Laura Wenk

Laura Wenk, associate professor of cognition and education and dean of Curriculum and Assessment, is a founding faculty member of the Childhood, Youth, and Education Program at Hampshire College supporting college students in examining the relationships among cognition, development, and instruction.

She is also the Curriculum Director for the Collaboration for Excellence in Science Education at Hampshire College, an outreach program that assists high school faculty in teaching science conceptually.

Professor Wenk taught high school biology and physical science for six years before pursuing her doctorate in curriculum studies. She teaches courses in cognition and instruction, curriculum and instruction, and educational research.

Her current research interests include the connections among pedagogy, personal epistemology, and higher order thinking.

Recent and Upcoming Courses

Designing for Learning in Formal and Informal Contexts
Where does good curriculum design come from? What is the relationship between curriculum and pedagogy? How do good educators promote deep learning despite the current political climate that emphasizes content mastery and efficient instruction? Should curriculum and instruction differ between school and non-school contexts? In this course, you will learn research-based curriculum design practices, how to focus on conceptual understanding and the development of higher order thinking in a number of domains (e.g. critical thinking, integrative thinking, innovative thinking) and across multiple contexts. Each student or group develops a curriculum unit on a topic of their choice. In addition, students get some practice teaching their materials to one another. This course is designed for Division II and III students who are interested in teaching in formal or non-formal settings or who are developing curriculum as part of their independent work. Prerequisite: Completion one of the courses: "How People Learn," "Museums as Learning Contexts: Designing and Assessing Museum Spaces for Learning," educational psychology, or other education coursework.