Faculty
image 47

Clark A. Chinn

Chair and Distinguished Professor
Educational Psychology
Contact
10 Seminary Place Room 337 New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Clark Chinn is a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University—New Brunswick. His research focuses on epistemic cognition, reasoning and argumentation, learning from multiple documents, learning through inquiry, and collaborative learning. His most recent work has focused on how to promote the goals of epistemic education—education that improves students’ ways of knowing and thinking—with a particular focus on promoting better thinking in our so-called “post-truth” world. He has also worked extensively on model-based inquiry in middle-school science classes—designing learning environments and investigating how these environments promote conceptual change and epistemic growth. He was Editor of the journal Educational Psychologist from 2011 to 2015. He is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, of the American Psychological Association (Division 15—Educational Psychology), and of the International Society of the Learning Sciences. He has co-edited several books, most recently the International Handbook of Inquiry and Learning.


Education:
• Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Affiliations:
• American Educational Research Association
• American Psychological Association, Division 15 (Educational Psychology)
• European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction
• International Society of the Learning Sciences
• Society for Text and Discourse

  • Expertise & Research Interest

    Epistemic cognition

    Reasoning

    Learning through inquiry

    Conceptual change

    Classroom research

  • Research Work With Students

    My research focuses broadly on instructional methods for promoting better thinking and reasoning among students. I have collaborated with Ravit Duncan on two NSF grants investigating methods of teaching that promote model-based inquiry practices among middle-school science students. We are currently investigating in quasi-experimental classroom studies the effects of different methods for scaffolding student reasoning. More information about this project can be found at this site: www.praccis.org.

    In a closely related line of research, I have been working on what epistemic cognition is and how it can be enhanced. In this work, I have sought to bring ideas from the fields of epistemology and philosophy of science to improve our understanding of epistemic cognition. If you would like to know more about this line of research, please email me.

  • Recent & Selected Publications

    Chinn, C. A., Barzilai, S, & Elby, A. (in press). Epistemic rights in tension and accord: Expanding the analysis of source evaluation criteria. Educational Psychologist.

    Barzilai, S., & Chinn, C. A. (in press). How do source evaluation criteria develop? A microgenetic study of growth of epistemic ideals. Computers in Human Behavior, 172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108729

    Murphy, D., Duncan, R. G., Chinn, C. A., Danish, J., Hmelo Silver, C. E., Zhou, J., & Ryan, Z. (2025). Elementary students’ metacognitive knowledge of epistemic criteria. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 62(7), 1721-1742. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.22030

    Kainulainen, M., Puurtinen, M., & Chinn, C. A. (2025). Regrounding Inquiry-Based Learning in History: A Study of Historians’ Epistemic Processes. Cognition and Instruction, 43(4), 291-315. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2025.2503193

    Duncan, R. G., & Chinn, C. A. (2025). Evaluating the quality of argumentation: The role of epistemic ideals and reliable processes. Cognition and Instruction, 43(3), 201-232. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2025.2497240

    Barzilai, S., & Chinn, C. A. (2024). The AIR and Apt-AIR frameworks of epistemic performance and growth: Reflections on educational theory development. Educational Psychology Review, 36:91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09927-5

    Chinn, C. A., Yoon, S.A., Hussain-Abidi, H., Hunkar, K., Noushad, N., Richman, T. (2023). Designing learning environments to promote good thinking in a post-truth world: An example from science education. European Journal of Education, 58, 407–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12573

    De Jong, T., Lazonder, A. W., Chinn, C. A., Fischer, F., Gobert, J., Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Koedinger, K. R., Krajcik, J. S., Kyza, E. A., Linn, M. C., Pedaste, M., Scheiter, K., & Zacharia, Z. C. (2023). Let’s talk evidence—The case for combining inquiry-based and direct instruction. Educational Research Review, 38, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2023.100536

    Chinn, C. A., Duncan, R. G., & Av-Shalom, N. (2021). Applying the Grasp-of-Evidence framework to design and evaluate epistemically complex learning environments. Information and Technology in Education & Learning, 1(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.12937/itel.1.1.Inv.p004

    Greene, J. A., Chinn, C. A., & Deekins, V. M. (2021). Experts’ reasoning about the replication crisis: Apt epistemic performance and actor-oriented transfer. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 30 (3), 351-400. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2020.1860992

    Chinn, C. A., Barzilai, S., & Duncan, R. G. (2021). Education for a “post-truth” world: New directions for research and practice. Educational Researcher, 52 (1), 51-60. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20940683

    Barzilai, S., & Chinn, C. A. (2020). A review of educational responses to the “post-truth” condition: Four lenses on “post-truth” problems. Educational Psychologist, 55, 107-119. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2020.1786388

    Chinn, C. A., Barzilai, S., & Duncan, R. G. (2020). Disagreeing about how to know: The instructional value of Explorations into Knowing. Educational Psychologist, 55, 167-180. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2020.1786387

  • Honors & Awards

    Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences

    Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Division 15 (Educational Psychology)

    Fellow of the American Educational Research Association

  • Files
  • Link to Program/Project Page
Take the Next Step
Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any accessibility issues with Rutgers websites to accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier / Provide Feedback form.

Copyright © 2025 Rutgers GSE
Scroll to Top