World of Children, The

Joan Littlefield Cook is a Professor of Psychology and current chairperson of the Psychology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. As an undergraduate she majored in Psychology at Tennessee Technological University. She earned a Master’s and Ph.D. in Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Joan has taught courses for more than 20 years related to child and adolescent development, educational psychology, and cognitive psychology. Students have always appreciated her knowledge of the field and her ability to present information in a way that is useful, motivating, and friendly. The Student Association at the University of Wisconsin-Madison voted her as one of their most outstanding professors, and the UW-Whitewater Psychology Student Organization presented her with their Excellence in Teaching Award. Joan's research is on mathematical problem solving and cognitive development, and she is currently involved in projects to support and assess critical thinking in college students.   Greg Cook is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Greg majored in Psychology at the University of Dayton and later received his Ph.D. in Psychology at Vanderbilt University. Greg has worked in higher education for more than 25 years. He’s taught courses in child development, research methods, statistics, and related topics at Whitewater as well as at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Vanderbilt University. At Whitewater Greg received a department award and also a College of Letters and Sciences award for excellence in teaching. Students consistently comment on his ability to present difficult information in a clear and understandable way. Greg’s research on cognitive development has been published in scholarly journals such as Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. He also collaborated with colleagues in the College of Education on studies published in the Journal of Experimental Education, the Journal of Research & Development in Education, and the Journal of Reading Education. Currently, Greg is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UW-Whitewater.