Normally, students who enroll in Cheryl's section of Directed Research (PSY 5993) during Fall semesters will work together on the lectures and exercises in Functional MRI: Basic Principles. 

In Fall 2026, we'll be doing something entirely different, and if you are curious about how people learn, or how kids develop their attitudes about science, or how people view scientists ... this is the class for you!

Every year, Cheryl teaches a community-engaged learning class called "Step into the gap: understanding barriers to diversity in STEM." We spend half of our class time at a middle school near the St Paul Campus, working with 8th grade students to do independent inquiry (science fair) projects. The project could be about anything -- using internet data to understand how wolves move around, figuring out the best way to make ice cream, growing plants in red vs. green light. 

Fall 5993 Directed Research students will help collect and analyze data that measures how this class is impacting both sets of students. How does it change things for the 8th graders to have college students in their classroom so often? How do these mentoring experiences change the college students' views of themselves? You'll be administering surveys and analyzing the data; you'll be trained to do classroom observations; at the end of the semester, you'll interview students about their experiences. You'll also be helping Cheryl with the behind-the-scenes work of ordering supplies and keeping track of where kids are at with their project.

You'll need to clear a background check (provided by the school) because you'll be in the classroom all the time, but you won't be working as a mentor (unless you sign up for the class, too -- that's an option!). You will have an opportunity to join us for a weekend field trip to Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center -- not required, but a chance for an all-expenses-paid "vacation" to the north woods during fall color season, during which you'll be both participating in some super awesome environmental education courses and collecting observational data about learning and relationship building in an entirely different setting.

Email Cheryl if you're interested, and we'll talk about whether this is a good fit: caolman (at) umn.edu.