Graduate student in Educational Psychology
Joel Beier remembers his days spent as a high school teacher, lamenting with fellow teachers during the lunch period. They all wished they knew more about how people learn so they could better help their students. This memory keeps him grounded in his reasons for pursuing a graduate degree and, ultimately, a career where he can continue exploring these questions.
“I felt dissatisfied with my understanding of how people learn and wanted to understand how pedagogical practice can be guided by mechanisms that explain learning processes,” Joel said. “I am not only driven by curiosity about how [my lab experiment] findings might apply to classroom settings, but also aim to assess how well these ideas generalize to real-world classroom practices.”
Joel’s research focuses on improving undergraduate chemistry education. He has mentored countless students and has been a research supervisor for many undergraduates. He’s also taught multiple sections of How People Learn, one of the School of Education’s largest and most popular undergraduate courses.
“I enjoy watching students’ growth as they start to see the world through a different lens,” Joel said. “This includes subtle and everyday realizations, like gaining the confidence to participate in lab meetings, as well as more significant realizations when my students from How People Learn begin to feel more comfortable describing learning through a more pluralistic lens,” Joel said. “More selfishly, I find that mentoring students pushes me to put forth my best. I am constantly reminded of the influence of my actions and decisions when I know others are watching with the intent to learn.”
Mitchell Nathan, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Educational Psychology and Joel’s faculty advisor, says Joel is a wonderful representative of the next generation of professors who can bridge the traditional chasms between research and practice.
“Joel is a remarkable young scholar who draws on his prior experiences as a high school science teacher and a strong record of undergraduate teaching to investigate basic questions on the nature of scientific knowledge and reasoning, and its implications for improving undergraduate science education,” Dr. Nathan said.
Joel came to UW–Madison because of the sense of community he felt here.
“My campus visit day felt like a celebration not only of the prospect of incoming students and the future worlds that might unfold, but also of friendship and community among all members of the department,” he said. “I immediately felt welcome and began to see UW–Madison as a space where I could grow.”