Student Finds Immersive Research Experience in Australia Co-op
December 11, 2015
Ana Tarbetsky worked on graduate-level research in educational psychology earlier this year while on co-op in Australia. But the experience did more than advance her exploration of that field. It also continued her global learning that began a year earlier on study abroad at the University of Sydney.
“My experience there felt unfinished,” Tarbetsky said. “That was the first time I was abroad by myself. It took me awhile to get established there, and then once I did, the experience was coming to an end. I feel like my co-op picked up where I left off.”
Tarbetsky, SSH’16, a senior sociology major who is expected to graduate in three-and-a-half years, started searching for a co-op in Sydney as soon as she returned to campus in fall 2013 following her study abroad. She eventually connected with a professor at the University of New South Wales whose research interests aligned with her own.
As a research assistant, Tarbetsky performed extensive literature reviews, data collection and analysis, and report writing. For her first task, she helped draft a book chapter on a theoretical model for predicting students’ motivation, engagement, and achievement by examining variables such as adaptability, or how you respond in the face of new situations; academic buoyancy, or how you respond to everyday setbacks; and the role of three factors: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.