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
Senior Scientist
Christian Schunn
Senior Scientist
Erin Walker
Research Scientist
Ming-Te Wang
Senior Scientist