B.A., Psychology, Georgetown University
Ph.D., Psychology, 1998, University of Illinois
Office: UW1 338
Phone: 425.352.3590
Email: ethomas@uwb.edu
Mailing: Box 358530, 18115 Campus Way NE, Bothell, WA 98011-8246
I think about teaching and learning as structured conversations that lead to many other differently structured and unimagined dialogues. In conversations with students, I try to communicate my curiosity and love of learning. I also value listening and learning from students. I want students to think about learning as a process that enriches and enables valuable contributions they may make as individuals and as parts of communities. Toward these goals, I strive to teach in ways that foster active learning and encourage students to make connections between the classroom and other commitments. Teaching in IAS, a program that makes explicit connections across disciplinary boundaries, is particularly rewarding to me because it challenges us as teachers and students to have the kinds of conversations that I believe are most interesting.
BIS 220 Developmental Psychology
BIS 333 Individual and Society
BIS 343 Community Psychology
BIS 434 Psychology and the Visual Arts
My research focuses on adolescent investments in learning practices, communicative practices in educational settings, and the visual arts as resources for individual and social change efforts. I am interested in how adolescent development and self-understandings are shaped by specific educational experiences, but also how young people actively engage and shape their learning environments. I collaborate with students and community partners to conduct research and intervention in schools and youth development program settings. Most recently I examined patterns of instruction and student participation in an ethnographic study of community-based arts education programs located in distressed urban neighborhoods.
