Tag: Humanities

Helping STEM Students Thrive: Investigating the Relationship of Course Belongingness and Approaches to Learning

Presenter(s): Shan Zhang

Faculty Mentor(s): Shawn Lampkins & Jenefer Husman

Poster 121

 Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

In college, students become increasingly responsible for their learning behaviors which determine their academic performance, known as self-regulation. If instructors expect students to be self-regulated, they need to know what factors they must address to support student self- regulation. We argue that self-efficacy (students’ belief in their ability to complete a task) and course belongingness (feeling of being valued in the course) are related to student self- regulation (SR), low-regulation (LR), deep learning strategies, (e.g., QAH, engagement of material by asking questions that take critical thought) and surface learning strategies (e.g., QAL, asking surface level questions ). The majority of research in university science education have male- dominated samples, our sample is 61% female-identified. We hypothesized that self-efficacy and course belongingness together would explain a significant portion of the variance in SR. By utilizing an existing validated survey of student approaches to learning from 271 undergraduate, non-major physics students, we conducted multiple regression analyses to explore these topics. We found that course belongingness and self-efficacy had strong positive relations with SR and strong negative relationship with LR. We also found that course belongingness and self-efficacy had a positive relationship with QAH and QAL, though its relation was not as strong as with SR. In conclusion, self-efficacy and course belongingness are strongly and positively related to students’ self-regulation. Based on these preliminary results, professors should consider promoting students’ sense of self-efficacy and feeling of belongingness in their courses. We will also explore gender as a moderator and mediator in this context.

The Role of Abstract Chunk Patterns in the Organization of Complex Sequences

Presenter(s): Min Zhang

Faculty Mentor(s): Ulrich Mayr & Melissa Moss

Poster 111

 Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

In order to execute complex sequences, such as playing a piece of music, people group sequential elements (e.g., individual notes) into “chunks”. The dominant theory assumes that chunks are merely independent bundles of elements (Lashley, 1951), though little is known about the organization of chunked information. Applying the efficient coding principle, chunks may be coded in a relational manner, based on structural similarities, to allow people to smoothly execute complex tasks (Botvinick et al., 2015). In two experiments, we assessed how performance is affected by whether chunks contain similar, abstract patterns of elements (“matching” chunks, e.g., ABA pattern of elements in both chunks). Participants completed a task in which they needed to remember and execute sequences of rules. The rule sequences contained two 3-element chunks with various patterns of rule elements. Some sequences contained matching chunks, while others contained non-matching chunks. In Experiment 1, participants executed sequences in which both chunks contained the same types of rules arranged in matching or non-matching patterns. In Experiment 2, the two chunks contained different sets of rules, thus requiring a greater degree of abstraction across chunks. Results showed better performance for sequences containing matching chunks. The effect of pattern similarity on sequential performance was much weaker in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1. Generally, these findings indicate that our cognitive system makes use of abstract patterns to efficiently code sequential information.

Sociosexual behaviors of captive bonobos (Pan paniscus) in proximity to an artificially built termite mound

Presenter(s): Mathieu Wilson

Faculty Mentor(s): Frances White & Kylen Gartland

Poster 109

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Studies of wild apes are fundamental to our understanding of humans and human evolution. Biological anthropologists investigate the behavior of our closest relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, in an effort to understand the evolution of human social behavior. Whereas chimpanzees are male-bonded and aggressive, bonobos have been found to be female-bonded and peaceful. Bonobos are known to engage in sociosexual behaviors for a variety of purposes beyond reproduction. These behaviors are thought to be used to strengthen social bonds and as a means of diffusing group tension in both wild and captive populations. Given these hypotheses, sociosexual behavior is particularly evident in feeding contexts. Here we study the effects of an artificially built termite mounded, baited daily with food, on the sociosexual behaviors of a captive group of 16 bonobos at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. To collect data, the bonobos were observed during the day time from June 19th through August 29th, 2011. All occurrences of sociosexual behavior were recorded, in addition to the age and sex of the individuals involved, and who initiated the contact. We hypothesized that (1) the termite mound would bring the group into closer contact in the space near the mound, and (2) that tensions over who had access to the food in the mound would lead to sociosexual behaviors. Our data support that sociosexual behavior is important in both group cohesion and resolving tension in these bonobos.

Suspending Disbelief in the Unreal: The Craft of Magical Realism

Presenter(s): Sophia Mick—Humanities

Faculty Mentor(s): Will Alden

Session 4: Let’s KIDD Around: KIDD Creative Writing Program

How do you get a reader to happily believe that your character’s husband has turned into an ape? Or that your narrator has developed a concerning but largely unimportant ability to fly? Why? Magical realism is often distinguished from other literary genres with a definition, however malleable, along these lines: a realistic narrative with surreal elements . These surreal elements are what fascinate me . This essay explores, on the micro scale, how understatement and detail help craft the suspension of disbelief necessary in the creation of magical realism, and on a macro scale, what magical realism means, both the term itself and the implications it has for author and reader . My research is composed of a close analysis of the micro techniques in works by authors Aimee Bender, Joseph O’Neill and Karen Russell, analysis of craft essays by Russell and Alice Munro, and a brief look at some of my own writing through the lens of Bret Anthony Johnston’s “Don’t Write What You Know .” As a lover of the magically real, I intend to examine and explain the literary craft of convincing magical realism and hopefully, to grasp at some understanding of why anyone would, or should, write it at all .