OVERVIEW

In my research, I examine the way peers affect each other’s motivation, achievement, and behavior, with the goal of understanding the social-psychological mechanisms underlying these processes and developing practical strategies to ensure that peers promote rather than inhibit each other’s success.


Using Peer Learning to Reduce Bullying and Enhance School Safety

In this on-going NIH-funded project, and in collaboration with the Oregon Research Institute, we test whether peer learning methods (e.g., cooperative learning, collaborative learning) can be leveraged to address the root causes of high-risk behaviors like substance abuse and bullying among middle schoolers – namely, deviant peer clustering/homophily and subsequent social reinforcement for bullying and aggressive behavior. The basic premise is that peer learning methods promote positive peer relationships while simultaneously enhancing motivation and academic achievement.


Online Constructive Controversy

Both theory and research support the positive effects of Constructive Controversy, a cooperative learning procedure involving intellectual conflict among students, on student achievement, motivation, and interpersonal relationships. Recent research suggests (i.e., Klautke & Roseth, 2017; Roseth, Saltarelli, & Glass, 2011; Saltarelli & Roseth, 2014), however, that asynchronous computer-mediated technologies may negatively affect these outcomes. In this line of research we therefore seek to clarify these issues, going beyond merely designing and testing particular versions of online Constructive Controversy, and committing to understanding the social-psychological mechanisms underlying the different ways that peer learning methods function in face-to-face and online, computer-mediated contexts.


Ostracism, Cooperation, and Goal Attainment

This project involves a series of experimental studies examining the role of cooperation and goal attainment in moderating the potentially negative effects of exclusion or, more formally, “social ostracism.”


Flipped Classroom

In collaboration with Central Michigan University, this study examines the motivational effects of flipping a college anatomy class. In a flipped classroom, students watch pre-recorded lectures at home instead of completing traditional homework, and then the professor uses class time to lead them in collaborative learning activities. We are interested in informing practice by providing insights about how this increasingly popular instructional technique affects student learning. Specifically, we are examining students’ goal-setting behaviors, self-regulatory strategies, motivation and emotion, engagement, and achievement.