Gale M. Sinatra is an American educational psychologist known for her leadership and research on climate science education,education psychology,and enhancing the public's interest of science. She was instrumental in developing the conceptual change learning model. [1] Sinatra is a distinguished professor of Psychology and the Stephen H. Crocker Chair of Education at the University of Southern California (USC). She is the Chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) Climate Change Task Force [2] and previously served as the President and Editor of APA's Division 15 journal,Educational Psychology. In 2022,Sinatra was awarded the Membership in the National Academy of Education,an award for researchers who have advanced policy and practice in their research. [3]
Sinatra received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts (UMASS) in 1981 and during her time at UMASS,she was elected president of Psi Chi,the undergraduate honor society in psychology. [4] As an undergraduate,she was a project coordinator for UMASS's National Evaluation System based on the development and administration of teacher certification examinations and assessments. She continued her education,studying psychology at UMASS,and completed her Master of Science and PhD in Psychology with a minor in Educational Measurement in 1989. As a graduate student,Sinatra was supervised by Dr. James M. Royer, [5] where her dissertation focused primarily on the effectiveness of a computer-based assessment system called the System for the Assessment of Reading Competencies,designed to measure reading ability. [6] After graduation,Sinatra was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Isabel Beck at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center. Her early work with Dr. Beck focused on how text coherence influences students' reading comprehension in content areas. [7] Sinatra continued this work when she joined the faculty of the University of Utah from 1991 to 2000,where she was an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology,earning her a starter grant on techniques of decoding instructions in children's reading,and later became the Director of Assessment of the Utah Reading Center.
After nine years of researching with the Department of Educational Studies at the University of Utah,in 2000,Sinatra became an associate research professor of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Nevada,Las Vegas (UNLV). Along with researching about conceptual change,she was on various UNVL's committees of Faculty Senate,Graduate College,University Assessment,and President's advisory (to name a few). In 2005,UNLV appointed her as Professor of Educational Psychology and was the first faculty member of the College of Education to be awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Synthesis Grant to investigate the challenges of learning and teaching biological evolution in educational settings. [8]
In 2011,Sinatra was a visiting professor at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California (USC) and USC promoted her rapidly to full professor in 2012,Associate Dean for Research in 2016,and Distinguished Professor in 2024. She has taught seminars in psychology and education on topics such as cognitive development,human learning and development while supervising students who have gone to become professors at universities across the United States. [9] As a result of her contributions in teaching,she was awarded as a recipient of the USC Undergraduate Teaching Award. [10] Sinatra has also committed to USC's university service by being chair or member of various committees focusing on sustainability education,academic programming,and provost's office. [11] She also directs the Motivated Change Research Lab,contributing to research on cognitive and motivational learning in STEM along with concentrations in climate science and evolution education. The Motivated Change Research Lab has received multiple honors and citations in the realm of psychology and education including the recipient of the USC Rossier School of Education Excellence in Research Award.
Sinatra has been a featured speaker at multiple national research conferences,including the annual Research for Impact Conference at USC,the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, [12] and Philosophy,Politics,and Economics (PPE) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also an author and co-author in prominent research journals and books in education psychology,including a recent book with fellow colleague and psychologist,Dr. Barbara Hofer from Middlebury College:Science Denial:Why it Happens and What to Do About It (2023), [13] published by Oxford University Press. Other co-author publications,involving the APA educational psychology handbook,Vol 1:Theories,constructs,and critical issues (2012), [14] and Intentional conceptual change (2003). [15]
Sinatra is interested in the challenges of defining and measuring student engagement,a factor associated with outcomes and perseverance in science,technology,engineering,and mathematics (STEM) fields. Sinatra and her colleagues explored in The Challenges of Defining and Measuring Student Engagement in Science [16] , how engagement is often described as "the holy grail" of student learning,comprising of cognitive/metacognitive,behavioral,and emotional components of engagement. However,Sinatra determined that these components or engagement dimensions in traditional assessments are difficult in determining cognitive/metacognitive engagement due to frequent overlapping. Sinatra's work emphasized motivation and positive emotional factors are associated with deep engagement and conceptual change in STEM learning. Sinatra and her colleagues implied the importance of engagement in STEM in order to diversify expanding careers that are science or STEM related fields. This edition gathers research from either person-oriented with science to context oriented approaches,aligning with Sinatra's goal of exploring how individual motivations and the learning environment can enhance STEM literacy and learning among student learners.
Sinatra's work on conceptual change is a term that cognitive psychologists use to discover how students can develop and understand concepts that can be both the process and outcome of change. That is,Sinatra's work on conceptual change explores how students' modify these concepts,concentrating on both the process and result in meaning. In her early work,Cognitive Reconstruction of Knowledge Model, [17] she discusses how multi-perspective across disciplines of science education and social/cognitive psychology can be integrated in conceptual change. Sinatra's model further examines how active and hands-on levels of engagement through classroom activities are important for conceptual change as students are able to develop and work with new ideas and beliefs,resulting in meaningful learning of scientific concepts. Oregon State University discussed with Sinatra her perspectives on the development of the model as well as conceptual change:"We also looked at social psychological models of persuasion and attitude change because it was suggested to us that was relevant,and we put all of that together with our own ideas and came up with our own model,and our goal was really to incorporate more motivational aspects of conceptual change learning." [18]
Sinatra collaborated with Dr. Barbara Hofer on an edition of Public Understanding of Science:Policy and Educational Implications, [19] discussing how communities distrust and are skeptical of scientific concepts and what methods scientists can use to ensure that there is open concept and accessibility of science. In this issue,Sinatra and Hofer argue that the public becomes distrustful based on scientists not disseminating scientific methods of inquiry,and journalists present limiting evidence in their source,increasing skepticism. However,they emphasize about educational policies are now exploring students on "how to think,over what to think,”such as Next Generation Science Standards, [20] which can increase knowledge and support. Both call for better responsibility in both educational and media in order to gain public trust in scientific areas as discussed in this policy discussion [21] "...but what we need to do is help scientists,as psychologists who understand interpersonal relationships and communications as well as anyone,we as psychologists need to help scientists understand their audience,understand how to communicate to their audience,and to appreciate words like uncertain and theory." [22]
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes,from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives,allows researchers to understand individual differences in intelligence,cognitive development,affect,motivation,self-regulation,and self-concept,as well as their role in learning. The field of educational psychology relies heavily on quantitative methods,including testing and measurement,to enhance educational activities related to instructional design,classroom management,and assessment,which serve to facilitate learning processes in various educational settings across the lifespan.
