Friday, Feb. 22, 2019
Join us to share and discuss the teaching of psychology. We are honored to have David Myers and Tesia Marshik as part of our day.
Thinking Smart in a Post Truth Age
David Myers will give examples of popular and potent false beliefs, and will explain how such come to be. He will also examine possible biases—and successful remedies for such.
Social psychologist David Myers is a communicator of psychological science to college students and the general public. His scientific writings, supported by National Science Foundation grants and fellowships, have appeared in three dozen academic periodicals, including Science, the American Scientist, the American Psychologist, and Psychological Science. David has digested psychological research for the public through articles in four dozen magazines, from Scientific American to Christian Century, and through seventeen books, including general interest books and textbooks. His research and writings have been recognized by the Gordon Allport Prize, by an "honored scientist" award from the Federation of Associations in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences, by the Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Personality-Social Psychology, and by three honorary doctorates.
“Why don’t they learn?!” Overcoming misinformation and resistance to change in education
Many common beliefs about teaching and learning are not actually supported by scientific evidence. Moreover, these beliefs are stubbornly resistant to change. In my talk, this session, participants will be encouraged to reflect on and re-examine some of their own beliefs about effective instructional practices. We will discuss some of the most prevalent myths in education and explore the underlying reasons for their persistence, including natural cognitive limitations and biases that make it difficult for people to change their beliefs. Finally, we will discuss strategies for overcoming these limitations, both as educators and learners.
Tesia Marshik is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where she teaches educational psychology, motivation, and developmental psychology courses. Her research primarily focuses on understanding contextual and social-cognitive influence on students’ and teachers’ motivation and performance. Most recently, she has been actively involved in AAACU’s “Re-Imagining the First Year” initiative, where she co-developed and implemented mindset and belonging interventions aimed at improving success rates of first-year students, particularly those who have historically been underserved by higher education. She also uses her teaching and research expertise to debunk pseudoscience, explore how cognitive limitations and biases make people resistant to change, and examine strategies to promote open-mindedness, critical self-reflection, and information literacy. She is actively engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning and served as a University of Wisconsin System Teaching Fellow in 2014. She has been recruited for a number of local, national, and international speaking engagements, both inside and outside of higher education, and enjoys making psychological research accessible and relevant to different populations. She resides in La Crosse, WI with her husband, two kids, and giant doofus dog.