SciMo focuses on documenting, describing, and understanding students’ momentary levels of cognitive and affective engagement while learning high school science. SciMo researchers systematically recorded students’ in-the-moment classroom experiences as they occurred, and linked various aspects of subjective experience to specific courses (i.e., general science, biology, chemistry, and physics), content units (i.e., simple machines, ionic and covalent chemical bonding), and instructional activities (i.e., lectures, labs, group work).
The SciMo research team, led by Professors Jennifer Schmidt and M Cecil Smith, employed a variety of data collection techniques, including the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), surveys, teacher interviews, and live and videotaped classroom observations, assembling a mixed-methods research design to understand the daily processes that contribute to female and male students’ engagement in science.