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Dr Judith Wylie

Photo of Judith Wylie

Lecturer

Email: jw.wylie@qub.ac.uk

Address

Room 02.502, David Keir Building
School of Psychology
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK

Telephone

+44 (0)28 9097 4575

Profile
Teaching
Research
Publications

2001 - date Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology (QUB)

1997 - 2001 Research Fellow in The QUESTOR Centre/Psychology (QUB)

1994 - 1997 Research Fellow in Psychology (QUB)

1993 - 1994 Laboratory Supervisor in Psychology (QUB)

1992 - 1993 Graduate Demonstrator in Psychology (QUB)

1993 PhD Psychology (QUB)

1989 BA (Hons) Psychology (QUB)

After completing my PhD on the impact of text structure and prior knowledge on memory for text, my research focus was directed towards environmental education and the development of systems thinking in children. The environmental theme was maintained in a further research project that investigated methods for overcoming problems associated with the communication of environmental information. My current research is concerned with the study of literacy and numeracy across the developmental range. A wide variety of approaches is used to investigate the psychological processes underlying tasks such as counting, arithmetic, spelling and reading, and the impact of basic skills in numeracy and literacy on future performance in reading and mathematics.

School of Psychology Administrative Roles

  • Examinations Officer
  • Management Committee
  • Education Committee
  • Research Ethics Committee
  • Postgraduate Research Committee
  • Module Coordinator PSY2063 Developmental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Module Coordinator PSY3096 Typical and Atypical Literacy Development
  • PSY1001 Introductory Psychology 1
  • PSY1005 Thinking Critically about Popular Psychology 2
  • PSY2056 Research Methods and Statistics
  • PSY2063 Developmental and Cognitive Psychology (module coordinator)
  • PSY2059 Research Methods and Group Project
  • PSY3001 Thesis
  • PSY3061 Literacy and Numeracy
  • PSY7047 Dissertation - Atypical
  • PSY7050 Assessment and Intervention

Member of the Cognition, Development and Education Research Cluster

  • Reading
  • Text design
  • Literacy and numeracy
  • Environmental communication
  • Risk communication

Selected research publications

Journal articles

Jordan, J-A., Wylie J., & Mulhern, G. (2010). Phonological awareness and mathematical difficulty: A longitudinal perspectiveBritish Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28, 89-107.

Lange, A., Wylie, J., & Mulhern, G. (2009). Proofreading using an assistive software homophone tool: Compensatory and remedial effects on the literacy skills of students with reading difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 42, 322-335.

Jordan, J-A., Mulhern, G., & Wylie, J. (2009). Individual differences in trajectories of arithmetical development in typically achieving 5- to 7-year-olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 103, 455-468.

Mulhern, G., & Wylie, J. (2006).  Mathematical prerequisites for learning statistics in Psychology: Assessing core skills of numeracy and mathematical reasoning among undergraduates.  Psychology Learning and Teaching,5, 119-132.

Lange, A., McPhillips, M., Mulhern, G., & Wylie, J. (2006).  Assistive software tools for secondary-level students with literacy difficulties.  Journal of Special Education Technology, 21, 13-22.

Wylie, J., & McGuinness, C. (2004). The interactive effects of prior knowledge and text structure on memory for cognitive psychology texts.  British Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 497-514.

Mulhern, G., & Wylie, J. (2004).  Changing levels of numeracy and other core mathematical skills among psychology undergraduates between 1992 and 2002.  British Journal of Psychology, 95(3), 355-370.

Wylie, J. & McGuinness, C. (2004). The interactive effects of prior knowledge and text structure on memory for cognitive psychology texts. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 497-514.

Mulhern, G. & Wylie, J. (2004). Changing levels of numeracy and other core mathematical skills among psychology undergraduates between 1992 and 2002. British Journal of Psychology, 95(3), 355-370.

Wylie, J., Ouboter, S., Reijerkerk, L., Schelwald, L., Weenk, A. & Weterings, R. (2001). Risk communication for contaminated land: Developing guidelines from practical observations and case studies. Land Contamination and Reclamation, 9, 1, 164-169.

Sheehy, N., Wylie, J., McGuinness, C. & Orchard, G. (2000). How children solve environmental problems: using computer simulations to investigate systems thinking. Environmental Education Research, 6(2), 109-126.

Wylie, J. & Sheehy, N. (2000). Creative and magical thinking on environmental problems and their solutions. Streetwise, 40, 13-16.

Wylie, J. & Sheehy, N. (1999). Contaminated land and risk communication: Developing communication guidelines using a mental models approach. Land Contamination and Reclamation, 7(4), 285-289.

Wylie, J., Sheehy, N., McGuinness, C. & Orchard, G. (1998). Children's thinking about air pollution: A systems theory analysis. Environmental Education Research, 4(2), 117-137.

Wylie, J., Sheehy, N., McGuinness, C. & Orchard, G. (1996). Children's cognitions: Issues for global environmental education. The Irish Journal of Psychology, 17(4), 310-326.

McGuinness, C., Wylie, J., Greer, B., Sheehy, N. & Orchard, G. (1995). Developing children's thinking: A tale of three projects. The Irish Journal of Psychology, 16(4), 378-388.

Reports

Sheehy, N., Wylie, J. & McKeown, G. (2002). Quantifying risk amplification processes: Health and Safety Executive: HMSO.

Sheehy, N., Wylie, J. & Sproule, E. (in press). Communicating about contaminated land: Guidelines for successful risk communication. Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland): HMSO.

Research grants

2003 - 2004 LTSN Psychology Miniproject (5012). Assessing numeracy and other mathematical skills in psychology students as a basis for learning statistics (with Dr Mulhern)

2001 - 2004 Invest Northern Ireland (350,000)Environmental Tools (with Prof Sheehy)

1997 - 2000 QUESTOR Industrial Board (71,145). The presentation of environmental data: Guidelines for companies (with Prof Sheehy).

1999 - 2000 Department of the Environment (NI) 265,599. Field and laboratory based study of reactive barrier use for remediation of contaminated land at the Portadown Gasworks Site (with The QUESTOR Centre).

1999 - 2001 Health and Safety Executive (63,047). Social amplification of risk (with Prof Noel Sheehy).

1999 Network for Industrially Contaminated Land in Europe (Industry Subgroup) 40,000 euro (QUB 8.000 euro). Risk communication: Learning from experiences (with The QUESTOR Centre).