About

Raven Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. She specializes in narrative filmmaking, screenwriting, directing, and editing. Johnson holds an MFA in Filmmaking from New York University and a BA in Studies in Cinema & Media Culture from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Her professional background includes a focus on moving images, with courses offered in digital filmmaking, documentary and social justice filmmaking, and experimental filmmaking. She has received numerous awards and grants, including the Jerome Foundation Minnesota Film Production Grant, Hedgebrook Writing Residency, and the Mcknight Foundation McKnight Media Artist Fellowship. Her work and research are recognized through residencies and fellowships at prestigious institutions such as Yaddo, Locarno Film Festival, and Cannes Cinéfondation. Johnson's contributions to the field are marked by her active engagement in filmmaking, screenwriting, and directing, supported by a robust record of awards and residencies.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Developmental psychology
• Psychology
• Epistemology
• Social psychology

Selected publications

• Training Elementary School Students to Manage Conflict

  The Journal of Psychodrama Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy · 2026-01-23

  articleOpen access

  The effectiveness of a peer mediation program in a midwestem, suburban school in the United States was examined. Six classes (one combination second/ third grade, one third grade, two fourth grades, and two fifth grades) containing 144 students received 9 hr of training in negotiating integrative agreements to their conflicts and mediating their classmates' conflicts. Eighty-three untrained third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders served as a control group. A peer mediation program was implemented. The role of mediator was rotated equally among all class members. A pretest/posttest, experimental/control group design was used. The results indicate that students successfully learned the negotiation and mediation procedures, were able to apply the procedures in actual conflict situations, and maintained this knowledge throughout the academic year.

  PublisherDOI

• Reduction in Emotional and Uncontrolled Eating Scores with Yoga Compared to Stretching: A Randomized Trial.

  PubMed · 2025-09-01

  articleSenior author

  Background: Lowering stress through yoga may help individuals make better food choices and manage their weight. Primary Study Objective: To compare the effectiveness of yoga versus stretching for reducing stress levels, improving eating behaviors, and enhancing weight loss. Methods/Design: Randomized controlled 3-month trial with an additional 3-month follow-up. Setting: Midwestern United States. Participants: One hundred and sixty-two participants (146 females, mean age 43.7 years, BMI 34.0 kg/m2). Intervention: Participants were randomized to either yoga or stretching (control) intervention and asked to complete exercises 3 times a week for 3 months. Primary Outcome Measures: Perceived Stress Scale and Three Factor Eating Questionnaire Revised were completed, and weight was measured at baseline, 3, and 6 months. Results: Perceived stress decreased significantly in both groups at 3 months, and in just the yoga group at 6 months. There were no group differences at 6 months (-2.8 ± 6.6 yoga vs. -3.0 ± 6.4 control, P = .53). Emotional eating (EE) and uncontrolled eating (UE) were lower in the intervention group at 6 months (-16.0 ± 16.7 yoga vs. -3.3 ± 23.9 control, P = .04 and -11.8 ± 11.9 yoga vs. -3.6 ± 9.9 control, P = .01), with no difference at 3 months. Both EE (P = .026) and UE scores (P = .006) were lower for subjects who completed the program through 6 months. Changes in EE and UE were correlated with changes in perceived stress (r = 0.37, P < .01, df = 64 and r = 0.57, P < .001, df = 64, respectively) and cognitive restraint was negatively correlated with changes in perceived stress (r = -0.32, P < .01, df = 64) at 3 months. Conclusion: Yoga may improve indicators of emotional eating and uncontrolled eating, which were correlated with a decrease in levels of perceived stress. Keywords: Eating behaviors; Obesity; Weight loss; Yoga, Stress.

  Publisher

• Honesty starts from within: conceptualization and multimethod measurement of self-honesty as a core value

  The Journal of General Psychology · 2024

  • Psychology
  • Social psychology
  • Epistemology

  -has been largely neglected. Yet, as argued here and elsewhere, the metacognitive practice of being honest with oneself may be among the most crucial concomitants of psychological growth and change. Consequently, drawing on theory and research from across several disciplines, this paper proposes a novel framework for understanding and measuring self-honesty as a core value. Using data from three separate studies that explore self-honesty via a newly developed self-report, implicit association test and an ecological momentary assessment measure, findings offer preliminary support for the construct of self-honesty as a distinct, psychometrically valid and reliable construct with relevance to multiple indices of psychological functioning. Pending further research, these findings have potentially far-reaching implications for our understanding and promotion of human virtue and flourishing.

