Collaborative Health, Education, Self and Society (CHESS) Lab
The CHESS lab is a multi-disciplinary research group working together to collaboratively solve real-world problems “in the wild”. We are particularly interested in applied research focusing on education, health and wellbeing.
Research themes
About
The Lab works collaboratively on three core foci:
- Understanding, developing and innovating student experience, teaching and learning approaches, and student outcomes in Higher Education
- Exploring the roles of self-concept, identity, social interaction, self-expression (including the creative arts), tolerance for uncertainty and leadership skills in student and professional education, development and wellbeing.
- Exploring the nexus between social science, art and education, and creating opportunities for transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary education and communication.
Each lab leader also leads a specialisation group with a specific focus:
- The Webb group: technology enhanced learning and teaching
- The Valter group: authentic assessment approaches in anatomy and medical education
- The Smyth group: self-concept and social identity, particularly in the context of participation in health and education systems
- The Aggio-Bruce group: using visual communication approaches to translate research findings and ideas to a broad range of stakeholders and professionals.
Publications
Walker, S., Campbell, S., Smyth, L., Platow, M. J., Venville, G., & Willis, T. (2024). ‘Why can't people see or understand or make that effort to see who I am?’: documenting the experiences of low socioeconomic students at an elite tertiary institution through a social identity lens. The Australian Educational Researcher, 1-21.
Rathbone, J. A., Smyth, L., & Cruwys, T. (2024). A mixed-methods investigation of weight bias reduction in medical students. Fat Studies, 13(3), 319-337.
Rivera, K. M., Smyth, L., Pike-Rowney, G., & West, S. (2024). Are we all anxious about the same thing? A comparison of lay definitions of music making and performance in the context of music participation. Psychology of Music, 03057356241256958.
Sharma, A., Smyth, L., Jian, H., Vargas, N., Bowles, D., & Hunter, A. (2024). Are we teaching the health impacts of climate change in a clinically relevant way? A systematic narrative review of biomechanism-focused climate change learning outcomes in medical curricula. Medical teacher, 46(3), 414-422.
Aland, R. C., Hugo, H. J., Battle, A., Donkin, R., McDonald, A., McGowan, H., Nealon, J. R., Ritchie, H., Stirling, A., Tentrisanna, M., Valter, K., & Xiao, J. (2023). A plethora of choices: an anatomists’ practical perspectives for the selection of digital anatomy resources. Smart Learning Environments, 10(1), 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-023-00285-3
Attard, R., Smyth, L., Ollis, L., Valter, K., & Webb, A. L. (2023). Is it the same, socially? Fully online learning and its impacts on social identification, academic performance and confidence. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(8), 1855-1873.
Woodley, S. J., Green, R. A., & Webb, A. L. (2023). A core musculoskeletal anatomy syllabus for undergraduate physical therapy student education. Clinical Anatomy, 36(2), 190-223. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.23953
Crossing, E., Smyth, L., Valter, K., & Webb, A. (2022). Visualizing the Human Body Using an Artistic Approach. In Biomedical Visualisation: Volume 13–The Art, Philosophy and Science of Observation and Imaging (pp. 129-148). Springer International Publishing Cham.
Fuller, R., Goddard, V. C. T., Nadarajah, V. D., Treasure-Jones, T., Yeates, P., Scott, K., Webb, A., Valter, K., & Pyorala, E. (2022). Technology enhanced assessment: Ottawa consensus statement and recommendations. Medical teacher, 44(8), 836-850. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2022.2083489
Smyth, L., Roushdy, S., Jeyasingham, J., Whitbread, J., O’Brien, P., Lloyd, C., Lueck, C. J., Hawkins, C. A., Reynolds, G., & Perriman, D. (2022). Clinician perspectives on rapid transition to telehealth during COVID-19 in Australia–a qualitative study. Australian Health Review, 47(1), 92-99.
