COE Faculty Profile

Joseph L. Polman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Division of Teaching and Learning
Secondary Appointment in Division of Educational Psychology

Email: polman@umsl.edu
Office: 301 Marillac Hall
Phone: 314-516-4804

Education

Joseph Polman received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University with a concentration in Comparative Literature and a thesis on 20th century German and American novels. He received a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in the Learning Sciences, a degree focusing on the scientific study of cognition and learning within educational contexts. Dr. Polman then completed a James S. McDonnell foundation postdoctoral fellowship in Cognitive Studies for Educational Practice under the direction of James V. Wertsch at Washington University in St. Louis.

learn more about me at my personal website ...

Research

Dr. Polman's research agenda focuses on developing a greater understanding of technology-supported inquiry learning in formal and informal educational contexts. His research inquires into how learners and teachers or adult facilitators in educational contexts conduct inquiry or projects with the support and mediation of computer and networking tools. In particular, he has conducted research on how a high school teacher supports and guides students in project-based science, and how youth participate in and benefit from after school clubs in which they construct technological artifacts about history. Overall, his work aims to understand activity, tools, and discourse within learning environments, and to use that understanding to inform the design of learning environments.

Teaching

Dr. Polman teaches numerous graduate Educational Technology classes in the Division of Teaching and Learning, two of which are cross-listed as Educational Psychology courses:

• Ed Tec 5301: Introduction to Computers and the Internet in Education
• Ed Tec 5340: Selection and Utilization of Educational Multimedia
• Ed Tec 6415: Teaching and Learning with Technology: Authoring Tools
• Ed Tec 6435: Instructional Technology and Education Reform
• Ed Tec 6436: Computer-Mediated Communication in Education
• Ed Tec/Ed Psy 6444: Cognition and Technology
• Ed Tec/Ed Psy 6448: Technology-Supported Inquiry Learning
• Ed Tec 6452: Educational Multimedia Design

Grants and Projects

• Science Literacy through Science Journalism grant, funded by the National Science Foundation for $3.54 million from 2008 to 2012 (PI, with Co-PIs E. Wendy Saul, Alan Newman, and Cathy Farrar)
• A Digital History of the Vashon-Jeffvanderlou Neighborhood, with Laura Westhoff
• Co-PI, with Helene Sherman, of the "St. Louis Consortium Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology" grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education for $1.04 million from 1999 to 2003.
• Greenwood Cemetery After School Inquiry
• True Stories, Storied Truth Initiative

Representative Publications

• Kulla-Abbott, T., and Polman, J. (2008). Engaging student voice and fulfilling curriculum goals with digital stories. THEN Journal: Technology Humanities Education and Narrative, 5 (Spring). Available: http://thenjournal.org/feature/160/
• Westhoff, L., and Polman, J. L. (Fall-Winter 2007-08). Developing preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge about historical thinking. International Journal of Social Education, 22 (2), 1-28.
• Polman, J. L. (2006). Mastery and appropriation as means to understand the interplay of history learning and identity trajectories. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(2), 221-259.
• Burns, K., & Polman, J. L. (2006). The impact of ubiquitous computing in the Internet age: How middle school teachers integrated wireless laptops in the initial stages of implementation. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 14 (2), 363-385.
• Polman, J. L. (2004). Dialogic activity structures for project-based learning environments. Cognition and Instruction, 22 (4), 431-466.
• O'Neill, D. K., & Polman, J. L. (2004). Why educate "little scientists?": Examining the potential of practice-based scientific literacy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41 (3), 234-266.
• Polman, J. L. (2004). The perils and promise of afterschool programs on school territory. Afterschool Matters: Dialogues in Philosophy, Practice, and Evaluation, 3, 3-12.
• Simmons, P., Ruffin, M., Polman, J., Kirkendall, C., & Baumann, T. (2003). If stones could talk. The Science Teacher , 70 (5), pp. 52-54.
• Polman, J. L. & Pea, R. D. (2001). Transformative communication as a cultural tool for guiding inquiry science. Science Education , 85 , pp. 223-238.
• Missouri Historical Society (2001). Through the eyes of a child . St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society. (author of educational CD-ROM/website including oral histories of African-American communities in St. Louis).
• Polman, J. L. (2000). Designing project-based science: Connecting learners through guided inquiry . New York: Teachers College Press.
• Gordin, D. N., Polman, J. L., & Pea, R. D. (1994). The Climate Visualizer: Sense-making through scientific visualization. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 3 (4), pp. 203-226.
• Fraser, C. C., & Polman, J. (1989). Establishing a hypermedia corpus for teaching German language and culture using Macintosh HyperCard. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 22 (2), pp. 138-145.
  
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• Cognition
• Cognitive Processes/Development
• Discourse Processes
• Instructional Technology
• Learning Environments
• Qualitative Research
• Science Education
• Social Studies Education