|
My years in the graduate program in measurement,
evaluation, and statistical analysis at the University of Chicago
allowed me to study with scholars such as Benjamin S. Bloom, R. Darrell
Bock, and Benjamin Wright. There I developed my interest in the
relationships among cognition, instruction, and testing. Presently I am
pursuing that interest through research on cognitive diagnostic testing
and on the development of talents and gifts among students. The issue of
how research in cognition and testing can inform effective school
practice also interests me. My students and I are investigating various
topics in learning and cognition: (a) the assessment and development of
critical thinking skills among youth, college students, and other
adults; (b) the utility of origami and chess and other complex games on
the development of basic reasoning skills and scholastic achievement
levels among youth; and (c) the utilization of ideas from expertise
research in the enhancement of cognitive skills and scholastic
achievement levels among disadvantaged youth. I am also investigating
with one graduate student two specific topics in research methodology:
(a) statistically rigorous models for the analysis of item hierarchies,
and (b) statistically rigorous models for cognitive diagnostic testing.
I am a Fellow of the American Psychological Society.
I also coordinate the certificate program in
talent development and gifted
education.
Courses I teach
(all EPSY courses)
GC 1905—Chess and Critical Thinking
HCol 3101—Honors Colloquium: Critical Thinking
EPSY 3111W—Introduction to Critical Thinking
EPSY 3119/EDHD 5001—Learning, Cognition, and Assessment
EPSY 5101—Intelligence and Creativity
EPSY 5191—Education of the Gifted and Talented
EPSY 8111—Seminar: Human Expertise and Its Development
EPSY 8290—Special Topics: Seminar in Psychological Foundations
Selected publications
Yuzawa, M., Bart, W., & Yuzawa, M. (2000). Development of the ability
to judge relative areas: Role of the procedure of placing one object on
another. Cognitive Development, 15, 135-152. Yuzawa, M., & Bart, W. (2002). Young children’s learning of size
comparison
strategies: Effect of origami exercises. The Journal of Genetic
Psychology, 163, 459-478. Elbedour, S., Bart, W., & Hektner, J. (2003). Intelligence and family
marital structure: The case of adolescents from monogamous and
polygamous families among Bedouin Arabs in Israel. The Journal of
Social Psychology, 143(1), 95-110. Atherton, M., Zhuang, J., Bart, W., Hu, X. & He, S. (2003). Functional
MRI study of high-level cognition. I. The game of chess. Cognitive
Brain Research, 16, 26-31. Revised July 2004
|