William Bart

My years in the graduate program in measurement, evaluation, and statistical analysis at the University of Chicago allowed me to study with scholars such as Benjamin S. Bloom, R. Darrell Bock, and Benjamin Wright. There I developed my interest in the relationships among cognition, instruction, and testing. Presently I am pursuing that interest through research on thinking skills and on the development of talents and gifts among students. The issue of how research in cognition and testing can inform effective school practice also interests me. My students and I are investigating various topics in learning and cognition: (a) the assessment and development of critical thinking skills among youth, college students, and other adults; (b) the utility of origami and chess and other complex games on the development of basic reasoning skills and scholastic achievement levels among youth; and (c) the utilization of ideas from expertise research in the enhancement of cognitive skills and scholastic achievement levels among disadvantaged youth. I am also investigating with one graduate student selected features of creativity. I am a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.

I also coordinate the certificate program in talent development and gifted education.

Courses I teach

• EPsy 1905—Freshman Seminar: Beginner’s Chess and 21st Century Thinking Skills
• EPsy 3101—Creativity and Intelligence: An Introduction
• EPSY 5101—Intelligence and Creativity
• EPSY 5191—Education of the Gifted and Talented
• EPSY 8111—Seminar: Human Expertise and Its Development
• EPSY 8290—Special Topics: Seminar in Psychological Foundations