Making the Most of Student Diversity

Additional content coming soon.

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.

• 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]