Person:

Gehlbach, Hunter

This study examined the potential of simulations to bolster interest in middle school social studies classrooms. Using a pre-post design, we examined 305 middle school students (49% female) who participated in the web-based GlobalEd simulation. Unlike the motivation declines middle school students usually experience, participants in this simulation became more interested in social studies. We investigated four hypotheses as to why these increases may have occurred. We found no support for the possibility that, (a) students’ interest in a particular issue area or (b) their increased valuing of the subject matter, were related to their increased interest. However, results suggested that, (c) the challenging nature of the activity may have bolstered their interest in social studies and (d) students’ increased propensity to engage in social perspective taking. The discussion explores future research directions and whether implications for classroom teachers are warranted given the correlational nature of the research.

Do students tend to set similar types of goals throughout the school year, or do their goal orientations shift over time? If students become more oriented toward mastery or performance over the course of the year, do they improve in their academic achievement, have a more positive affect toward class, and develop the cognitive propensities that their teachers might hope for? A diverse sample of 9th- and 10th-grade world history students (N = 917) participated in a study addressing these questions. Substantial changes occurred in students' mastery- and performance-goal orientations. Increases in mastery-goal orientation were positively related, whereas increases in performance-goal orientation were unrelated to the following outcomes: world history knowledge, social studies grade, interest, course satisfaction, social perspective taking, and historical empathy.

The current mindset of the Army is that it must be able to win our Nation’s wars while at the same time ready to assist in stability operations (U.S. Department of the Army, 2008). A challenge is that Soldiers often have to bridge large cultural gaps and may lack the language skills to effectively engage with the host of individuals now present in these operations including the local populace, host nation security forces, coalition partners and other foreign governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Perspective taking – described more formally as “Social Perspective Taking” (SPT) – is an interpersonal technique which may address these challenges. SPT is a skill often learned throughout life but may be very difficult in cross-cultural interactions. This report describes the results of a literature review and SME and Soldier interviews regarding the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed to develop SPT and the methods used to train SPT. Based on this information a four module curriculum is proposed which utilizes a four-step method for the development of SPT. The curriculum trains Soldiers how to accurately consider the host-national’s perspective without cultural bias and erroneous assumptions and allows Soldiers to meet host-national goals while accomplishing U.S. missions and objectives.

Social perspective taking (SPT) is thought to be important in its own right and is often associated with other important skills, such as interpersonal conflict resolution. Thus, it is critical for researchers to systematically understand SPT and how it relates to other valued educational outcomes. In particular, a complete understanding of SPT might assist educational psychologists to apply this knowledge in school settings to improve the effectiveness of students’ social interactions. Previous research on SPT, however, has conceptualized it as a unidimensional construct leaving scholars with an insufficient understanding of this aptitude. To best understand SPT, a multidimensional approach should include assessments of personal characteristics (including the propensity and the ability to engage in SPT) and features of the situation (including features of the SPT task and the larger context). Using Snow’s conceptualization of aptitudes as a framework, this article illustrates the problems with treating SPT as a unidimensional construct, defines SPT as a complex aptitude, and provides a taxonomy to develop our understanding of SPT and to guide future research in this area. The taxonomy organizes and reviews the existing literature that relates personal and situational characteristics to SPT aptitude. Where research has not yet been conducted, this article hypothesizes how these characteristics will relate to SPT aptitude.