Closing the Social Class Achievement Gap for First-Generation Students in Undergraduate Biology
Closing the Social Class Achievement Gap for First-Generation Students in Undergraduate Biology
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DOI：
10.1037/a0034679
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发表时间：
2014-05-01
影响因子：
4.9
通讯作者：
Hyde, Janet S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Harackiewicz, Judith M.;Canning, Elizabeth A.;Hyde, Janet S.
许多学生开始大学打算追求生物科学的职业生涯，但太多人放弃了这个目标，因为他们在入门生物学斗争。已经制定了干预措施，以缩小代表性不足的少数民族学生和妇女的成绩差距，但没有先前的研究试图缩小第一代学生的差距，这一人口占大学生的近五分之一。我们报告了一个价值观肯定干预进行了798 U。S.学生（154第一代）在专业介绍生物课程。对于第一代学生，价值观的肯定显着提高了最终课程成绩和保留在第二门课程的生物序列，以及整个学期的平均成绩。这种简短的干预缩小了第一代和连续一代学生之间的成绩差距，课程成绩提高了50%，并将关键门户课程的保留率提高了20%。我们的研究结果表明，教育工作者可以通过心理干预扩大第一代学生继续学习生物科学的渠道。
Many students start college intending to pursue a career in the biosciences, but too many abandon this goal because they struggle in introductory biology. Interventions have been developed to close achievement gaps for underrepresented minority students and women, but no prior research has attempted to close the gap for first-generation students, a population that accounts for nearly a 5th of college students. We report a values affirmation intervention conducted with 798 U. S. students (154 first-generation) in an introductory biology course for majors. For first-generation students, values affirmation significantly improved final course grades and retention in the 2nd course in the biology sequence, as well as overall grade point average for the semester. This brief intervention narrowed the achievement gap between first-generation and continuing-generation students for course grades by 50% and increased retention in a critical gateway course by 20%. Our results suggest that educators can expand the pipeline for first-generation students to continue studying in the biosciences with psychological interventions.