Research Focal Areas

Executive Summary Georgia Southern University is well-positioned to serve the local region and global community by engaging in public impact research. Public impact research matches community (broadly defined) needs with University resources to help solve the most pressing societal problems. Positioning Georgia Southern University as a public impact research institution aligns well with its recently established Strategic Plan (2019-2024), which calls for building research infrastructure to support interdisciplinary collaborations, better engage within our local, regional, and global communities, and build mutually beneficial partnerships. To move the University in this direction, the Vice Provost for Research, Dr. Chris Curtis, initiated the development of university research themes, herein termed research focal areas, to stimulate interdisciplinary research with a public impact orientation. The Faculty Research Advisory Board was then established to begin identifying 3-5 focal areas based on the needs of the region and society and how readily current faculty expertise and University resources could be harnessed to meet those needs. The Faculty Research Advisory Board had representatives from each of the University’s eight academic colleges and members collected information from reports (e.g., regional economic development plans) and data from colleagues about research interests, resources such as existing research centers, equipment, business and community partnerships, and Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs). Based on the information collected, with regional/global needs as the primary driver, four focal areas were proposed with the acknowledgement that the focal areas can and will overlap. The focal areas, along with their definitions, are: Healthy Communities: To improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Faculty are leading basic, applied, clinical, evaluative, translational research that is nationally recognized for excellence in promoting health within underserved and rural communities. Innovation, Manufacturing, and Supply Chains: Global markets are integrated by supply chains that organize networks of resources, people, ideas, factories, materials, vehicles, and cash, that deliver value to end markets. Faculty research advances innovative science, technologies, manufacturing, and business/ managerial approaches to improve these networks. Sustainability and Energy: To protect natural environments while supporting human well-being, community health, culture, and long-term economic growth for future generations. Faculty research advances innovative science, technology, and business practices to address challenges for current and future generations’ resiliency in a changing environment. Cultural Enrichment: To foster human enrichment, cultural outreach, and global awareness in ways that enhance well-being, quality of life, personal growth, inclusive excellence, and appreciation of diverse perspectives and experiences. Faculty produce research, creative works, and scholarly activity that contribute to cultural vitality and economic development. Additional data were collected to ensure that the University’s grant history, as an indicator of current faculty research expertise, appropriately aligned with the proposed focal areas. Major funding agency initiatives also were reviewed to confirm that the proposed focal areas would be competitive for extramural funding. The next steps in this initiative are to refine the focal areas by receiving input from campus leaders, secure ways to communicate the focal areas to the broader campus community and constituents, and for the Office of Research to determine avenues for providing the necessary support for faculty collaborations to begin

What Writing Processes do Teacher Candidates Use? Findings from a Think-Aloud Protocol

The objective of this study was to examine changes in teacher candidates’ writing processes and writing quality while enrolled in a writing-enriched course that was part of a college of education’s teacher education program. Participants in the study were enrolled in an introductory middle grades course that focused on pedagogical methods in general. A modified think-aloud method was used to collect data on ten teacher candidates’ writing processes as they responded to a writing prompt, once at the beginning of the semester and then again at the end. Data examined were the final product of writing, writing processes used in real-time, and teacher candidates’ reflections on writing strategies after writing was complete. Taken together, the data showed that teacher candidates’ ability to write for a particular purpose and audience and their use evidence to back up written claims improved throughout the semester. We conclude that looking at multiple points of data – the final product of writing, writing processes, and explicitly described strategies to approach writing – to examine how teacher candidates develop as writers is a fruitful endeavour and that the writing-enriched course enhanced teacher candidates’ writing abilities

Reading Speed as a Constraint of Accuracy of Self-Perception of Reading Skill

We hypothesised that college students take reading speed into consideration when evaluating their own reading skill, even if reading speed does not reliably predict actual reading skill. To test this hypothesis, we measured self-perception of reading skill, self-perception of reading speed, actual reading skill and actual reading speed to determine the relations that exist. The results supported our predictions. Primarily, self-perceived reading speed strongly correlated with self-perceived reading skill, whereas the correlation between actual reading speed and actual reading skill was low. Next, a multiple regression analysis showed that self-perception of reading speed significantly predicted self-perception of reading skill after controlling for actual reading skill. Lastly, how highly correlated reading skill was with self-perceived reading speed was found to affect how accurately one perceived his or her reading skill. Consequently, the study results suggest a negative impact of self-perceived reading speed on accuracy of self-perceived reading skill, as hypothesised

