Motivation & Engagement

Our research focuses on the socio-cultural and motivational factors in student engagement in learning. We use a range of methodological approaches to better understand the interplay of motivation and learning processes across academic and social domains, in both formal and informal contexts. We also study how the brain may be impacted by early life stress, and how it contributes to motivation and academic achievement.
We study how beliefs, goals, and values interact with the use of particular cognitive strategies for learning; how social relationships between learners, teachers, and robots influence knowledge acquisition and use; and how student motivations affect what is learned from different forms of instruction.
We study the impact of key contexts - classrooms, families, museums - that support learning and socio-emotional development and focus on how to rectify attainment gaps among ethnic, gender, and racial groups, and first-generation college students.
We study the impacts of socio-emotional interventions on student engagement and learning outcomes. Our work on mindfulness meditation and social belonging interventions addresses self-regulation and stereotype threat. We also study policing practices and school discipline on minoritized groups focusing on adolescents of color's academic and psychological adjustment.
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Researchers Associated with this Area

Kevin Binning
Research Scientist

Kevin Crowley
Senior Scientist

Juan Del Toro
Research Associate

Scott Fraundorf
Research Scientist

Brian Galla
Research Scientist

Jamie Hanson
Research Scientist

Nikki Lobczowski
Post-Doc

Sarah McKellar
Post-Doc

Timothy Nokes-Malach
Research Scientist

Christian Schunn
Senior Scientist

Erin Walker
Research Scientist

Ming-Te Wang
Senior Scientist
