Web Articles
Increased Structure and Active Learning Reduce the Achievement Gap in Introductory Biology
Abstract: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instructors have been charged with improving the performance and retention of students from diverse backgrounds. To date, programs that close the achievement gap between students from disadvantaged versus...
Stereotype Threat Widens Achievement Gap
Reminders of stereotyped inferiority hurt test scores. Read Article Here
Transparency Isn’t Spoon-Feeding: How a Transformative Approach to the Use of Explicit Assessment Criteria Can Support Student Self-Regulation
If little care is taken when establishing clear assessment requirements, there is the potential for spoon-feeding. However, in this conceptual article we argue that transparency in assessment is essential to providing equality of opportunity and promoting students’...
A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students
Abstract: A brief intervention aimed at buttressing college freshmen’s sense of social belonging in school was tested in a randomized controlled trial (N = 92), and its academic and health-related consequences over 3 years are reported. The intervention aimed to...
‘Black Lives Matter’ Without Black People?
Racial justice demonstrations have intensified following the Aug. 23 shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man shot seven times in the back by a white police officer. This incident, which left Blake paralyzed, has revived national protests against anti-Black...
Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion
Abstract: A neuroimaging study examined the neural correlates of social exclusion and tested the hypothesis that the brain bases of social pain are similar to those of physical pain. Participants were scanned while playing a virtual ball-tossing game in which they...
Looking Back on a Life of Unacknowledged Privilege and a Call to Action
Abstract: The year 2020 provided a wake-up call about the role systemic racism plays in shaping our nation and shaping science. While hard work and great mentors helped bring me a long way from a farm in Minnesota, it’s become much clearer that the privilege of being...
Designing Purposeful Pathways for Student Achievement through Transparency and Problem-Centered Learning
Abstract: Building on this insight, AAC&U foregrounds helping students develop as intentional learners as a guiding principle within the ABOUT TG Created by the Texas Legislature in 1979, TG is a public, nonprofit corporation that promotes educational access and...
Selected Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) for Getting Feedback on Student Learning
“Classroom assessment helps individual college teachers obtain useful feedback on what, how much, and how well their students are learning. Faculty [and GSIs] can then use this information to refocus their teaching to help students make their learning more efficient...
Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines
Abstract: The gender imbalance in STEM subjects dominates current debates about women’s underrepresentation in academia. However, women are well represented at the Ph.D. level in some sciences and poorly represented in some humanities (e.g., in 2011, 54% of U.S....