Rachel Wong, Ph.D., was born and raised in Singapore. She moved to the United States in 2011 to earn her undergraduate degree in psychology and mathematics at Southwestern College, a small liberal arts college in Winfield, Kansas. After graduating, she moved to Washington to purse graduate work in educational psychology at Washington State University, where she received both her master's degree and doctorate in educational psychology.

Wong moved to Texas in August 2021 to accept her first teaching position as an assistant professor at A&M-Commerce. Among her many research interests, she is most-interested in the intersection of educational psychology, learning sciences and instructional design. She hopes her research will provide support within the classroom for educators and students. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, listening to true crime podcasts and cooking.

A Conversation with Dr. Wong

What would you tell a student thinking about attending A&M-Commerce?

Come to A&M-Commerce! The low student-teacher ratio is indicative of our care for your educational experience. Here, you are not just a number in the crowd. Instead, our instructors know your name and there are multiple opportunities to interact individually with your professors.

What do you like most about your career?

The thing I like most about my career is the opportunity to work with and mentor students of all backgrounds. I learn a lot from just interacting with students. I think students have some of the best ideas, and I am glad that I get to share in their ideas and watch them come to life.

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Educational Psychology, Washington State University, 2021
• M.A., Educational Psychology, Washington State University, 2017
• B.A., Psychology and Mathematics, Southwestern College, 2015

Academic Positions

• Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2021

Research Interests

• Multimedia instructional design
• Learning strategies
• Techniques to enhance STEM learning at middle school and college levels

Awards and Honors

1. Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) Excellence Award for Graduate Research Assistant (2021). Washington State University.
2. WSU President's Award for Leadership (2021). Washington State University.
3. Russ and Anne Fuller Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Research/Scholarship (2021). Washington State University.

Selected Publications

• Wong, R. M., & Adesope, O. O. (2021). Meta-Analysis of Emotional Designs in Multimedia Learning: A Replication and Extension Study. Educational Psychology Review, 33, 357-385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09545-x
• Castro-Alonso, J. C., Wong, R. M., Adesope, O. O., & Paas, F. (2021). Effectiveness of Multimedia Pedagogical Agents Predicted by Diverse Theories: A Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 33, 989-1015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09587-1
• Wong, R. M., Sundararajan, N., Adesope, O. O., & Nishida, K. (2021). Static and interactive concept maps for chemistry learning. Educational Psychology, 41(2), 206-223.https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2020.1761299
• Carbonneau, K. J., Wong, R. M., & Borysenko, N. (2020). Overcoming the detrimental effect of perceptually rich manipulatives on mathematics problem solving and perseverance. Contemporary Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101846