Date of Award

1-1-2021

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology

Program

Educational Psychology and Methodology

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 77 pages) : illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Gabriel L Schlomer

Committee Members

Kimberly F Colvin, Tammy Ellis-Robinson

Keywords

Differentiated Instruction, Education, Hidden Talents, Life History, Pedagogy, Stress-Adapted, Individualized instruction, Academic achievement, Student growth (Academic achievement), Youth with social disabilities, Stress in children

Subject Categories

Education | Evolution

Abstract

Differentiated Instruction, an approach to teaching that encourages educators to adjust their content, pedagogy, and assessment based on the needs of individual students, lacks suggestions for how to target specific student groups, such as “high-risk” students. Researchers in the field of evolutionary developmental psychology have begun to focus on stress-adapted students (who are described in a similar way as “high risk” students) and has made suggestions about how to play to the strengths of the cognitive enhancements, or “hidden talents” of these students. When considered together, the work from both fields may provide a clear set of pedagogical recommendations for teachers who wish to adjust their practice to meet the needs of students who have experiences social and economic disadvantage. This study tested the relationships between pedagogical practices (using ecologically relevant content, task-shifting, and immediate rewards), classroom environments (allowing for noise and movement during learning activities), stress-adapted students (students who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch, live in single parent homes, speak a language other than English at home, and have no working method of contact between parents and teachers), and class average grade. Results showed a significant relationship between the number of stress-adapted students in a class and the class average grade, such that higher numbers of stress-adapted students were associated with lower class average grades. This study demonstrates that the well-known relationship between social and economic disadvantage and academic achievement persists regardless of the mode of instruction (face-to-face or online). Future research should test these relationships in the context of face-to-face learning in traditional school settings to investigate how pedagogical techniques and classroom environments impact the connection between stress-adapted students and class average grade in context not influenced by COVID-19 educational changes.

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