Susan L. Engel

Susan Engel

Senior Lecturer in Psychology; Senior Faculty Fellow, Rice Center for Teaching; The Class of 1959 Director of Program in Teaching

[email protected]
413-597-4522
Wachenheim Science Center Rm 223

Education

B.A. Sarah Lawrence College (1980)
Ph.D. City University of New York, Developmental Psychology (1985)

Areas of Expertise

The development of curiosity and invention, children’s ideas, the impact of college, school reform.

Courses

PSYC 272 LEC

Psychology of Education (not offered 2024/25)

PSYC 333 TUT

Children's Minds (not offered 2024/25)

PSYC 338 SEM

Inquiry, Invention and Ideas (not offered 2024/25)

PSYC 372 SEM

Advanced Seminar in Teaching and Learning (not offered 2024/25)

PSYC 373 SEM

Critical Issues in Learning and Teaching (not offered 2024/25)

PSYC 408 SEM

The Psychology of College (not offered 2024/25)

PSYC 418(F) SEM

Suckers and Scammers

Scholarship/Creative Work

Selected Publications
  • Engel, S.L. (2021). The Intellectual Lives of Children. Harvard University Press.
  • Engel, S.L. (2018). The Children You Teach: Using a Developmental Framework in the Classroom. Heinemann Pubs.
  • Engel, S.L. (2018). Why We Say “Why” When We Do. Essay for IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, P.Oudeyer (Ed).
  • Engel, S.L. (2017). The Problems of Play. Chapter in Cambridge Handbook of Play P.Smith and J.Roopnarine (Eds), Cambridge University Press.
  • Engel, S.L. (2017). Teaching Today’s Kids to Spot Tomorrow’s Fake News. Bloomberg View.
  • Engel, S.L. (2016). A School of Our Own: The Story of the First Student Run High School (coauthored with Samuel Levin). The New Press.
  • Engel, S.L. (2015). The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood. Harvard University Press.

Activities

Advising for all Williams students interested in studying education and/or pursuing a career in teaching. The program also offers a wide range of education related activities. Please feel free to contact me to find out more about these activities.

Co-founder and educational advisor to the Hayground School, Bridgehamptyon, NY. Responsible for supervision of teaching, curriculum development, assessment, and advising for parents, children and special events.