Making the Most of Student Diversity

Research on what students learn has demonstrated that students in classes dealing with social issues learn and retain more understanding about identities and power relations when they engage with one another, and when they are given the opportunity to connect discussion to their own experiences, identities, and their perception of identities.  That is, students in social science classes learn and retain less than student in dialogue classes.

Moreover, research on learning also demonstrates the value of students' engaging “desirable difficulties.”  That is, students in all classes have higher achievement levels, developing stronger cognitive skills, when the course material attaches to their prior knowledge and when they have to grapple with material that is difficult (but within their reach).  They also do better when their assignments have them apply key concepts in varying contexts and conditions.  Engaging students with one another, using carefully designed short discussion questions, produces this result.  The discussion pushes them to apply their knowledge, to reconcile different perspectives, and thus to hone their abilities to analyze more complex problems.

We also know that the degree of college students’ interactions with people from backgrounds different from their own correlates with higher levels of analytical interest and ability.   What is exciting about the learning research is that it suggests not only the cynical outcome – that more motivated students seek out both complex interests and
complex social lives – but also that students in college classes can learn these abilities and be motivated to keep pursuing them.

Some relevant publications:

• The Effect of Student Diversity on Student Learning at the University of Michigan: Faculty and GSI Perspectives [1]
• Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching [2]

Student diversity at the University of Michigan

• Data collected about incoming students [3]
• Research on views of students of color at U-M [4]

Discussion forums and programs on multiculturalism and diversity in higher education in the U.S. today

• AAC&U website [5]

[Additional content coming soon.]