The core of our research centers around providing novel information about the development of achievement motivation and engagement and what can impact this development. To achieve this goal, our projects span a range of interrelated areas.

Role Models and STEM

In one strand of research, we aim to examine what makes a role model effective for different students and how role models can be leveraged as motivational tools for students in STEM. Below are some projects related to role models and STEM:

Systematic review of which role models are effective for which students.
Four recommendations when using role models:
Introducing young girls to a female role model in an unfamiliar STEM field (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105775)
The role model’s growth (vs. fixed) mindset messages about ability—but not interest—increased girls’ (5-8 years old) interest and self-efficacy in the scientist’s field, but these effects were only observed among girls of color

What (de)motivating messages are present in children’s science biographies (in prep)
We coded for the presence (or absence) of various motivation constructs in the top 500 most popular children’s science biographies.
We found, regardless of scientist gender or race, that fixed messages about interest were extremely popular in these books.
Other constructs we coded for include:
Mindsets about ability
Mindsets about interest
Effort
Collaboration
Altrusim
The presence of obstacles (structural barriers, social barriers, personal obstacles, experiencing failure).
What happens when parents read these science biographies to their children? (project design underway)
In collaboration with Dr. Aixa Marchand, Dr. Brenda Straka, and Dr. Michael Rizzo, we seek to understand what conversations parents have with their children when reading a science biography featuring Black women scientists who have had to overcome structural barriers.

Teachers

Promoting Science Engagement Through Discourse and Opportunities to Learn Science
In collaboration with Dr. Christine Bae and the Discourse and Learning Lab, we worked on several projects aimed to support engaging opportunities for middle school students to talk science in their classrooms. We have worked on several projects identifying ways to connect science phenomena to students’ lived experiences, and track the ways in which students are motivated to engage in scientific discourse. Teachers from Richmond and Chesterfield Public Schools partner with the team to facilitate science talk. We have also examined the relationship between elementary students’ opportunities to participate in science learning and their science engagement.
In collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Hayes, we have also examined how science teaching professional development can help aid in the implementation of equitable science teaching practices. We further examined how organizational supports may help or hinder these practices.
We have also used mixed methods approaches to better understand teachers’ own motivation and instructional practices.

Parents

In collaboration with researchers at the University of Tübingen, we have examined how mothers’ and fathers’ own beliefs and their beliefs about their child can impact their child’s beliefs and values for STEM.
For example, we have found that parents of boys believed mathematics was more useful for their child than parents of girls, regardless of the child’s own value beliefs and grades

Understanding Students’ Motivation and Engagement to Promote Achievement in STEM

We currently have longitudinal data examining:
Undergraduate students’ reports of their expectancies, values, costs, and various dimensions of engagement in their introductory math and science courses.
High school students’ reports of their grit, identity, mindset beliefs, engagement, conscientiousness, goals, effort, values, and self-regulation in their math and science courses.

In collaboration with Dr. Juan Álvarez and Dr. Jennifer Cromley we are conducting a mixed-methods study to understand undergraduate students’ response to failure and success in ECE circuits courses (project underway)

AI x Education

More information on projects coming soon! See this website for more information on the INVITE Institute: https://invite.illinois.edu/