Research
My research broadly focuses on conceptualizing and measuring undergraduate science students' learning and engagement. I design and validate instruments that are intended to measure traits like science identity, belonging, and overall success in a course (which include both cognitive and social-psychological course outcomes). I argue that these traits are intertwined with and directly impact students' longterm learning and engagement with and persistence in science.
MIXED METHODS USED IN MY RESEARCH
I take a mixed methods approach, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, to conceptualize and measure student traits of learning and engagement in science. Beyond general statistics, I use factor analysis, Structural Equation Modeling, and Rasch analyses to quantify these complex traits and model their relationships with one another. These traits and relationships are further analyzed using qualitative methods including, but not limited to, coding and thematic analyses of case studies, interviews, and individual course observations.
QUANTITATIVE METHODS
RASCH MODELING
FACTOR ANALYSIS & STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
QUALITATIVE METHODS
CODING & THEMATIC ANALYSIS
CASE STUDIES & INTERVIEWS
I have published a thematic analysis of science identity and metacognitive development in science students that engage as undergraduate peer mentors, as well as co-authored an article that coded video footage from undergraduate STEM courses to conceptualize and measure peer mentors’ actions in a course. Both of these works were published in the International Journal of STEM Education. As part of my dissertation, I am using factor analysis and Rasch modeling to validate a science identity measure and to model student success as a latent construct comprised of cognitive and social-psychological course outcomes to add to this body of work.
A Structural Equation Model of Student Success
Poster from my dissertation pilot study. Presented at the Learning Assistant Alliance Research Symposium, Nov. 2019
The activity system (Engeström, 1987)
My analyses are grounded in sociocultural theoretical frameworks, including cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) which situates learning as both mediated by tools and the larger historical system in which a classroom is bound. I argue that the historical and cultural aspects of a science classroom, as well as the tools used in science learning, impact a number of course outcomes for a student. Accurately measuring these diverse outcomes push our thinking forward about the structure of undergraduate science courses and the intervening tools we utilize to teach science more generally.