Teaching

I teach psychology courses that deal with culture, identity, and education. I also teach introduction to research methods. Across all these classes, my hope is to co-build a learning setting with students that inspires us to ask critical questions about and to act upon the world around us. 

Check out these courses and others in the Psychology Department on this website.

PSYC 100: Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology

Lower-division, Active learning lecture, Discussion Sections

How do psychologists know what they know? Why is it important to understand how social scientists conduct research? How will research methods help me become a more critical thinker and consumer of information in both psychology and in the real world? How can I use research as a tool for social change? The course is intended to review how research is conducted in psychology and to review the importance and relevance of thinking critically about psychological research. You will learn how to read about research—to understand it, learn from it, and ask appropriate questions about it. You will also be exposed to many pivotal, classical, and creative studies in various fields of psychology. In the end, the goal is to sharpen the way you think about information and, for those who are interested, how to apply that knowledge toward social change. As a course that relies heavily on student engagement and active learning, my goal is to give plenty of opportunity to practice the course material individually and in community with others.

By engaging fully in assignments and class exercises, you should achieve the following learning goals:

• Examine information from academic journals, popular media, and other technology (e.g., ChatGPT) with a critical eye

• Discriminate between different research methods and discuss the pros and cons of each

• Become familiar with the standard ethical guidelines for conducting research in psychology 

• Evaluate when it is appropriate to generalize from the results of a study

• Apply course concepts and materials to real-world issues that matter to you and to your communities

• Utilize PsycINFO (and other tools) to search for and synthesize existing literature

• Interpret, analyze, and discuss scholarly readings

• Produce new knowledge by conducting participatory research 

• Write in APA-style and engage in the revision process 

• Translate scholarly findings into accessible writing for diverse audiences

PSYC 159R: Achievement Disparities: A Social Psychological Perspective

Upper-division, Senior seminar, No discussion sections 

U.S. classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse, yet achievement gaps persist across all levels of education.  An achievement gap refers to a significant and persistent disparity in educational performance or attainment between different social groups (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, and social class). In this course, we explore contributing factors to the achievement gap and discuss research-based strategies to alleviate the gap for various groups. But, more importantly, we discuss why the concept of the achievement gap is problematic to start, why a narrow focus on achievement remains important in topics of conversation in U.S. schools, and how scholars are pushing to reimagine other ways to think about student success.

While the course will draw on work from education, sociology, and anthropology, the main perspective will highlight social-cultural psychological theory and research. The course is designed to help students develop an in-depth understanding of structural issues in inequity in education and to begin a conversation about changing persisting patterns in and narratives about achievement in the U.S.

By engaging fully in the course, you will achieve the following learning goals:

• Connect and collaborate with a peer learning community

• Gain an in-depth understanding on at least one example of an achievement gap

• Apply course concepts and materials to real-world issues that matter to you and to your communities

• Begin to understand achievement disparities from a social psychological perspective

• Organize and deliver in-class presentations with a peer team

• Write a APA-style scholarly paper and incorporate critical feedback

• Interpret, analyze, and discuss scholarly readings

• Utilize PsycINFO to search existing literature

PSYC 140F: Mind, Society, and Culture

Upper-division, Lecture, Discussion sections 

What is culture? How does culture influence our daily experiences and lives? To what extent are our ways of thinking and being common to people around the world or unique to our social, cultural, and historical contexts? In this course, we explore how culture influences human thought, perception, motivation, values and meaning systems, and behavior. We will answer these questions using social psychological, cultural psychological, anthropological, and sociological approaches. The course is designed to help students learn about the importance of paying attention to culture and of developing cultural competency in your everyday endeavors in school, at home, in relationships, and at work

PSYC 213: Student Achievement and the Culture Cycle

Graduate-level, Seminar-style

Students are shaped by and conversely shape the larger educational contexts in which they participate. This is known as the Culture Cycle, which is composed of four features: ideas, institutions, interactions, and individuals. Specifically, the Culture Cycle allows us to examine how cultural ideas about who is a “good” student inform policies and practices in academic institutions, and how these subsequently shape the daily interactions between teachers, parents, and students, and finally, how these interactions inform individual learning and performance. In this course, explore and review social-psychological research in education from a culture cycle perspective. Using a cultural framework allows us to take a holistic view of student achievement and reminds us that to influence the student experience in a meaningful way, we must change the cultural features of our learning environments.