Education

Sarah Harris

Assistant Professor of Education

(423) 746-5325

sharris@tnwesleyan.edu

Bio

Dr. Sarah Harris is an Assistant Professor of Education and serves as the Director of Graduate Education Programs at TWU. She earned her BA in History from East Tennessee State Univeristy and her MA in History from North Carolina State. She completed her teacher licensure requirements at Tennessee Technological University and taught Biology at Cookeville High School. She earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in STEM Education from the University of Texas at Austin.

In addition to her work with teacher licensure, Dr. Harris’s research focuses on how people learn science during interest-based participation. While most of her work takes place in informal education settings, like museums, she has also worked with Biology professors to study skill-based learning in undergraduate biology coursework. Her work helps to build on the literature of how and why people learn science and develop science-based interests over time and across settings.

Courses

  • EDU 201

    Educational Psychology

  • EDU 500

    Foundations & Issues of American Education

  • EDU 501

    Research Design and Statistics

  • EDU 502

    Human Development and Diversity in Education

  • EDU 508

    Educational Technology

  • EDU 523

    Current Trends and Issues in Curriculum

  • EDU 530

    Curriculum Leadership and Evaluation

  • EDU 554

    Planning and Assessment for Grades K-5

  • EDU 556

    Instruction of Elementary Social Studies and Science for Grades K-5

  • EDU 558

    Instruction of Mathematics for Grades K-5

  • EDU 562

    Elementary Education K-5 Student Teaching

  • EDU 572

    Content Area Methods in Secondary Education

  • EDU 574

    Content Area Assessment and Evaluation for Grades 6-12

  • EDU 576

    Practicum in Secondary Education

  • EDU 578

    Curriculum and Materials in Secondary Education

  • EDU 582

    Special Education Interventionist K-8 Student Teaching

  • EDU 585

    Job-Embedded Candidate Teaching

  • EDU 586

    Student Teaching and Action Research Seminar

  • EDU 587

    Job-Embedded Candidate Mentorship

Publications

  • Gerlits, O. & Harris, S. (2025, January). NSF Noyce Grant STEM Bootcamp. Workshop for TWU undergraduate students interested in becoming a K-12 STEM teacher. Athens, TN.

  • Harris, S. (2024, September). Supporting Non-Traditional, Job-Embedded Teacher Candidates: Strategies for Success. Presentation at the Tennessee Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (TACTE). Franklin, TN.

  • Harris, S. C. (2021). An Exploration Participation and Learning During an Overnight Program at a Natural History Museum. The University of Texas at Austin.

  • Harris, S. C., Azevedo, F. S., & Petrosino, A. J. (2018). Curating Knowledge and Curating Fun: An Analysis of the Expanding Roles of Children’s Museums. Creative Education, 9(12), 1881-1896.

  • Harris, S. (2018, May). Assessing Quality of a Professor-Written Multiple-Choice Item Exam in Undergraduate Biology. Paper presented at the Graduate Portfolios in Applied Statistical Modeling Spring Colloquia. UT Austin. Austin, TX.

  • Murphy, A. & Harris, S. (2017, April). Some Factors that Constrain the Emergence of Epistemic Discourse in Science Classrooms. Paper presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Conference. San Antonio, TX.

  • Harris, S. (2017, March) The Role of Museums in Addressing Student Misconceptions about Evolution. Paper presented at the Texas Academy of Science Annual Meeting. Belton, TX.

  • Harris, S. (2017, February) The Impact of Informal STEM Summer Programs on Student Attitudes: An Exploration of the Goals and Design of ARC–Oak Ridge National Laboratory Summer Math-Science-Technology Institute. Poster presented at the Informal Science Education Association of Texas Annual Conference. New Braunfels, TX.

  • Rice, J. & Harris, S. (2005, June). Captivity and the Humor of the Fantastically Neurotic. Paper presented at the Sienna College Conference. Sienna College, Loudonville, NY.

  • Harris, S. (2005, April). British Shell Shock Victims of World War I and the Effect of Social Class on Perception and Treatment. Paper presented at the Appalachian Student Research Forum. ETSU. Johnson City, TN.

  • Harris, S. (2004, April). The Effects of Focal Adhesion Kinase in the Human Retina. Paper presented at the Appalachian Student Research Forum. ETSU. Johnson City, TN.

  • Harris, S. (2013, July). Biology in a Box. Workshop provided for Putnam County K12 Science Teachers. Cookeville, TN.

  • In Search of a New Deal: Images of North Carolina, 1935–1941. (2007, Spring). Curatorial Assistant. Historic Oak View County Park. Raleigh, NC.

  • The Rhythm of the Factory: Life and Labor in North Carolina’s Textile Mill Communities. (2006, Spring). Curatorial Assistant. Historic Oak View County Park. Raleigh, NC.