MacKenzie Stetzer
University of Maine
Associate Professor of Physics
Orono, ME
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Maine and a member of the Maine Center for Research in STEM Education. Much of my research in physics education focuses on student reasoning and metacognition in physics – particularly the role that the (domain-general) nature of human reasoning and decision-making plays when students are answering qualitative physics questions. My colleagues and I are working to leverage dual-process theories of reasoning (from cognitive science) to gain insight into inconsistent student performance on analogous physics questions and to develop interventions to better support student reasoning. I am also very interested in student understanding of analog electronics (and the associated development of research-based instructional materials for courses on this topic) as well as observation-based efforts to strengthen undergraduate STEM education.