Ties That Bind: Social Awareness Development Through Interactions with Diverse Peers

1. Ties That Bind:Social Awareness Development Through Interactions with Diverse Peers Preparing College Students for a Diverse Democracy University of Michigan Funded by OERI, Department of Education Shirley Greene and Mark Kamimura

2. Significance of Research Topic Literature Review Model of Social Awareness Development Methods Sample Results Implications Session Overview

3. Social awareness and consciousness serve as a precursor to social movement (Steinem, 1983; Swift, 1990) There is a dearth of research that focuses on social awareness development as the outcome Increased expectation that higher education institutions will produce informed and active citizens Significance of Research Topic

4. Social awareness directly influences students’ development of critical thinking skills (Tsui, 2000) Interaction with diverse peers enhances discussions of complex social issues (Springer, et. al., 1995) Cognitive and social development occurs in interaction with others Literature Review

5. Pre-college and College Variables: Effect on Social Awareness Development Background Characteristics Attitudinal measures Importance of Social Awareness Cognitive measures College experiences

6. Item Loading Speaking up against social injustice .794 Creating awareness of how people affect .604 the environment Promoting racial tolerance and respect .609 Making consumer decisions based on .517 company’s ethics  = .72 Importance of Social Awareness

7. Independent Variables

8. Student Survey Monitor students’ pre-college attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors as they relate to cognitive, social, and democratic outcomes School selection criteria Ten public universities Commitment to diversity Success in diversifying student body Engagement in community-building activities Survey administration Response rate Merged with institutional data Factor analyses Regression analyses Methods

9. N = 3,496 students Majority of respondents were female (61%) Mean SAT score was 1169.7 Racial composition 69.1% White students 15.8% Asian American students 9.1% Latino students 4.8% African American students 1.2% Native American students Mother’s educational level 19.3% completed high school 38.9% completed college 52.1% completed graduate school Sample

10. 41.8% of variance explained by model Precollege social awareness and students with Asian American background were significant Attitudinal dispositions accounted for 5.0% of the variance Cognitive complexity explained 8.3% of the variance In terms of college experiences, interaction with different race/ethnic groups was significant Results

11. Further understanding of student gains, particularly social awareness development More research is needed on various racial/ethnic groups to understand their social awareness development Responsive diversity initiatives must take into account students’ cognitive and social skills in order to enhance student development Institutional researchers may consider social awareness development as part of a range of skills needed for the workplace of the future Implications for Practice

12. Diverse Democracy Project University of Michigan 610 E. University, 514 SEB Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259 Phone: 734.647.7439 Fax: 734.615.6514 E-mail: divdemo@umich.edu Website: http://www.umich.edu/~divdemo/ For More Information