers, parents, and administrators in order to make meaningful and sustainable changes. Much like the work of school counselors, which is what initially brought her to CEHD.
“It’s an invaluable research philosophy I will carry into my future research projects and career,” she says.
This story was originally written for CEHD Connect Magazine.
