Sonja Wiedenhaupt, Member of the Faculty, Master in Teaching – The Evergreen State College

 

I came to Evergreen as a psychologist with a particular interest in learning and motivation. For the last fifteen years, I’ve been teaching in the Masters in Teaching program. This two-year coordinated studies learning community and K-12 teacher certification program integrates themes of democracy, multicultural and equity-minded perspectives, and developmentally appropriate teaching practices.

I have also developed and taught in a range of undergraduate interdisciplinary programs including Health and Human Development, a program that used biology, psychology, anthropology, and intercultural communication as tools for learning about physiological and psychological development in a cultural context; Reinhabitation, a first-year program that used psychology, field natural history, and community service to investigate the question of what it means to be an inhabitant in a community; Waste and Want: The Psychology, Business and Science of Consumption, a first-year program designed to investigate the nature, influences and impacts of consumption; Climate Change: Action and Influence, a program that examined the scientific global warming data and explored the psychological factors that made climate change a contested issue.

I teach and work to refine in my own practice in the following areas, including how to:

• use the principles of learning to inform instructional decision making;
• structure opportunities for metacognition that support motivation and learning;
• structure group work and dialogue to promote inquiry and interdependence; and
• engage inquiry oriented critical reflection.