Theresa A. Thorkildsen
With development, most children move beyond the assumption that behavior is exclusively due to individual conduct and character to an understanding that institutional practices also play a role in facilitating or undermining functioning. I have studied students’ understanding of fairness, epistemology, and motivation as each pertains to critical issues within school settings. Despite my initial expectation that these were fairly independent topics, children and adolescents see a convergence I had not anticipated. My research suggests that students coordinate these forms of social knowledge in their understanding of how schools ought to function. Students’ knowledge of schools as institutions along with their relational ties and personal motives are combined in a force I refer to as civil engagement that drives their classroom performance.
Primary Interests:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Attitudes and Beliefs
- Culture and Ethnicity
- Ethics and Morality
- Helping, Prosocial Behavior
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Research Methods, Assessment
- Self and Identity
- Social Cognition
Online Studies:
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Paradigms Before Methods: Understanding Epistemology and Crafting Research Questions
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49:45 Paradigms Before Methods: Understanding Epistemology and Crafting Research Questions
Length: 49:45
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55:48 Balancing Opportunities for Personal, Civic, and Civil Discourse in Educational Settings
Length: 55:48
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1:49 Social Media in the Classroom
Length: 1:49
Additional Videos
Books:
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (2005). Fundamentals of measurement in applied research. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., & Nicholls, J. G. (with Bates, A., Brankis, N., & DeBolt, T.). (2002). Motivation and the struggle to learn: Responding to fractured experience. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., & Walberg, H. J. (Eds.). (2004). Nurturing morality. New York: Kluwer.
Journal Articles:
- Basu, S., Salisbury, C., & Thorkildsen, T. A. (2010). Measuring collaborative consultation practices in natural environments. Journal of Early Intervention, 32, 127-150.
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (2007). Adolescents’ moral engagement in urban settings. Theory into Practice, 46, 113-120.
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (2002). Literacy as a lifestyle: Negotiating the curriculum to facilitate motivation. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 18, 321-341.
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (1993). Those who can, tutor: High ability students' conceptions of fair ways to organize learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 182-190.
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (1991). Defining social goods and distributing them fairly: The development of conceptions of fair testing practices. Child Development, 62, 852-862.
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (1989). Justice in the classroom: The student's view. Child Development, 60, 323-334.
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (1989). Pluralism in children's reasoning about social justice. Child Development, 60, 965-972.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., & Nicholls, J. G. (1998). Fifth graders' achievement orientations and beliefs: Individual and classroom differences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 179-201.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., Nolen, S. B., & Fournier, J. (1994). What's fair? Children's critiques of practices that influence motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 475-486.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., Reese, D., & Corsino, A. (2002). School ecologies and attitudes about exclusionary behavior among adolescents and young adults. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 48, 25-51.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., & Schmahl, C. (1997). Conceptions of fair learning practices among low-income African American and Latin American children: Acknowledging diversity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 719-727.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., Sodonis, A., & White-McNulty, L. (2004). Epistemology and adolescents’ conceptions of procedural justice in school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 347-359.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., & White-McNulty, L. (2002). Developing conceptions of fair contest procedures and the understanding of skill and luck. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 316-326.
Other Publications:
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (in press). Validity of measurement. In N. J. Salkind, D. M Dougherty, & B. Frey (Eds.), Encyclopedia of research design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Thorkildsen, T. A. (2007). The role of personal standards in second graders’ moral and academic engagement. In D. Thiessen & A. Cook-Sather (Eds.), International handbook of student experience in elementary and secondary school (pp. 193-231). New York: Springer.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., Golant, C. J., & Cambray-Engstrom, E. (2008). Essential solidarities for understanding Latino adolescents’ moral and academic engagement. In C. Hudley & A. E. Gottfried (Eds.), Academic motivation and the culture of schooling in childhood and adolescence (pp. 73-98). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Thorkildsen, T. A., Golant, C. J., & Richesin, L. D. (2007). Reaping what we sow: Cheating as a mechanism of moral engagement. In E. M. Anderman & T. B. Murdock (Eds.), The psychology of academic cheating (pp. 171-202). San Diego, CA: Elsevier.
Courses Taught:
- Achievement Motivation
- Advanced Developmental Psychology
- Advanced Educational Psychology
- Characteristics of Early Adolescence
- Data and Interpretation in Educational Inquiry
- Introduction to Research Design in Education
- Learning, Cognition, and Student Assessment
- Moral Development
- Proseminar in Educational Psychology
- Social Development in Urban Contexts
- Social Psychology of Education
- The Educative Process
Theresa A. Thorkildsen
College of Education, MC-147
1040 West Harrison Street
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60607-7133
United States of America
- Phone: (312) 996-8138
- Fax: (312) 996-5651