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1. Observing Intellectual Need in Online Instructional Tasks

   Corey, Douglas L.; Weinberg, A.; Tallman, M. (January 2022, 24th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Karunakaran, S. S.; Higgins, A. (Ed.)

   The idea of intellectual need, which proposes that learning is the result of students wrestling with a problem that is unsolvable by their current knowledge, has been used in instructional design for many years. However, prior research has not described a way to empirically determine whether, and to what extent, students’ experience intellectual need. In this paper, we present a methodology to identify students’ intellectual need and also report the results of a study that investigated students’ reactions to intellectual need-provoking tasks in first-semester calculus classes. 

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2. Observing intellectual need in online instructional tasks

   Corey, D.; Weinberg, A.; Tallman, M. (April 2022, Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Karunakaran, S.; Higgins, A. (Ed.)

   The idea of intellectual need, which proposes that learning is the result of students wrestling with a problem that is unsolvable by their current knowledge, has been used in instructional design for many years. However, prior research has not described a way to empirically determine whether, and to what extent, students’ experience intellectual need. In this paper, we present a methodology to identify students’ intellectual need and also report the results of a study that investigated students’ reactions to intellectual need-provoking tasks in first-semester calculus classes. 

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3. Associations Between Intellectual Humility, Academic Motivation, and Academic Self-Efficacy

   https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941251351243  

   Huynh, Ho_Phi; Luo, Zhicheng; Eche, Elisa; Thomas, Jasmyne; Weatherford, Dawn_R; Lilley, Malin_K (June 2025, Psychological Reports)

   Previous research has shown that intellectual humility (IH) could predict important academic outcomes. This study explores the associations between IH, four different types of academic motivation (intrinsic motivation-to know and -to accomplish, extrinsic motivation-external regulation, amotivation) and academic self-efficacy. Undergraduate students (N= 261) from a Hispanic majority institution completed validated measures assessing these variables. Multiple regression showed that IH positively predicted intrinsic motivation-to know and -to accomplish, and academic self-efficacy. Results also showed no association between IH and extrinsic motivation-external regulation and a negative association with amotivation. These findings extend previous research by showing that IH is not only positively linked to a desire to learn for knowledge’s sake, but also to the process of learning. They suggest that intellectual humility could, with further research, be leveraged to enhance students’ intrinsic motivation and academic self-efficacy, thereby contributing to improved academic performance and well-being. 

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4. Small Teacher Moves with Big Impacts in Shaping Students’ Sensemaking and Intellectual Authority in Science

   Schellinger, J.; Morandi, S.; Southerland, S.A.; Jaber, L.Z.; Tekkumru-Kisa, M.; & Krishnan, H. (January 2021, National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual Meeting 2021)

   null (Ed.)

   This study explores the epistemological framing dynamics in one middle school biology classroom and how those dynamics shape students’ collaborative sensemaking in science. We trace how the teacher’s instructional moves shaped students’ framing, and the ways in which that framing influenced students’ learning. Our analysis shows that while the teacher framed small group argumentation activities as spaces for students to generate and negotiate ideas, brief but influential moves at the end of the lesson, which emphasized the correct answer, undermined students’ sensemaking and intellectual authority. These findings have implications for the design of teacher education highlighting the need to promote teachers’ awareness of the impact of their instructional moves in terms of how students frame their efforts in the classroom. 

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5. Exploring science teaching in interaction at the instructional core

   https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21790  

   Tekkumru‐Kisa, Miray; Akcil‐Okan, Ozlem; Kisa, Zahid; Southerland, Sherry (June 2022, Journal of Research in Science Teaching)

   Abstract Recent instructional reforms in science education aim to change the way students engage in learning in the discipline, as they describe that students are to engage with disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and the practices of science to make sense of phenomena (NRC, 2012). For such sensemaking to become a reality, there is a need to understand the ways in which students' thinking can be maintained throughout the trajectory of science lessons. Past research in this area tends to foreground either the curriculum or teachers' practices. We propose a more comprehensive view of science instruction, one that requires attention to teachers' practice, the instructional task, and students' engagement. In this study, by examining the implementation of the same lesson across three different classrooms, our analysis of classroom videos and artifacts of students' work revealed how the interaction of teachers' practices, students' intellectual engagement, and a cognitively demanding task together support rigorous instruction. Our analyses shed light on their interaction that shapes opportunities for students' thinking and sensemaking throughout the trajectory of a science lesson. The findings provide implications for ways to promote rigorous opportunities for students' learning in science classrooms. 

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