This summer, we are featuring some of Huron\u2019s student researchers who collaborated with professors during the 2020-2021 school year! Take a glimpse into Huron student Nick\u2019s research assistant position with Dr. Palaisti and all the terrific work they did!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nick Davis is a Huron student who recently worked alongside Dr. Palaisti and his fellow RAs on a project exploring self-efficacy and equity in STEM. More specifically, they researched what different communities believe about academic experiences as influenced by their positionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team\u2019s project was called \u201cWhy Do I Hate Math? An Exploration of Stereotypes in a Math Classroom,\u201d and there was no shortage of immersive work for Nick: together, they began with a literature review, then formulated questions based on what they learned, and finally created and distributed a survey targeting undergraduates who had taken math courses. The survey explored how four independent variables\u2014gender, racialized group, first-generation student, and self-discipline\u2014influenced 15 dependent variables. \u201cThe more research we dug into, the more complicated the questions became,\u201d says Nick. \u201cIt helped me understand how complex these issues are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nick emphasises horizontal collaboration was essential in his and Dr. Palaisti\u2019s work. \u201cWe were equal partners in research. This whole [assistantship] process is about bringing in new voices from young people. It really provides an opportunity to educate ourselves on issues we\u2019re not familiar with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working as an RA gave Nick a new perspective on accessibility within STEM. \u201cI\u2019ve had to reflect on my positionality as a white male and how this influences the courses I take. It was very easy for me to take up the major. I know that\u2019s a less common experience for my female friends involved in STEM, and I think about the unconscious factors that could play into that. On the one hand, I am grateful for the belief in my abilities, but on the other hand, I have to make sure I\u2019m mindful about the self-beliefs of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout his time as an RA, Nick says that he has developed valuable research skills, such as effective teamwork and thorough analysis of complex and contradictory data. Further, he has gained important interpersonal insights: \u201cI understand more now how different perspectives can help an educational experience be more enriched and valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, Nick regards the collaboration as transformative for his understanding of research at the undergraduate level. \u201cResearch is not just about finding empirical answers: it’s about understanding issues at a deeper level and uncovering new questions. It should be less focused on the outcome and more on the process. Working with Dr. Palaisti helped me understand how difficult it can be to answer the questions raised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amy Luck<\/em>, Danika Morrison<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This summer, we are featuring some of Huron\u2019s student researchers who collaborated with professors during the 2020-2021 school year! Take a glimpse into Huron student Nick\u2019s research assistant position with Dr. Palaisti and all the terrific work they did! Nick Davis is a Huron student who recently worked alongside Dr. Palaisti and his fellow RAs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":4053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[132,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"czr-hentry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/curl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}