SCALES
Study of Cognition and Learning in Educational Systems
We are SCALES, an interdisciplinary research laboratory within QMER group at Auburn University
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RESEARCH OUTLOOK
RESEARCH OUTLOOK : COMPLEX SYSTEMS
Human behavior and development are dynamic, multiscaled, and emergent phenomena. They are both constraining and constrained by the continuous exchange between a myriad of processes distributed across brain, body, and environment. It is for this reason they should be studied from a complex dynamical systems perspective as opposed to traditional rationale that behavior and development of any kind can be explained by targeting a low number of domain-specific, static components or environmental factors.
UNCOVERING HIDDEN PATTERNS BEHIND THE DATA
To address the massive interactionism that underlies developmental changes, we need a conceptual and methodological framework that can capture properties such as nonlinearity, self-organization, pattern formation, nested time scales, and (inter-personal) synchrony. Therefore, techniques are needed that enable a detailed analysis of the temporal structure in time series and that can handle both intraindividual and interindividual variability in developmental datasets.
DEFINING THE MECHANISMS OF ACTION
The properties of complex dynamical systems can be detected and quantified by using techniques such as nonlinear time series analysis and dynamical modeling. The goal is to effectively model a behavioral system to make specific predictions about how the system will behave in the future. The application of such techniques has led to insights in human developmental processes, which would not come to the fore with more “traditional” techniques.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
PROCESS-PERSON-CONTEXT-TIME (PPCT) MODELS OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT GROWTH
Disparities in academic achievement are a longstanding problem in American education that follows a pattern in which members of historically disadvantaged race/ethnic and socioeconomic (SES) groups underperform compared to middle -SES White or Asian Americans. To improve the policies and practices that currently contribute to the pervasive inequities in education, comprehensive studies of factors contributing to these disparities are needed. We are using a framework of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 2011 Cohort (ECLSK:11) to better understand the nature and emergence of disparities in mathematics, reading, and science.
