Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies in Education (LSPSE) Hub

Our goal is to develop an in-depth understanding of how individuals and groups respond to educational processes such as instruction, curriculum, feedback, adult and peer interaction, and assessment processes, so that practical and effective improvements can be made by instructors and learners. The LSPSE hub works to advance psychological science by using or developing rigorous scientific research methods, such as experiments, surveys, tests, interviews, naturalistic and structured observations, and so on.

Our hub teaches courses on educational psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and research methods. The courses we teach are largely within the BA Educational Studies programme and are available to Arts students or, in some cases, students taking psychology in the Faculty of Science. We also teach post-graduate courses in those areas.

The pathways we teach are outlined here:

*All courses are EDUC.

LSPSE has psychologists who teach a wide range of psychological theories and methods. The hub also has affiliates who work in areas strongly related to LSPSE.

• The LSPSE Hub is led by Prof. Gavin T. L. Brown, who specialises in psychological research methods (particularly statistics and testing). His substantive research is on the cross-cultural psychological effects of assessment.
• Prof. Christine Rubie-Davies is a key member, with her world-leading expertise in teacher expectations.
• Assoc. Prof. Jason Stephens is an expert in academic motivation, moral functioning, and cheating behaviour.
• Assoc. Prof. Kane Meissel focuses on the implications of methodological decisions upon the conclusions being made. He is the Principal Investigator for the Our Voices study, an innovative large sample multimodal study partnering with the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort. His research uses reflective and nuanced critical quantitative methods, often drawing on longitudinal cohort data.
• Dr Pat Bullen leads our work on adolescent development and youth mentoring, is a member of the Adolescent Health Research Group, and co-leads the health and wellbeing aspect of the longitudinal survey study Growing Up in New Zealand.
• Dr Deb Widdowson is a specialist in developmental psychology.
• Dr Hilary Dutton specialises in youth and educational psychology, responsible for teaching social psychology.
• Dr Willow Sainsbury specialises in neurodevelopmental conditions and is responsible for the development of masters-level educational psychology programmes.
• Dr Annaline Flint specialises in the area of teacher beliefs.
• Dr Georgia Rudd is a Research Fellow and specialises in educational psychology.

Affiliated members:

• Assoc. Prof. Richard J. Hamilton, (retired) is a specialist in cognitive psychology.
• Dr Penelope Watson (retired) is a specialist in gender and social psychology.
• Dr Shengnan Wang is a part-time Research Fellow in the Quantitative Data Analysis and Research (Quant-DARE) unit. Her interest is in teacher expectations.
• Dr Mohamed Alansari is an honorary academic and senior researcher at NZCER. His speciality is learning environments research.
• Ms. Sheryll McIntosh is a senior tutor providing tutoring and teaching in many of our courses.
• Dr Russell Pine is a registered educational psychologist in New Zealand with experience working with children, families, and schools to address complex behavioural, emotional, developmental, and learning challenges. He has supervised intern educational psychologists and completed independent research across a broad range of topics.
• Prof. Shane Jimerson is a Professor of Counselling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr Jimerson is a nationally certified school psychologist and recognised by The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress as a board-certified expert and diplomat; and is included in their international registry of experts in traumatic stress with a specialisation in working with children, families, and schools.