Jeslyn
Brouwers
Children are sensitive to the ways rules are presented and use contextual cues to infer whether to exert self-regulation skills to obey them. In this study, we aim to see how diPerent contextual rules, (group normativity vs individual authority), may aPect children's self-regulation of diPicult rules, while also investigating the influence of gender on this behavior. At the Duke Child Studies labs and the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC, we aimed to see if 4.00-5.99 -year-old (N = 41, data collection ongoing), children were sensitive to the diPerence between group (associated with the school or museum) and individual (the experimenter's desires) rules, and if group rules better predicted children's rule following behaviors. We then asked exploratory questions about their intuitions regarding the scope of the rule. Children were asked to only play with a small "boring" run and resist the desire to play with a larger "fun" run. Children were randomly assigned a condition: 1) authority, in which the rule is "I don't know what others want, but I want you to…", 2) norm, in which the rule is "Here at our school/museum, we only…", and 3) control, in which no rule was given. In every condition, the experimenter left the room and children were left for 3 minutes. Their proportion of rule following was determined by number of marbles placed in the "boring" run over total number of marbles used. Children were then asked three questions: 1) teaching, where they were asked to teach a puppet what it should do with a marble, 2) desire, where children demonstrated what they wanted to do with the marble, and 3) rule generalization, where children were asked explicitly if there was a rule related to the marble runs. If children understand that group norms exert power beyond individual authority, then they should continue to pay a cost to follow the rule in the norm, but not in the authority condition after the experimenter leaves. Preliminary data shows that children in the authority and norm conditions were significantly more likely to pay a cost to follow a rule than those in the control ((F(2, 35) = 17.77, p < .01)). In addition, girls were somewhat less likely to break the rule than boys in the experimental conditions (X2(1, N = 19) = 1.10, p = .29) and when compared to chance (3/14 cases, Binomial test, p = .057). Overall, our data shows that children's self-regulation can be increased through contextual cues, and this may be mediated by gender. Why Students Hate Group Work: Understanding and Addressing Barriers to Collaborative Learning
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Authors:
Jeslyn Brouwers
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While collaborative learning in college classrooms yields many rewards, including preparing students with the interpersonal skills necessary for the workplace and improving student learning outcomes, many students dislike group work and approach it in ways that undermine its benefits (PfaP & Huddleston, 2003). Building on these observations, we conducted two studies to 1) examine student attitudes towards group work across a semester-long group project and 2) to create, implement, and assess the ePectiveness of a pedagogical intervention aimed at improving student group work experiences. In Study 1, we surveyed two cohorts of students enrolled in an undergraduate Psychology methods and statistics course, collecting quantitative and qualitative data and gathering insights from focus groups. Our analyses identified accountability as a key ingredient to successful group work. Study 2 applied insights from Study 1 to create an intervention, tested on a new cohort of students enrolled in the same class. Our baseline data suggests that, overall, students held neutral initial attitudes towards group work, but participation in group projects can improve these attitudes. Study 2 provided mixed evidence on the ePicacy of the proposed intervention compared to baseline. While we expected student attitudes toward group work to increase at a higher rate throughout the intervention semester, student attitudes generally started oP and ended more positively. Through this research, we seek to provide a novel framework for evaluating and scaPolding student group work experiences to enhance collaborative learning opportunities for undergraduate students.
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Duke University / 2024
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Jeslyn Brouwers