Mary Jean Lynch

Dr. Lynch joined North Central in 1988 and has been recognized for teaching excellence with the College's Dissinger Award for Senior Faculty and an Exemplary Teaching Award from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church.  In addition to teaching, research, and mentoring of undergraduate students, she has served the College as an Associate Academic Dean, Associate Dean for Continuing Education and Academic Advising, Director of Advising and Academic Support, and Chair of the Psychology Department.  In 2009 she was the co-recipient of the College's Harold and Eva White First Citizen of the College Award, along with her husband Brian Lynch, the College's Director of Fine Arts.

Dr. Lynch's primary research interests are in the areas of individual differences in cognitive functioning, arousal effects on cognitive performance, and science education (primarily at the elementary school level).  She also has a personal interest in theatre and musical theatre which she hopes to connect with her research interests in learning and memory.

Selected Scholarship

Lynch, M. J.  (2017).  Individual differences in self-awareness: Impact on the self-reference effect?  Poster presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Lynch, M. J., & Zenchak, J. (2016).  Transforming elementary grade level science demonstrations: From ordinary to inquiry. Workshop presented at the National Science Teachers Association, Area Conference On Science Education, Exploring Mountains: Guiding Science Teaching and Learning, 10-12 November 2016, Portland, OR.

Zenchak, J., & Lynch, M. J. (2016).  Curiosity, discrepant events, and relevance – The Spirit of the NRC Framework and NGSS. Workshop presented at the National Science Teachers Association, National Conference On Science Education, 31 March - 3 April, Nashville, TN.

Zenchak, J., & Lynch, M. J.  (2015).  Building on inquiry through STEM.  Workshop presented at the National Science Teachers Association, National Conference On Science Education, 12-15 March, Chicago, IL.

Lynch, M. J., & Zenchak, J.  (2015).  The intersection of STEM and inquiry.  Workshop presented at the 44th  Annual Hoosier Association of Science Teachers  Conference, “The Nature of Science,” 11-13 February, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Zenchak, J., & Lynch, M. J.  (2014).  Inquiry as a method for addressing NGSS and The Framework for Science Education.  Workshop presented at the Associated Colleges of Illinois Summer Institute for Educators, “Advancing the Profession,” 27 June, Naperville, IL.

Zenchak, J., & Lynch, M. J. (2013). Spinning your way into STEM. Workshop presented at the National Science Teachers Association 2013 Denver Area Conference on Science Education, 12-14 December, Denver, CO.

Lynch, M. J., & Zenchak, J.  (2013).  Reaching underserved student populations through an inquiry-based discrepant event approach.  Workshop presented at the National Science Teachers Association 2013 National Conference, “Next Generation Science: Learning, Literacy, and Living,” 11-14 April, San Antonio, TX. 

Fitzsimmons, J., Beltchenko, L., Zenchak, J., Lynch, M. J., & Detwiler, M.  (2012).  The Common Core Standards and Science: From informational literacy to inquiry based learning.  Workshop presented at the Illinois State Science Association, 2-3 November, Springfield, IL.

Lynch, M.J., & Zenchak, J. (2011).  Water pressure in depth: A revamped lesson on water gets students excited to create their own investigations.  Science and Children 48(7): 54-57.

Zenchak, J., & Lynch, M.J. (2011).  What's the next step?  How to keep students engaged and on track when teaching inquiry skills during an experiment.  Science and Children 48(6): 50-54.

Courses Taught

PSY 340: Learning

PSY 255: Research Design & Experimentaton

SCI 109: Science Inquiry

PSY 100: Psychology: Science of Behavior

PSY 490: Seminar