Smyth, L., Banas, K., & Mavor, K. I. (2022). Calculating self-concept structure indices, including Linville’s H: toward standardization and replication. Collabra: Psychology, 8(1), 38597.
Webb, A. L., Smyth, L., Hafiz, M., & Valter, K. (2022). The question of dissection in medical training: Not just “if,” but “when”? A student perspective. Anatomical Sciences Education, 15(2), 281-290.
Smyth, L., Carter, J., Valter, K., & Webb, A. L. (2021). Examining the short‐, medium‐, and long‐term success of an embodied learning activity in the study of hand anatomy for clinical application. Anatomical Sciences Education, 14(2), 201-209.
Sandars, J., Correia, R., Dankbaar, M., de Jong, P., Goh, P. S., Hege, I., Masters, K., Oh, S. Y., Patel, R., Premkumar, K., Webb, A., & Pusic, M. (2020). Twelve tips for rapidly migrating to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. MedEdPublish (2016), 9, 82. https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2020.000082.1
Pather, N., Blyth, P., Chapman, J. A., Dayal, M. R., Flack, N. A. M. S., Fogg, Q. A., Green, R. A., Hulme, A. K., Johnson, I. P., Meyer, A. J., Morley, J. W., Shortland, P. J., Štrkalj, G., Štrkalj, M., Valter, K., Webb, A. L., Woodley, S. J., & Lazarus, M. D. (2020). Forced Disruption of Anatomy Education in Australia and New Zealand: An Acute Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Anatomical Sciences Education, 13(3), 284-300. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.1968
Burgis-Kasthala, S., Elmitt, N., Smyth, L., & Moore, M. (2019). Predicting future performance in medical students. A longitudinal study examining the effects of resilience on low and higher performing students. Medical teacher, 41(10), 1184-1191.
O'Rourke, J. C., Smyth, L., Webb, A. L., & Valter, K. (2019). How Can We Show You, If You Can't See It? Trialing the Use of an Interactive Three‐Dimensional Micro‐CT Model in Medical Education. Anatomical Sciences Education.
Smyth, L., Mavor, K. I., & Gray, L. R. (2019). Not just who you are, but who you were before: Social identification, identity incompatibility, and performance‐undermining learning behaviour in higher education. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 29(6), 474-491.
Smyth, L., Mavor, K. I., & Platow, M. J. (2019). Social identification and academic performance: Integrating two existing models of tertiary student learning. Educational Psychology, 39(3), 409-425.
Smyth, L., Chandra, V., & Mavor, K. I. (2018). Social identification and normative conflict: When student and educator learning norms collide. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48(6), 293-303.
Smyth, L. (2017). The modifying role of perceived norms. Self and Social Identity in Educational Contexts, 223.
McNeill, K. G., Smyth, L., & Mavor, K. I. (2017b). The complexity of medical education: Social identity and normative influence in well-being and approaches to learning. In Self and Social Identity in Educational Contexts (pp. 320-338). Routledge.
Smyth, L., Mavor, K. I., & Platow, M. J. (2017). Learning behaviour and learning outcomes: the roles for social influence and field of study. Social Psychology of Education, 20, 69-95.
Smyth, L., Mavor, K. I., Platow, M. J., & Grace, D. M. (2017). Understanding social identity in education. Self and Social Identity in Educational Contexts, 223.
Bouwer, H. E., Valter, K., & Webb, A. L. (2016). Current integration of dissection in medical education in Australia and New Zealand: Challenges and successes. Anatomical Sciences Education, 9(2), 161-170. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.1559
Smyth, L., Davila, F., Sloan, T., Rykers, E., Backwell, S., & Jones, S. B. (2016). How science really works: the student experience of research-led education. Higher education, 72, 191-207.
Smyth, L., Mavor, K. I., Platow, M. J., Grace, D. M., & Reynolds, K. J. (2015). Discipline social identification, study norms and learning approach in university students. Educational Psychology, 35(1), 53-72.
More information
Members
Leader
Location
Florey Building, 54 Mills Road, Acton