What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger: But Does It Foster or Hinder Learning?

Research output: Contribution to conferencePresentationpeer-review

Abstract

Time and again, I find myself in conversations with colleagues who care deeply about our students’ well-being, and we notice a stark decline since the pandemic. We struggle with how we can keep students engaged and genuinely successful in our classes. I find helping students especially challenging with “harder” material and subjects. Students seem to feel like they don’t have a sense of belonging, and a genuine purpose at college. Instead, I notice they treat classes like a “checklist” to get through and move on. Consistent with psychological research, these feelings are especially acute among students who already faced additional stressors before the pandemic (e.g., PoC; first-generation). We’ll share relevant psychological research (e.g., resilience, post-traumatic growth, antifragility, growth mindset, motivation) to help inform us as we work to support our students. I’ll (first author) share personal anecdotes about approaches I’ve tried, with varying success and failure. I’ll share personal anecdotes of my experiences as a student too; especially when rigorous classes invited me to push myself further and when they eroded away any intrinsic motivation I had. I hope other faculty will share their ideas and attempts too, helping spark each of us when we return to our classrooms.
Original languageAmerican English
StatePublished - Feb 2024
EventCalifornia State University Symposium on University Teaching - San Bernardino, United States
Duration: Feb 23 2024 → …

Conference

ConferenceCalifornia State University Symposium on University Teaching
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Bernardino
Period2/23/24 → …

Keywords

  • resilience
  • growth mindset
  • post-traumatic growth
  • antifragility

Disciplines

  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
  • Mental and Social Health
  • Developmental Psychology

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