Teaching Educational Psychology Through Student-Made Representations: How Material Tools Can Support the Development of Student Understanding

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: Representations as Pedagogical Tools in Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

This project explores the value of students creating material representations of academic content in an educational psychology course. The data I present includes students explaining their beliefs about the “role of others in real learning” by using artifacts they created out of printed copies of a course text and other artistic resources. These representations depict connections the students have made between prior knowledge (and experiences) and concepts in the text. I primarily use a sociocultural lens, especially Etienne Wenger’s dialectic of participation and reification, to explore how students negotiate meaning between prior and new knowledge/experiences. Through this presentation, I hope to provide instructors with strategies for supporting student understanding of key psychological ideas in their own classrooms.

Author

• Kendall Becherer, University of Washington - Seattle