  PublisherDOI

• Learning Together and Alone

  Routledge eBooks · 2021 · 1322 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science

  The origin of our approach to cooperative learning has two quite distinct roots. David’s commitment to cooperative learning came from his involvement in the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s, while Roger’s interest in cooperative learning came from his involvement in the science education revolution of the early 1960s and his involvement in the development of the ESS Science Inquiry Curriculum. Our method of cooperative learning is known as the “Learning Together and Alone” method, based on the title of our first book and our belief that all three ways of structuring learning situations (cooperative, competitive, and individualistic) were appropriate under certain conditions. The development of our method consisted of four components. First, it was based on a well-formulated theory. We choose Deutsch’s theory of cooperation and competition as our theoretical base. Second, the theory was well validated by research. Our research efforts consisted of extensive reviews of the existing research literature and a systematic program of research to further validate and extend the theory. Social interdependence theory was the result. Third, our operational procedures for instructors and other educators were derived from the validated theory and spelled out as a conceptual structure that allowed instructors to plan any lesson in any curriculum for any age student to be cooperative. Our operational procedures included both the teacher’s role in our four types of cooperative learning (formal, informal, cooperative base groups, and constructive controversy) and the five basic elements that are required to make a learning situation cooperative (positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, group processing). Fourth, we implemented our method of cooperative learning throughout North America, Western and Eastern Europe, and much of the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. This worldwide implementation was enhanced by our web site and our annual newsletter. We also helped found several Cooperative Learning Centers around the world based on and affiliated with our Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota.

  PublisherDOI

• The impact of cooperative learning on self-directed learning

  NWU self-directed learning series · 2019-01-01 · 48 citations

  book-chapterOpen accessSenior author

  This book is devoted to scholarship in the field of self-directed learning in the 21st century, with specific reference to higher education. The target audience of the book includes scholars in the field of self-directed learning and higher education. The book contributes to the discourse on the quality of education in the 21st century and adds to the body of scholarship in terms of self-directed learning, and specifically its role in higher education. Although all the chapters in the book directly address self-directed learning, the different foci and viewpoints raised make the book a rich knowledge bank of work on self-directed learning. &nbsp;

  PublisherDOI

• Self-Directed Learning for the 21st Century

  OAPEN (The OAPEN Foundation) · 2019-01-01

  otherOpen access

  This book is devoted to scholarship in the field of self-directed learning in the 21st century, with specific reference to higher education. The target audience of the book includes scholars in the field of self-directed learning and higher education. The book contributes to the discourse on the quality of education in the 21st century and adds to the body of scholarship in terms of self-directed learning, and specifically its role in higher education. Although all the chapters in the book directly address self-directed learning, the different foci and viewpoints raised make the book a rich knowledge bank of work on self-directed learning.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Valuing Cooperation and Constructive Controversy: A Tribute to David W. Johnson

  Negotiation and Conflict Management Research · 2019-02-27 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The International Association of Conflict Management awarded David Johnson the Jeffrey Rubin Theory‐to‐Practice Award for professional achievement in 2010. To extend this recognition of David, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research invited us to publish this tribute. We begin with Dean Tjosvold's discussion of David's career. Daniel Druckman describes David's research on constructive controversy and team performance. Roger Johnson outlines how David and he laid the foundations of cooperative learning. Karl Smith describes the development of intellectual disagreement to promote decision‐making. Cary Roseth shows the persistence and skill needed for David's meta‐analyses on the effects of cooperation and competition on learning. Finally, David responds to three questions developed by the contributors.

  PublisherDOI

• Self-Directed Learning for the 21st Century: Implications for Higher Education

  NWU self-directed learning series · 2019-01-01 · 42 citations

  bookOpen access

  This book is devoted to scholarship in the field of self-directed learning in the 21st century, with specific reference to higher education. The target audience of the book includes scholars in the field of self-directed learning and higher education. The book contributes to the discourse on the quality of education in the 21st century and adds to the body of scholarship in terms of self-directed learning, and specifically its role in higher education. Although all the chapters in the book directly address self-directed learning, the different foci and viewpoints raised make the book a rich knowledge bank of work on self-directed learning. &nbsp;

  PublisherDOI

• Cooperative Learning: The Foundation for Active Learning

  IntechOpen eBooks · 2019-02-07 · 295 citations

  book-chapterOpen accessSenior author

  The role of instructors is evolving from the presenter of information to the designer of active learning processes, environments, and experiences that maximize student engagement. The more active a lesson, the more students tend to engage intellectually and emotionally in the learning activities. Cooperative learning is the foundation on which many of the active learning procedures are based. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning. Most of the active learning procedures, such as problem-based learning, team-learning, collaborative learning, and PALS, require that students work cooperatively in small groups to achieve joint learning goals. Cooperative learning is based on two theories: Structure-Process-Outcome theory and Social Interdependence theory. Four types of cooperative learning have been derived: formal cooperative learning, informal cooperative learning, cooperative base groups, and constructive controversy. There is considerable research confirming the effectiveness of cooperative learning. To be cooperative, however, five basic elements must be structured into the situation: positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Aprendizaje cooperativo como estrategia de inclusión: el impacto de la interdependencia social

  Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · 2018-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• David W. Johnson

  301 shared

• David W. Johnson

  40 shared

• Karl A. Smith

  19 shared

• Dean Tjosvold

  14 shared

• David W. Johnson

  University of Queensland

  13 shared

• Geoffrey Maruyama

  Twin Cities Orthopedics

  12 shared

• Bruce Dudley

  University of Minnesota

  11 shared

• David W. Johnson

  Stanford Medicine

  10 shared

Awards & honors

• Minnesota State Arts Board, Creative Individuals Grant, 2026
• Jerome Foundation, Minnesota Film Production Grant, 2025
• Hedgebrook Writing Residency, 2025
• CLA, Imagine Fund - Faculty Research Grant, 2025
• Minnesota Film Festival, Narrative Features Pitch Competitio…