Kimberly Sheridan is an Assistant Professor, with a joint appointment in Educational Psychology in the College of Education and Human Development and in Art Education in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. She received her doctorate in Human Development and Psychology in June 2006 from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

Dr. Sheridan's research background is diverse: she has done intensive qualitative studies of arts learning in studio classrooms, functional neuro-imaging research, field research on the contemporary visual arts in East Africa, and used on-line surveys and interviews to study film fans who participate in discussion groups. Using these diverse methods and approaches, her research tends to focus on higher order thinking, and in particular on cognition and learning in the arts and media. In addition to her research, Kim has been involved in professional development for teachers, she has taught courses at the Harvard University Project Zero Summer Institute and numerous professional development workshops.  Kim has received a number of awards including a Fulbright research fellowship and a Spencer Foundation research training grant. Prior to coming to George Mason in Fall 2006, Harvard Project Zero has been her central research home, and she continues on research collaborations there.

At George Mason, she teaches educational psychology courses in learning, cognition and motivation, research design and methods, and on learning and teaching in the arts. She is currently working towards developing a research center on arts and cognition at George Mason University.

She is currently Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Kevin Clark on a National Science Foundation funded project, Game Design Through Mentoring And Collaboration, which involves a partnership with McKinley Technology High School (MTHS) in Northeast Washington DC, and has the primary goal to increase motivation,achievement, and exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content of middle and high school students from urban public schools where the vast majority of students are Black and Hispanic by having them learn to design and program computer games in a Saturday and summer non-formal educational program, in collaboration with more experienced student mentors, teachers and higher education experts. 

• Sheridan, K. (2007). Reading, writing and watching: The informal education of film fans. In J. Flood, D. Lapp, and S.B. Heath (Eds.) Handbook on Teaching Literacy through the Communicative, Visual and Performing Arts. (2nd ed.) Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah, NJ.
• Hetland, L.,Winner, E., Veenema, S., & Sheridan, K. (2007). Studio thinking: The real benefits of visual arts education. Teachers College Press: New York.
• Keinanen, M., Sheridan, K.* & Gardner, H. (2006). Opening up creativity: The lenses of axis and focus. In J. Kaufman and J. Baer (Eds. ) The Relationship Between Creativity, Knowledge, and Reason. Cambridge University Press: New York. *First authorship is shared.
• Winner, E., Hetland, L., Veenema, S., Sheridan,K., & Palmer, P. (2006). Studio thinking: How visual arts teaching can promote disciplined habits of mind. In P. Locher, C. Martindale, L. Dorfman, & D. Leontiev (Eds.), New Directions in Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (189-205). Amityville, New York: Baywood
  Publishing Company,
• Sheridan, K., Zinchenko, E. & Gardner, H. (2005). Neuroethics in education. In J.Illes (Ed) Neuroethics in the 21st Century: Defining the Issues in Theory, Practice and Policy, J. Illes (Ed.) Oxford University Press: Oxford.
• Connell, M. W., Sheridan, K. & Gardner, H. (2003). On abilities and domains. In R. Sternberg (Ed) Psychology of abilities, competencies and expertise. Cambridge University Press: New York (pp. 126-155)

NSF Funded Project with Dr. Kevin Clark: Game Design through Mentoring and Collaboration
itest.gmu.edu

Publication announcement for Studio Thinking:
store.tcpress.com/0807748188.shtml

New York Times article on Hetland, Winner, Veenema & Sheridan (2007) Studio Thinking: The real benefits of visual arts education
"Book tackles old debate: Role of art in schools"
www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/arts/design/04stud.html

• Graduate School of Education
• Educational Psychology

No courses taught this semester.

• Qualitative Inquiry in Education (EDRS - 621)
• Theories of Learning and Cognition (EDEP - 550)