Steve Juárez

Steve Juárez is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Education, Developmental and Psychological Sciences program. He is interested in understanding the psychological processes that contribute to disparities in educational opportunities and student achievement. He investigates how students’ life history and social identities interact with situational factors in the school context to generate inequalities in students' psychological experiences in ways that can undermine their feelings of belonging and future expectations. He draws on this insight to research and develop theory-driven interventions that mitigate triggers of psychological threat and target processes that sustain students' motivation for school. His present research examines how shifts in teacher and student mindsets towards interpersonal values can help to tailor more individualized learning experiences that fosters trusting teacher-student relationships and affirms students belonging as capable learners. His current work leverages technology to scale science-based interventions. This includes designing a virtual reality program that channels students to perspective-taking experiences and reduces inter-group conflict. He is also conducting a randomized field experiment to test the effectiveness of a values affirmation online application on indicators of psychological well-being and academic achievement.