Misery in Methods: Moderating Negative Emotions of both Students and Teachers in Quantitative Undergraduate Methods Classes

Abstract

Undergraduate quantitative methods courses can be miserable. In this piece, I offer some solutions from social psychology and my own experience that address the anxieties of both students and professors as they begin an undergraduate quantitative methods course. These are not solutions of syllabi or content or innovative teaching techniques. Instead, they...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Statistics

Resource Type(s):

Essay

Class Level(s):

College 400

Class Size(s):

Medium

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Professors should strive to moderate the emotions of the students in their social statistics courses through engaging the students’ curiosity.
2. Professors should be able to moderate the emotions of their students in social statistics courses through a focus on a growth mindset.
3. Professors should be able to moderate their own emotions in their social statistics courses.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Professors will know they have tapped into the curiosity of their students through the quality of the discussion associated with the example (current or historical) paired to each statistical topic introduced.
2. Professors can start their students down the path to a growth mindset by including language on the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset in the course syllabus and by directly addressing the issue in an introductory lecture.
3. Through self-reflection immediately before class time (or grading time), professors are encouraged to make an explicit, conscious shift to a growth mindset in the teaching and evaluation of their students. This can be assessed individually by instructors