Meredith A. Henry
- Courses6
- Reviews17
- School: University of Alabama
- Campus: Birmingham
- Department: Psychology
- Email address: Join to see
- Phone: Join to see
-
Location:
1720 2nd Ave S
Birmingham, AL - 35294 - Dates at University of Alabama: February 2016 - January 2018
- Office Hours: Join to see
Biography
University of Alabama Birmingham - Psychology
Education Researcher | Psychology Instructor | Stats Nerd |
Hunter of Good Pedagogy | Maker of Pop Culture References
Meredith A.
Henry
Greater Atlanta Area
I’m often asked how I became so interested in psychology. I like to answer that it started when my parents met in prison. After enjoying my audience’s reaction for a few seconds, I then clarify that, as the daughter of a prison warden and correctional officer-turned-juvenile-offender-diversion-program-director, I’ve always had an unique perspective on human behavior. From a young age, I was curious about the factors that contribute to the myriad paths that people can take in life, especially as concerns aggression and delinquency. As both an undergraduate and graduate student, this enduring interest led me to research projects that explore this type of development.
In the course of seeking explanations for human behavior within the discipline of psychology, I’ve fallen helplessly in love with the field as a whole. It’s now my greatest passion to become a compelling teacher capable of sharing that fascination. As an instructor, I’m always on the hunt for more effective and exciting ways to engage my students with the course material, whether that's the whirlwind overview of psychology 101 or the mathematical logic behind statistics. By staying up to date on the most recent advances in pedagogy and conducting my own teaching-as-research projects, I am also able to come up with innovations to meet the broad diversity of student needs.
As a teacher, my job isn't simply to be an expert on the subject matter, but also to present the material in such a way that students become enthusiastic about learning more. I want to encourage them to go beyond memorizing the facts needed to pass exams, fostering in them competence for a system of thinking that I hope they will take far beyond the walls of my classroom. By creating a robust environment of learning, my aim is to have students depart at the end of a semester and continue their journey with a strong understanding of the various aspects of psychology and how it broadens our general understanding of the world.
Experience
Education
Villanova University
Master of Science (M.S.)
General/Experimental Psychology
Thesis: A Moral Vocabulary? Exploring the Link between Moral Emotion Labels and Moral Judgment in Preschool-Aged ChildrenUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Developmental Psychology
Dissertation: "Sleep Tight, Don't Let the Dysfunction Bite!" The Relationship Between Sleep Problems and Behavior and Emotional Problems in AdolescenceUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
Graduate Instructor
At the Department of Psychology's request, I took on more teaching responsibilities, trading in my Graduate Teaching Assistant assignments for my own sections of Psychology 101. These large-scale courses contained 100-270 students. In the course of trying to give students in the large lecture hall an active learning experience, I instituted team-based learning activities and tried a couple of versions of the final project before coming up with the "Mythbusters" video project, designed to have students work in groups to make an informational video debunking a myth about psychology in popular culture. Details of these project can be found in my online portfolio, linked above.University of Alabama at Birmingham
Credentialed Course Instructor
Since receiving my Ph.D., I continue to teach undergraduate courses for UAB. In addition to Psychology 101, I have also taught Developmental Psychology, Elementary Statistics and Research Design, and Social Psychology. I love to take advantage of Birmingham's unique resources in order to reach my students and supplement my lesson plans, and I am always on the lookout for the next great instructional idea.Samford University
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) with University Honors
Psychology (Minor: French)
Psychology thesis: Effects of Previous Case Priming and Defendant Remorse Characteristics on Sentencing Judgments in Teen Court Environments Honors thesis: Tired of Being the Scapegoat: Defending the Psychologist's Place in Insanity Plea ProceedingsSamford University
Adjunct Instructor
I taught courses in General Psychology for classes ranging from 30 to 55 students. From the moment students arrived in the classroom and I used my Hogwarts Sorting Hat to assign them to teams (e.g., Chomsky's Chompers, Bandura's Dolls, and The Jung & the Restless) I used a variety of materials and methods to engage students and guide them as we covered the broad range of topics in this survey course. When my graduate program asked me to take on more teaching responsibilities, I reluctantly had to leave this position behind.
Publications
FAIL Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Theoretical Framework for Exploring Undergraduate Students’ Approaches to Academic Challenge and Responses to Failure in STEM Learning Environments
CBE-Life Sciences Edition
Navigating scientific challenges, persevering through difficulties, and coping with failure are considered hallmarks of a successful scientist. However, relatively few studies investigate how undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students develop these skills and dispositions or how instructors can facilitate this development in undergraduate STEM learning contexts. This is a critical gap, because the unique cultures and practices found in STEM classrooms are likely to influence how students approach challenges and deal with failures, both during their STEM education and in the years that follow. To guide research aimed at understanding how STEM students develop a challenge-engaging disposition and the ability to adaptively cope with failure, we generate a model representing hypotheses of how students might approach challenges and respond to failures in undergraduate STEM learning contexts. We draw from theory and studies investigating mindset, goal orientations, attributions, fear of failure, and coping to inform our model. We offer this model as a tool for the community to test, revise, elaborate, or refute. Finally, we urge researchers and educators to consider the development, implementation, and rigorous testing of interventions aimed at helping students develop a persevering and challenge-engaging disposition within STEM contexts.