Albert Bandura was a Canadian-American psychologist. He was a professor of social science in psychology at Stanford University.
Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student;this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning,which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.
Learning styles refer to a range of theories that aim to account for differences in individuals' learning. Although there is ample evidence that individuals express personal preferences on how they prefer to receive information,few studies have found validity in using learning styles in education. Many theories share the proposition that humans can be classified according to their "style" of learning,but differ on how the proposed styles should be defined,categorized and assessed. A common concept is that individuals differ in how they learn.
This is an index of education articles.
Diane F. Halpern is an American psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association (APA). She is Dean of Social Science at the Minerva Schools at KGI and also the McElwee Family Professor of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College. She is also a former president of the Western Psychological Association,The Society for the Teaching of Psychology,and the Division of General Psychology.
Patricia A. Alexander is an educational psychologist who has conducted notable research on the role of individual difference,strategic processing,and interest in students' learning. She is currently a university distinguished professor,Jean Mullan Professor of Literacy,and Distinguished Scholar/Teacher in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology in the College of Education at the University of Maryland and a visiting professor at the University of Auckland,New Zealand.
Martha W. Alibali is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Psychology and Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,and an investigator at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Harold O'Neil is an American psychologist.
Conceptual change is the process whereby concepts and relationships between them change over the course of an individual person's lifetime or over the course of history. Research in four different fields –cognitive psychology,cognitive developmental psychology,science education,and history and philosophy of science - has sought to understand this process. Indeed,the convergence of these four fields,in their effort to understand how concepts change in content and organization,has led to the emergence of an interdisciplinary sub-field in its own right. This sub-field is referred to as "conceptual change" research.
Donna Wilson is an educational and school psychologist,teacher educator,and author of 20 books applying mind,brain,and education science. Wilson is the head of academic affairs of the Center for Innovative Education and Prevention (CIEP) and BrainSMART. She presents at educational conferences in the United States and internationally and blogs regularly on Edutopia. She serves as advisor to New York City's Portfolio School and on the foundation of Carl Albert State College.
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) was developed in 1993 by Dr. John T. Guthrie with a team of elementary teachers and graduate students. The project designed and implemented a framework of conceptually oriented reading instruction to improve students' amount and breadth of reading,intrinsic motivations for reading,and strategies of search and comprehension. The framework emphasized five phases of reading instruction in a content domain:observing and personalizing,searching and retrieving,comprehending and integrating,communicating to others,and interacting with peers to construct meaning. CORI instruction was contrasted to experience-based teaching and strategy instruction in terms of its support for motivational and cognitive development.
Steve Joordens is a Canadian psychologist who is professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He teaches introductory psychology and a seminar course on the scientific study of conscious and unconscious influences. Joordens research areas include conscious and unconscious influences,memory,and the effective use of technology for education.
The Educational Psychologist is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Routledge on behalf of Division 15 of the American Psychological Association. It was established in 1963 and the current co-editors are Jeffrey A. Greene and Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia. The journal publishes conceptual,theoretical,and review articles,rather than empirical studies,on all aspects of educational psychology and learning in formal and informal educational environments.
Michelene (Micki) T. H. Chi is a cognitive and learning scientist known for her work on the development of expertise,benefits of self-explanations,and active learning in the classroom. Chi is the Regents Professor,Dorothy Bray Endowed Professor of Science and Teaching at Arizona State University,where she directs the Learning and Cognition Lab.
James W. Stigler is an American psychologist,researcher,entrepreneur and author. He is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at University of California,Los Angeles and a Fellow of the Precision Institute at National University,San Diego.
Richard Francis Gunstone is an Australian academic and researcher. He is the Emeritus Professor of Science and Technology Education at Monash University. He has authored or co-authored 8 books along with various monographs and chapters and has published over a hundred research papers. He has coedited 6 books providing reports of contemporary research in a particular area of science education. His principle research areas include teaching,curriculum,assessment,teacher development,science,physics and engineering.
Brendesha Marie Tynes is an American psychologist who is a professor of Psychology and Education at the USC Rossier School of Education. Her research considers how young people engage with social media,and how this influences their socioeconomic and academic outcomes. Tynes is principal investigator on the Teen Life Online and in Schools Project,which studies race-related cyberbullying.
Epistemic cognition,sometimes known as epistemological beliefs,or personal epistemology,is "cognition about knowledge and knowing",an area of research in the learning sciences and educational psychology. Research into epistemic cognition investigates people's beliefs regarding the characteristics of knowledge and knowing—as distinct from thinking or believing in general—and the impact of this on learning.
Cindy Esther Hmelo-Silver is a learning scientist and expert on problem-based learning,collaborative learning,the use of video for learning,and complex systems understanding. She is a Distinguished Professor of Learning Sciences,Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology,and the Associate Dean for Research and Development at Indiana University Bloomington. She is co-Principal Investigator and Education Research Lead of the EngageAI Institute,which conducts research on narrative-centered learning technologies and collaborative learning.