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Polman, Joseph L

Associate Dean for Research

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Dr. Polman designs and studies project-based learning environments for youth and adults in schools and community-based programs. He focuses on learning and identity development of people engaged in practices of science, literacy, history, journalism, and data science. His research uses sociocultural lenses to focus on learning and identity development as young people participate in media construction related to their lives and communities. He seeks to identify and make accessible to young people practices from the disciplines and professions that they can find meaningful and transformative in their lives on an ongoing basis. An important goal of his research is informing the design of learning environments that involve people with powerful tools for democratic participation, in pursuing personal and civic action.

keywords

  • learning sciences, learning environment design, design-based research, identity development, science literacy, project-based learning

Publications

selected publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • EDUC 4112 - Adolescent Development and Learning for Teachers
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2024
    Examines current theory and research about adolescent learning and development and explore implications for secondary teaching. Topics include human diversity as a resource for learning, adversity and agency, connecting instruction to students' everyday lives, and the role of belonging and relationships in positive youth development. This course is appropriate for masters degree students. Degree credit not granted for this course and EDUC 5112.
  • EDUC 8348 - Human Development in Cultural, Historical, and Sociopolitical Contexts
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018
    This course takes a critical approach to exploring the moral, sociopolitical, and bio-psychosocial dimensions of human development. It will introduce students to different theories and methods for studying human development across the lifespan. Many traditional approaches to developmental research treat development in Western Educated Industrialized Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) contexts as normative for all populations. This course will focus on approaches that reject the notion that processes of human development are universal, examining the ways that social, cultural and geographic environments and histories shape development and life trajectories. Recommended prerequisite: EDUC 6318 or EDUC 8210 or instructor consent.
  • EDUC 8358 - Critical Introduction to Learning Theory and Practice, Part 1
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2021 / Fall 2023
    This course introduces historical and contemporary perspectives in the learning sciences. Areas of scholarship explored include cognition, behaviorism, and sociocultural approaches. Special attention is paid to the linked histories of these traditions in order to broadly explore what concepts are foundational for critical understanding of cultural, historical, social, embodied, and political aspects of learning. The course explores critiques of relevant fields while also exploring how new ideas and movements are generative for moving research and development toward liberatory aims. Recommended prerequisite: EDUC 6318 or EDUC 8210.
  • PSYC 4114 - Adolescent Development and Learning for Teachers
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2021
    Examines current theory and research about adolescent learning and development and explore implications for secondary teaching. Topics include human diversity as a resource for learning, adversity and agency, connecting instruction to students' everyday lives, and the role of belonging and relationships in positive youth development. This course is appropriate for masters degree students. Same as EDUC 4112 and EDUC 5112.

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