EAGER: A Training Tool to Help Teachers Recognize and Reduce Bias in Their Classroom Behaviors and Increase Interpersonal Competence
What teachers say is important, but how they say it is also important. Nonverbal behavior can unintentionally convey information about teachers’ emotional states and personal biases. Poor nonverbal communication can affect teachers’ abilities to deliver lessons, assess students and manage classrooms. Effective nonverbal communication increases student engagement, improves classroom management, and make students feel that the teacher cares about them. Students with teachers who communicate effectively nonverbally are more motivated to learn and demonstrate more academic progress. Nonverbal communication is a skill that can be improved with guidance and reflection. This project will work with students and teachers to prototype training modules in virtual reality that track teacher movement. This will compare teachers’ nonverbal behaviors with transformed nonverbal behaviors that would effectively engage students. It will also give students from underrepresented backgrounds the opportunity to observe and participate in our research at both Cornell University and University of North Texas through lab visits.