Researcher Summary
My research interests involve two main areas:
a) the role of emotion in teaching and learning across the lifespan, and
b) adult education and professional development.
I am committed to a collaborative approach to education research with participants across the lifespan. From my research within the Project on Learning I have found that children can give valid reports about their own emotions and learning processes allowing for differences in the terminologies used, such as comparing psychology terminology with their vocabularies. In the context of adult education specifically, I am interested in how adult learners develop motivation for certain domains, and how they overcome any historically created emotional barriers to their present day learning. Currently I am the Principal Investigator for an AKO Funded research project investigating the emotions experienced by tertiary educators. I have presented my research findings on children's emotions at national and international conferences. I have also shared my PhD findings on the role of emotion in children’s learning, with the wider community in a course that I have designed for parents, grandparents, teachers and/or researchers, delivered through Continuing and Bridging Education, University of Canterbury.