Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies in Education Hub
The members of the LSPSE Hub teach and research theories relevant to learning in formal and informal settings across the lifespan.
Our goal is to develop an in-depth understanding of how individuals and groups respond to educational processes such as instruction, curriculum, feedback, adult and peer interaction, and assessment processes, so that practical and effective improvements can be made by instructors and learners. The LSPSE hub works to advance psychological science by using or developing rigorous scientific research methods, such as experiments, surveys, tests, interviews, naturalistic and structured observations, and so on.
What we teach
Our hub teaches courses on educational psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and research methods. The courses we teach are largely within the BA Educational Studies programme and are available to Arts students or, in some cases, students taking psychology in the Faculty of Science. We also teach postgraduate courses in those areas.
The pathways we teach are outlined here:
| Pathway | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Postgraduate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developmental Psychology | 115 | 200, 221, 224 | 300, 352, 380 | 706, 742, 747 |
| Educational & Social Psychology | 121 | 223, 224, 283 | 316, 323, 351, 380 | 706, 738, 741, 755 |
*All courses are EDUC.
Who we are
LSPSE has psychologists who teach a wide range of psychological theories and methods. The hub also has affiliates who work in areas strongly related to LSPSE.
- The LSPSE Hub is led by Prof. Gavin T. L. Brown, who specialises in psychological research methods (particularly statistics and testing). His substantive research is on the cross-cultural psychological effects of assessment.
- Prof. Jason Stephens is an expert in academic motivation, moral functioning, and cheating behaviour.
- Assoc. Prof. Kane Meissel focuses on the implications of methodological decisions upon the conclusions being made. He is the Principal Investigator for the Our Voices study, an innovative large sample multimodal study partnering with the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort. His research uses reflective and nuanced critical quantitative methods, often drawing on longitudinal cohort data.
- Assoc Prof Pat Bullen leads our work on adolescent development and youth mentoring, is a member of the Adolescent Health Research Group, and co-leads the health and wellbeing aspect of the longitudinal survey study Growing Up in New Zealand.
- Dr Deb Widdowson is a specialist in developmental psychology.
- Dr Maree Davies teaches developmental psychology with a special focus on secondary schooling
- Dr Hilary Dutton specialises in youth and educational psychology, responsible for teaching social psychology.
- Dr Annaline Flint specialises in the area of teacher beliefs.
- Dr Georgia Rudd is a Research Fellow and specialises in educational psychology.
- Dr Shengnan Wang is a part-time Research Fellow in the Quantitative Data Analysis and Research (Quant-DARE) unit. Her interest is in teacher expectations.Her research focuses on teachers' beliefs and expectations for traditionally disadvantaged students, including those from ethnic minority and low-socioeconomic background.
Affiliated members:
- Assoc. Prof. Richard J. Hamilton, (retired) is an honorary academic specialising in cognitive psychology.
- Dr Penelope Watson (retired) is an honorary academic specialising in gender and social psychology.
- Dr Mohamed Alansari is an honorary academic and senior researcher at NZCER. His speciality is learning environments research.
- Ms. Sheryll McIntosh is a senior tutor providing tutoring and teaching in many of our courses.