Cavanagh, A., J., Aragón, O. R., Chen, X., Couch, B., Hurham, M., Bobrownicki, A., Hanauer, D. I., & Graham, M. (2016). Student buy-in to active learning in college science course. CBE-Life Sciences Education, (15) 4, ar76. doi: 10.1187/cbe.16-07-0212 http://www.lifescied.org/content/15/4/ar76.short
The benefits of introducing active learning in college science courses are well established, yet more needs to be understood about student buy-in to active learning and how that process of buy-in might relate to student outcomes. We test the exposure–persuasion–identification–commitment (EPIC) process model of buy-in, here applied to student (n = 245) engagement in an undergraduate science course featuring active learning. Student buy-in to active learning was positively associated with engagement in self-regulated learning and students’ course performance. The positive associations among buy-in, self-regulated learning, and course performance suggest buy-in as a potentially important factor leading to student engagement and other student outcomes. These findings are particularly salient in course contexts featuring active learning, which encourage active student participation in the learning process.
Aragón, O. R., Dovidio, J. F., & Graham, M. J. (2016). Colorblind and multicultural ideologies are associated with faculty adoption of inclusive teaching practices. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, in press. doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000026 http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2016-26875-001/
Professional workshops aimed at increasing student diversity typically urge college-level science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educators to implement inclusive teaching practices. A model of the process by which educators adopt such practices, and the relationship between adoption and 2 ideologies of diversity is tested here. One ideology, colorblindness, downplays differences based on gender or color. The other, multiculturalism, embraces differences. Pathway modeling revealed reliable, discrete steps in the process of adoption. Independently, greater endorsement of colorblindness predicted adoption of fewer inclusive teaching practices, and multiculturalism predicted adoption of more practices. These findings inform national-level intervention efforts about the process by which educators adopt inclusive teaching practices, and suggest that interventions might consider educators’ personal beliefs and approaches to diversity.
Aragón, O. R., Clark, M. S., & Graham, M. J. (2014). Summer undergraduate research programs and female students’ mastery, self-efficacy and academic persistence. Published Proceedings of Northeastern Educational Research Association. Guilford, CT.
We investigated if undergraduate summer research programs increase confidence in mastery of research skills, confidence as researchers and intentions to pursue graduate school, and if that differed by gender. Overall participants in the program had significant improvements in confidence in mastery of research skills, and confidence as researchers. When considering gender, upon entry to the program our female participants reported lower mastery and confidence than men. Upon completion of the program, men and women showed equal or greater mastery and confidence as researchers. Men reported marginally greater intentions to pursue graduate school both upon entry and completion of the program. Increases in confidence, were associated with increases in mastery of skills, which predicted intentions to pursue graduate school, but only for men. For women, who showed significantly greater gains in confidence and research during the program than men, those gains did not translate into intentions to pursue graduate school, suggesting that factors other than confidence and mastery of skills are interfering with women’s retention in higher education.