An Educational Process for Developing Student Post-Graduate Mastery in Research, Theory and Its Application

Abstract

In higher education, students are required to develop complex cognitive capabilities that they may not have needed in their undergraduate work. While a plethora of resources is available to students of research, it seems that many students struggle to understand how to read, understand, integrate, and apply research and theory to a research question or hypothesis. To help my own masters and doctoral students develop these vital skills, as part of our initial doctoral foundation course I have developed a semester-long project grounded in theory and research from cognitive instruction that explicitly teaches and supports the objectives of (a) mastery of a research-supported knowledge base, and (b) development of conceptual tools to foster understanding, integration, and effective application of research. The process of this semester-long student project follows two basic threads: (a) to build a research knowledge base in the content area and (b) to develop student skill in reading. I have used this developmental process for six years to help graduate students build both abstract and applied competencies in reading, understanding, and applying research. It has been extremely successful, based on the students’ ability to use their newly developed competencies in more advanced endeavors, and their stated confidence to do so.