Story and photos by Morgan Solomon

Each spring, Show Me Research Week brings the University of Missouri’s research community out of the lab and the classroom, and into conversation with one another. The week-long celebration highlights the wide range of scholarly and creative work being done by students at every level and invites the broader Mizzou community to take part. During this year’s event, 28 students from the College of Education and Human Development presented posters and shared their work. Here’s what two of them had to say about their research and their experiences at Show Me Research Week.

Anna Vogts

Graduate Student, Educational Psychology

Describe your research in one sentence.
My research explores how students’ behavior is shaped by their peers and their teacher’s classroom management.

Why is this research important, and who could benefit from it?
I think this research is important because it shows what shapes student behavior in real classroom settings. It could be useful for teachers and schools as they support students.

What inspired you to pursue this project?
I used to be a teacher, so I saw how the classroom environment plays a big role in student behavior. That’s what led me to look more closely at peer norms and teacher practices.

What does presenting at Show Me Research Week mean to you?
For me, it’s about sharing my research in a way that others can understand and connect with. It also gives me the opportunity to reflect on my work and improve through feedback.

Jingzhou Zhang

Graduate Student, School of Information Science & Learning Technologies

Describe your research in one sentence.
This is a collaborative digitization project that brings a collection of historic maps (including 1950s maps of Mizzou) to life and makes them discoverable for anyone who’s interested.

Why is this research important, and who could benefit from it?
This work helps preserve and provide access to maps with significant historical value that might otherwise be overlooked or forgotten. It can benefit anyone interested in the history of Mizzou and Missouri, as well as Geography students and researchers, and students curious about digital archives and preservation.

What inspired you to pursue this project?
I became interested in this topic through coursework in Library and Information Science, along with my long-standing interest in history and cultural heritage.

What does presenting at Show Me Research Week mean to you?
As a first-year graduate student at Mizzou, having the opportunity to present at this event makes me feel that my work and my research truly belong here.