The effects of an afterschool STEM program on students' motivation and engagement
The effects of an afterschool STEM program on students' motivation and engagement
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DOI：
10.1186/s40594-017-0065-4
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发表时间：
2017-01-01
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
Schram, Asta B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Chittum, Jessica R.;Jones, Brett D.;Schram, Asta B.
背景：促进学生在 STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）领域的职业意向和坚持的一个重要因素是在八年级之前确定他们的兴趣和动机。为了吸引处于这一关键阶段的学生，我们实施了一项名为 Studio STEM 的基于设计的课后 STEM 计划，以培养他们对 STEM 主题和活动的积极性和参与度。本研究的目的有两个：(a) 调查 Studio STEM 如何影响学生的科学信念，以及这些信念是否与未参加该项目的同龄人不同；(b) 研究一项 Studio STEM 实施案例，以调查激励学生参与该项目的课程要素。 结果：完成两个 Studio STEM 项目后，参与者对其科学价值观和科学能力的评分高于非参与者。此外，随着时间的推移，Studio STEM 参与者对科学的动机信念和攻读大学学位的意图比同龄人更具弹性。我们还发现，学生可以在自愿的课外计划（Studio STEM）中受到激励，在该计划中，他们探讨 STEM 概念和活动，并可以用语言表达出激励他们的具体计划元素。结论：通过这项研究，我们发现学生可以在 Studio STEM 中受到激励，并且这种经历对他们对科学作为一个领域的看法产生了积极影响。重要的是，Studio STEM 似乎阻止了这些学生对科学的动机信念的下降，这种情况通常发生在中学时期，这表明课外项目可以成为帮助学生保持科学动机的一种方式。研究学生认为具有激励作用的课程特征可以帮助教育工作者在研究和理论以及课堂教学之间建立联系，以激励学生。
Background: One significant factor in facilitating students' career intentions and persistence in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields is targeting their interests and motivation before eighth grade. To reach students at this critical stage, a design-based afterschool STEM program, titled Studio STEM, was implemented to foster motivation and engagement in STEM topics and activities. The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to investigate how Studio STEM affected students' beliefs about science and whether these beliefs differed from their peers who did not participate in the program, and (b) to examine a case study of one Studio STEM implementation to investigate elements of the curriculum that motivated students to engage in the program.Results: After completing two Studio STEM programs, participants' ratings of their values for science and science competence were higher than those of non-participants. In addition, the Studio STEM participants' motivational beliefs about science and intentions to pursue a college degree were more resilient over time than their peers. We also found that students could be motivated in a voluntary afterschool program (Studio STEM) in which they grappled with STEM concepts and activities, and could verbalize specific program elements that motivated them.Conclusions: Through this study, we found that students could be motivated in Studio STEM and that the experience had a positive impact on their perceptions about science as a field. Importantly, Studio STEM appeared to halt the decline in these students' motivational beliefs about science that typically occurs during the middle school years, indicating that afterschool programs can be one way to help students maintain their motivation in science. Studying the program features that the students found motivating may help educators to make connections between research and theory, and their classroom instruction to motivate their students.