Dr. Sharon Derry

Sharon Derry, Ph.D.
Professor

Learning Sciences
PhD, 1982, University of Illinois

Sharon Derry is Professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Science and a Project Director in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her PhD is in Educational Psychology with specialties in cognition, instruction, and research/evaluation methods. Dr. Derry’s research on socio-technical environments for learning promotes innovation and advances theory at the intersection of education, cognitive science, and technology. Her work is widely published and has been generously supported by federal and foundation funding.

Dr. Derry’s early research on learning and problem-solving strategies included development of a cognitive tutor for adult basic mathematics ( TiPS), which was implemented in community college and military settings and led to new understandings of adult basic-skills learners, new computational strategies for student modeling, and new approaches to video-based instruction.

Her program on interdisciplinary collaboration produced analyses of scientists and educational researchers working together within the National Institute for Science Education and inspired the theme for an annual national meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, which Dr. Derry co-chaired. A recently-published edited volume, Interdisciplinary Collaboration: An Emerging Cognitive Science, was based on this work.

Helping teachers develop usable professional knowledge in foundational subjects such as cognitive science, and in domain subjects such as algebra, is a major focus of Dr. Derry’s recent research. The theory of transfer evolved through this work has led to a design approach and supporting web-based tool (STELLAR) for creating, managing, and studying online learning environments. In STELLAR courses, students integrate collaborative design projects with study of text and video cases. In addition to empirical evidence supporting the theory, the STELLAR project has produced a body of online materials and collaborative activities for helping teachers develop usable knowledge about the science of learning.

Dr. Derry has earned early-career awards from Florida State University and the American Psychological Association, and a Vilas award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She serves on numerous editorial boards and her publications appear in major journals of educational research, including the American Educational Research Journal, Journal of Educational Psychology, and Review of Educational Research, in addition to many technology journals, conference proceedings, and edited volumes.

RESEARCH STATEMENT

I love cycling. I also have an advanced beginner’s enthusiasm for Nordic skiing. How is this relevant to my research? The biking and skiing communities to which I belong are examples of technology-enhanced communities of interest (COIs). CoIs are fascinating models for lifelong learning that colleagues and I are exploring through design-based research. We seek practical theories and visions for an educational future in which working, living and learning are creatively interrelated. Our work challenges forms of traditional schooling that do not meet changing needs and promote quality of life in a rapidly evolving global and technological society.

STELLARLab

TEACHING STATEMENT

My subject is the learning sciences, current research and theory about how students learn and develop in educational settings, and how to design technology-rich environments that engage and facilitate learners. My courses are for future and current mathematics and science teachers and are based on the belief that teaching should be an active, reflective process of design, not a passive implementation of curriculum. I want to help make the learning sciences interesting and useful to teachers as a foundation for their lifelong professional development.

Human Abilities & Learning: Section for Mathematics and Science Secondary Teachers (EP 301)
Study of Teaching: Understanding and Developing Students Algebraic Thinking (EP 708 )

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

Publications available at: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/stellar/res_pubs.htm

Derry , S. J. & Lesgold, A. (1996). Toward a situated social practice model of instructional design. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds.) Handbook of Educational Psychology (pp. 787-806) New York: Macmillan.

Derry , S. J., & Potts, M. K. (1998). How tutors model students: A study of personal constructs in adaptive tutoring. American Educational Research Journal, 35, 65-101.

Derry , S. J., DuRussel, L. A. & O'Donnell, A. (1998). Individual and distributed cognitions in interdisciplinary teamwork: A developing case study and emerging theory. Educational Psychology Review, 10, 25-57

Derry , S. J., Gance, S. P., Gance, L.L., & Schlager, M. (2000). Toward assessment of knowledge building practices in technology-mediated work group interactions. In S. Lajoie (Ed.) Computers as Cognitive Tool s II (pp. 29-28). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Derry , S. J., Levin, J. R., Osana, H., Jones, M. S, & Peterson, M. (2000). Fostering students’ statistical and scientific thinking: Lessons learned from an innovative college course. American Educational Research Journal, 37, 747-773.

Atkinson, R., Derry, S. J., Renkl, A. & Wortham, D. (2000). Learning from examples: Instructional principles from the worked examples research. Review of Educational Research, 70, 181-214.

Steinkuehler, C. A., Derry, S. J., Hmelo-Silver, C. E., & DelMarcelle, M. (2002). Cracking the resource nut with distributed problem-based learning in secondary teacher education. Journal of Distance Education, 23(1), 23-39.

Derry , S. J. (2002). Naïve Teacher Education + Naïve Assessment = Naïve Teacher Epistemologies Issues in Education: Perspective from Educational Psychology, 8, 169-166.

Derry, S. J., Seymour, J., Steinkuehler, C., Lee, J., & Siegel, M. (2004). From ambitious vision to partially satisfying reality: An evolving sociotechnical design supporting community and collaborative learning in teacher education. In S. Barab, R. Kling & J. Gray (Eds). Designing virtual communities in the service of learning (pp. 256-298). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Derry , S. J., Schunn, C., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (Eds.) (2005). Interdisciplinary collaboration: An emerging cognitive science. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Derry, S. J., Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Nagarajan, A., Chernobilsky, E. Feltovich, J., Halfpap, B. (2005). Making a mesh of it: A STELLAR approach to teacher professional development. In Proceedings of Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 2005, Taipei, Taiwan.

Bransford, J. Derry, S. J., Berliner, D., Hammerness, K., (2005). Theories of learning and their roles in teaching. In L. Darling-Hammond & J. Bransford, (Eds). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do (pp. 40-87). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Derry , S. J. (2006). eSTEP as a Case of Theory-Based Web Course Design. In A. O’Donnell, C. Hmelo-Silver, & G. Erkens (Eds) Collaborative learning, reasoning, and technology (pp. 171-196). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

RECENT GRANTS:

Derry, S. J. Reconceptualizing Teacher Education: Supporting Case-Based Instructional Problem Solving on the World Wide Web. Joyce Foundation.

Derry, S. J. & Hmelo, C. E. Video Cases Online: Cognitive Studies of Preservice Teacher Learning. National Science Foundation (ROLE)

Derry, S. J., Wilsman, M., & Hewson, P. Teacher Professional Development in Facilitated On-line Learning Communities: What Do We Know and Need to Know? National Science Foundation (IERI).

Derry, S. J., Alibali, M., Knuth, E.. Collaborative Research: Understanding and Cultivating the Transition from Arithmetic to Algebraic Thinking. National Science Foundation (IERI). (Collaborating institutions: U of Colorado-Boulder & Carnegie-Mellon.)

CONTACT DR. DERRY:

Address: 667 Educational Sciences Building, 1025 W. Johnson St. Madison, WI 53706

Phone: (608) 263-3676

Email: sjderry@education.wisc.edu