Dr. Kendeou is widely published in the areas of reading comprehension, reading development and conceptual change. She conducts cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with both children and adults, using methods that exhibit an impressive variety and sophistication, including the use of verbal protocols, reading time, and comprehension and cognitive measures.
In science education, Dr. Kendeou explored student misconceptions of basic science principles and how to use texts to correct those misconceptions and promote deeper understanding. Work in this area requires a thorough understanding of the issues and problems from an applied, educational perspective as well as a deep and thorough understanding of the theoretical processes involved in reading comprehension from a basic cognitive perspective.
Dr. Kendeou’s most significant contributions in science education have been the development of the co-activation hypothesis and Knowledge Revision Components framework (KreC). She has shown that a text effective at correcting a misconception of a basic science principle must be designed to promote the simultaneous activation of both the pre-held misconception as well as the correct concept; and further, the correct concept must be elaborated in a manner that provides sufficient competition to overcome previously-acquired-but-incorrect information. The findings from this work have advanced the principles of science education through reading.
Dr. Kendeou is on the editorial boards of several leading journals including Contemporary Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies of Reading and Reading Psychology. She is an associate editor for the Journal of Educational Psychology. She is an active member of several additional organizations including the American Educational Research Association and the Psychonomic Society.
Dr. Kendeou earned her doctorate in 2005 from the University of Minnesota, where she is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology.
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