**To see a list of our research works, visit our publication page!**
In the Academic Orientations Project (AOP), we study how students from high school to college think and act in academic situations.
Our research focuses on the interactions between students and their academic environments. How do different environments affect how students think? How does student reasoning influence action? Our research seeks to address these questions in order to lead students and schools in promising, new directions.
Learning in Natural Classroom Settings
Rules in classrooms vary between professors and the classes they teach. Although students are required to adhere to the basic structure of academic integrity, the way it is presented to their students is dependent on their interpretation. We are studying the relationship between what professors say and what their students do, as well as how professors change what they say throughout the academic quarter. Here is an example of our work on classroom settings:
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Bareket-Shavit, C., Baxley, C., Chen, K., Waltzer, T., & Dahl, A. (2018). Do teachers teach students what they need to learn about academic misconduct? Poster presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA. [PDF]
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Bareket-Shavit, C., Wechsler-Azen, M., Waltzer, T., & Dahl, A. (2019) Are students taught what cheating is? An observational study in lower-division engineering classes. Poster Preseneted at the Stanford Research Conference, Stanford, CA. [PDF]
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Thinking and Reasoning about Academic Issues
How we evaluate academic dishonesty may be dependent on the context. The students in our studies are asked to evaluate hypothetical vignettes which present varying contexts and circumstances. By examining how people evaluate cheating in these vignettes, we can see how a person’s evaluations and judgments may change depending on the context.
Below are some examples of our work on reasoning:
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Waltzer, T., Dahl, A., Samuelson, A., Chen, K., Baxley, C., & Bareket-Shavit, C. (2019). Narrowing the judgment-action gap: The case of student cheating. Poster presented at the Society for Philosophy and Psychology annual meeting, San Diego, CA. [PDF]
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Waltzer, T. & Dahl, A. (in press). Students’ perceptions and evaluations of plagiarism: Effects of text and context. Journal of Moral Education. doi:10.1080/03057240.2020.1787961 [PDF, SOM, OSF]
Decision Making in Academic Contexts
Students perceive academic dilemmas in morally nuanced ways. Sometimes students will make decisions that violate their general principles (i.e. cheating) because they have other concerns or values that take precedent. The students in our studies are presented with hypothetical academic vignettes. Through these vignettes, we are able to understand how students evaluate and make judgements about these academic dilemmas.
Here are some examples of our work on decision making:
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Waltzer, T., Baxley, C., Bareket-Shavit, C., & Dahl, A. (2021) Resistance and conflict in college students’ decisions about plagiarizing. Talk presented at the Association for Moral Education Annual Conference, 2021, Virtual. [Talk Link]
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Waltzer, T., Baxley, C., Bareket-Shavit, C., & Dahl, A. (2018). Reasoning and decision-making behind plagiarism. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA. [PDF]
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Waltzer, T. & Dahl, A. (in press). Students’ perceptions and evaluations of plagiarism: Effects of text and context. Journal of Moral Education. doi:10.1080/03057240.2020.1787961 [PDF, SOM, OSF]
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Li, N., Waltzer, T., & Dahl, A. (2017). Why do students cheat? Exploring reasons behind past experiences with academic dishonesty. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting 2017, Austin, TX. [PDF]