Christopher G. Pupik Dean is a Senior Fellow in the Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Division and the Director of the Urban Teaching Apprenticeship Program. In addition to his role as a program director, Dr. Pupik Dean is a Co-PI on a large research project focused on studying the impact of an innovative design for teacher learning on teachers' capacity to lead project-based classroom instruction. He also teaches in the Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and teaches courses on ethics in education.

Dr. Pupik Dean earned his bachelor’s degree in Education, Theory, and Policy from the Pennsylvania State University’s Schreyer Honors College and his master’s degree and Ph.D. in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania. Before enrolling at Penn GSE, Dr. Pupik Dean taught 9-12 science in Henderson and Durham, North Carolina.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Pupik Dean’s research interests focus on teacher education, citizenship education, and ethics. His current research focus is on a study of teacher learning around the Core-Practices of Project-Based Learning. This study focuses on understanding the learning experiences that teachers encounter through their engagement in Penn GSE’s Project-Based Learning certificate program. His work on this topic recently appeared in Phi Delta Kappan (2019). Dr. Pupik Dean also studies citizenship education and questions of ethics. Recent work in this area has focused on the role of the humanities in human development and an effort to uncover the implicit learning theories that guide humanists in their educational practice. His work on this topic is reported in an upcoming issue of Teachers College Record (2020).

Publications

Featured

Core Practices for Project-Based Learning: A Guide for Teachers and Leaders

Selected Publications

Grossman P., Herrmann, Z., Kavanagh, S. S., Pupik Dean, C. G. (2021). Core practices for project-based learning: A guide for teachers and leaders. Harvard Education Press.

Pupik Dean, C. G., Schein, M., Kidd, D. C., Webb, M., Kang, S., Walton Doyle, A., & Allen, D. (2020). Uncovering implicit learning theories in the humanities: A study of grantmaking at Illinois Humanities. Teachers College Record, 122(12).

Grossman, P., Pupik Dean, C., Kavanagh, S. S., & Herrmann, Z. (2019). Preparing teachers for project-based teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 100(7), 43–48.

Grossman, P., & Pupik Dean, C. G. (2019). Negotiating a common language and shared understanding about core practices: The case of discussion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 80, 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.01.009

Grossman, P., Kavanagh, S. S., & Pupik Dean, C. (2018). The turn towards practice-based teacher education: Introduction to the work of the Core Practice Consortium. In Teaching core practices in teacher education (pp. 1–14). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Pupik Dean, C. G., & Nelson, J. (2015). Sociocultural learning and the hope for school change: Participatory action research at a public elementary school. Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education., 4(1).

Allen, D. S., Pupik Dean, C., Kang, S., & Schein, M. (2015). Humanities craftsmanship: A study of 30 years of Illinois Humanities Council grantmaking. A report by the Humanities and Liberal Arts Assessment Project.

Kumar, R., Pupik Dean, C., & Bergey, N.-L. (2012). Knowledge of community and technology as parallel tools of agency in teacher preparation. In R. Flessner, G. Miller, K. Patrizo, & J. Horwitz (Eds.), Agency in teacher education. Association of Teacher Educators.

Courses

EDUC 564 Ethics in Education

News & Media

Penn GSE News

How can project-based learning prepare students for the 21st century?

In a new book, Penn GSE Dean Pam Grossman and GSE’s Zachary Herrmann, Sarah Schneider Kavanagh, and Christopher Pupik Dean say the approach can empower students to be engaged citizens and take on modern challenges.

June 22, 2021