Effects of Self-Perception of Reading Skill on Absolute Accuracy of Metacomprehension Judgements

The objective of this study is to investigate the role of self-perception of reading skill as a critical cue for metacomprehension assessment. To achieve our objective, we inspected how self-perception of reading skill explains judgements of reading comprehension and their absolute accuracy. The study results supported our hypotheses: (1) self-perception of reading skill was predictive of metacomprehension predictions even when actual reading skill was controlled for; (2) the extent to which self-perception of reading skill deviated from actual reading skill accounted for the degree to which absolute accuracy of predictions was limited; and (3) more-skilled readers were less likely to overestimate their general reading skill and their reading performance in specific texts than less-skilled readers. However, (4) self-perception of reading skill was more highly related to postdictions than predictions of test performance, which was counter to expectations. We conclude that self-perception of reading skill influences metacomprehension assessments and their absolute accuracy

The Role of Prior Knowledge in the Testing Effect

The Role of Prior Knowledge in the Testing Effect The objective of the study was to investigate the role of prior knowledge on the “testing effect” (see Bjork, 1994; Bjork & Bjork, 2011). The testing effect describes a well-established phenomenon that self-testing is superior to re-reading materials for long-term retention. It was determined that prior knowledge about to-be-learned information does not appear to influence the testing effect. That is, learners with a great deal of prior knowledge or no prior knowledge about a topic can benefit from a self-testing strategy

Capitalizing on the Testing Effect to Enhance Learning in the Classroom

Capitalizing on the Testing Effect to Enhance Learning in the Classroom Strategies that are based on the “testing effect” can be a powerful means of improving learning and memory. The first part of this workshop will be dedicated to discussing the scientific literature pertaining to the testing effect, including several recent studies the authors conducted with kinesiology information. During the second part of the workshop, the authors will discuss recommendations for employing the testing effect in the classroom

Self-Testing Promotes Superior Retention of Anatomy and Physiology Information

The testing effect shows that learning is enhanced by the act of recalling information after exposure. Although the testing effect is among the most robust findings in cognitive science, much of its empirical support is from laboratory studies and it has been applied as a strategy for enhancing learning in the classroom in a limited fashion. The purpose of this investigation was to replicate the testing effect in a university anatomy and physiology course and to extend the applicability of it to independent student study. Students repeatedly studied three sets of passages that described structures and concepts pertaining to (1) cardiac electrophysiology, (2) ventilation and (3) endocrinology. Each student was randomly assigned to study one of those three passage sets by reading it three consecutive times (R–R–R), another by reading and then rereading it while taking notes (R–R + N) and the third by reading it, recalling as much as possible (i.e., self-testing) and then rereading it (R–T–R). Retention assessed after 1 week was significantly greater following R–T–R (53.95 ± 1.72) compared to R–R–R (48.04 ± 1.83) and R–R + N (48.31 ± 1.78). Evidence is also presented that suggests students benefited from instructions to self-test when preparing for exams on their own. The testing effect, then, can be generalized to real-life settings such as university anatomy and physiology courses and to independent study situations

The Effect of Selected “Desirable Difficulties” on Multiple Text Processing

A testing-based learning strategy is one that relies on the act of recalling (i.e., testing) information after exposure, and interleaving is a strategy in which the learning materials are presented in a serial order (e.g., ABC, ABC, ABC) versus a blocked order (AAA, BBB, CCC). Although both strategies have been thoroughly investigated, few studies have examined their additive effect with more complex cognitive tasks such as the ability to identify themes across multiple texts, and none of those did so using science information. The purpose of this study was to compare recall and thematic processing across five different exercise physiology texts. Participants were randomly assigned to learn the texts using one of the following learning strategies: 1. study-study-study (S-S-S) using a blocked order, 2. study-test-study (S-T-S) using a blocked order, 3. S-S-S using an interleaved order and 4. S-T-S using an interleaved order. Over the course of the following week, the S-T-S groups had more stable recall of key text ideas compared to the S-S-S groups, and the S-T-S group had more stable recall of thematic information than the S-S-S group when interleaving was used as the presentation order