Theories of Teaching, Learning, and Cognition furthered my knowledge of learning processes as well as understanding of research. Specifically, one of the main goals of this course was to teach students how to consume research and ultimately how to conduct research. The article abstract assignments required me to analyze and reflect on different empirical pieces. These assignments have taught me what to look for in research, the nature of research, how it is related to my life, and ultimately what I need to be cognizant of when doing my own research. Additionally, this course provided me with an opportunity to expand and go deeper into the concept of stereotypes and how it may impact socio-cognitive processes and achievement. Specifically, for the final paper, students were given the option of doing a literature review or a full proposal. I chose to do a literature review for the purposes of getting deeper into the literature about how prior research may link motivation and self-regulation processes to stereotype beliefs. Although there was much research on stereotype threat, I found little research on stereotype beliefs. Specifically, at the time, I was interested in not only stereotype threat, where stereotypes are explicitly activated in experimental conditions, but how people may believe that they conform to certain stereotypes and how that may influence cognitions and behaviors related to achievement. Although I found little research related specifically to stereotype beliefs, I found that the current literature implies that there may be a link. However, as I will discuss in my later reflections, it is extremely important to develop relationships with faculty outside of educational psychology to truly be able to understand concepts, such as stereotypes. Upon further exploration of stereotypes, I further refined my model. 

Article Abstract 1

Article Abstract 2

Literature Review