Professor Kevin N. Dunbar, Ph.D.
Teaching and Courses
"I have a passionate commitment to teaching and I regard it as an essential component of the intellectual life and vibrancy of any university. I look forward to teaching my courses and eagerly supervise undergraduate research projects."- Dr. Kevin N. Dunbar on teaching
How do we learn, understand, and teach science? Clearly, people need to acquire knowledge of the content of specific scientific
disciplines, but also the thinking strategies that are used in science such as formulating theories and designing experiments.
How do we learn these different aspects of science? What sort of a mind is capable of learning scientific concepts and methods?
We will explore these issues by investigating the development of the scientific mind, gender and science, the thinking skills involved
in science, how we formulate theories, design experiments, and how these skills are taught.
The ways that we think, form concepts, and reason are key aspects of being human. In this course, we explore the way we form concepts,
how we solve problems, the roots of creativity, the development of thinking, as well as examine the roles of the brain and evolution in
understanding these deeply human capacities.
How do we learn? How can modern educational settings harness recent innovations about the essence of human learning? Educational psychology
provides a foundation for applying the psychological principles that underlie learning in both formal and informal educational settings.
In this course, we will explore the multitude of ways that people learn, the effects of different types of teaching strategies on learning,
and the impact of individual differences on learning. We will also explore assessment, creativity and problem solving, as well as cultural
and motivational influences on learning across diverse educational situations. Underlying the course will be an account of the way the human
mind works, changes, and adapts in different settings. This includes the home, the school, the university and any context in which explicit
or implicit education takes place.
Dr. Dunbar also serves as an advisor for theses, independent studies, graduate students and post-doctoral research. Check the Join us page for further information.