Anahid S. Modrek, Thomas Jefferson University – A Cost of an Excellent Education

A self-directed student may not fit the mold of a well-behaved student.

Anahid S. Modrek, assistant professor in the department of psychology at Thomas Jefferson University, examines whether the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Dr. Anahid Modrek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Thomas Jefferson University, where she is PI directing the Leaning to Learn (L2L) Lab studying cognitive and sociocultural processes that affect the development of reasoning, learning, and achievement. Dr. Modrek’s research program bridges the fields of cognitive science and education, with L2L’s work guided by a broader goal of informing policy, practice, and intervention that aim to reduce societal inequalities, some of which stem from learning environments and social contexts. Prior to her appointment she completed postdoctoral fellowships at UCSD and UCLA as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Modrek received her PhD in Developmental Psychology in 2016 working with Dr. Deanna Kuhn at Columbia University.

A Cost of an Excellent Education

Learning and achievement are both desirable, but different, outcomes. Research now suggests learning and cognitive development may be compromised in environments putting high value on scholastic achievement. More specifically, the skills needed to be an effective, self-directed learner, are in fact different than the skills to be an on-task “well-behaved” academic performer. This trade-off has cognitive costs, especially for students in K-12, and the development of these skills will affect their outcomes over time.                                          

If students are to be able to learn, and do so effectively, they must have necessary opportunities to do so. This points us to the construct, and context of autonomy – the freedom to choose how to act, think, behave, etc. In theory, when individuals are afforded greater autonomy, they are more often put into situations of having to consider multiple options, or causes, leading to an outcome. They need to evaluate all possible outcomes of an action of choice, a form of self-directed thinking and reasoning. Indeed, when we tested this across middle and high school students, we’ve found that more autonomy is associated with the type of critical, self-directed thinking and learning we want.

To the extent that some of these circumstances are available to the individual, they deserve our close investigation, along with external factors under educators’ more direct control.