“They Have Shown Me It Is Possible to Thrive within STEM”: Incorporating Learning Assistants in General Chemistry Enhances Student Belonging and Confidence
“They Have Shown Me It Is Possible to Thrive within STEM”: Incorporating Learning Assistants in General Chemistry Enhances Student Belonging and Confidence
复制标题
– 他们向我展示了在 STEM 领域蓬勃发展的可能性 –：在普通化学中加入学习助理可增强学生的归属感和信心
DOI：
10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c01224
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发表时间：
2023
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Brame, Cynthia J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Clements, Katherine A.;Zepeda, Cristina D.;Leich Hilbun, Allison;Todd, Tara;Clements, Thomas P.;Johnson, Heather J.;Watkins, Jessica;Friedman, Katherine L.;Brame, Cynthia J.
普通化学是许多学生通往科学道路的关键门户，学生在学习普通化学时经常会遇到社会和心理障碍。学习助理 (LA) 有潜力减少这些障碍，并更广泛地增强学生对普通化学和 STEM 的归属感。在这里，我们使用 17 项李克特量表来确定将 LA 纳入普通化学 I 和 II 是否可以增强学生对这些课程的归属感。将 LA 纳入普通化学 I 对所有接受检查的学生群体中的学生产生了显着的积极影响和中等至较大的影响大小：女性和男性；种族和族裔代表性不足和代表性较高群体的学生；第一代和后续一代学生。在普通化学 II 中，女性和男性观察到了类似的结果；具有代表性的种族和族裔群体的学生；持续一代的学生。此外，我们要求学生反思与 LA 合作对他们对 STEM 的归属感和谈论科学的信心的影响。 60% 的学生表示，与 LA 合作对他们的 STEM 归属感产生了积极影响，五个主题描述了 LA 的影响：减少孤立、充当鼓舞人心的榜样、提供指导、增加参与和建立信心的机会，以及作为可访问且平易近人的支持来源。 61% 的学生还表示，与 LA 合作增强了他们谈论科学的信心，并出现了三个主题：营造一个负面判断风险较低的环境、提供更多反馈机会以及支持学生练习不断增长的技能。总之，这些结果表明，LA 可以成为减少入门科学课程学生的社会和心理障碍的重要手段，增强他们对班级和更广泛的 STEM 的归属感。
Students often experience social and psychological barriers to success in General Chemistry, which is a key gateway to many students’ science pathways. Learning assistants (LAs) have the potential to reduce these barriers and to strengthen students’ sense of belonging in General Chemistry and STEM more broadly. Here, we used a 17-item Likert scale to determine whether incorporating LAs into General Chemistry I and II enhances students’ sense of belonging in these courses. The incorporation of LAs into General Chemistry I had a significant positive effect and a medium to large effect size for students in all student groups examined: women and men; students in both racially and ethnically underrepresented and well-represented groups; first- and continuing-generation students. In General Chemistry II, similar results were observed for women and men; students in well-represented racial and ethnic groups; continuing-generation students. Further, we asked students to reflect on the impact that working with LAs had on their sense of belonging in STEM and confidence in talking about science. Sixty percent of students indicated that working with LAs had a positive impact on their STEM belonging, with five themes describing LA impacts: reducing isolation, serving as inspirational role models, providing mentoring, increasing opportunities for engagement and confidence building, and serving as accessible and approachable sources of support. Sixty-one percent of students also indicated that working with LAs increased their confidence in talking about science, with three themes emerging: fostering an environment with a lower risk of negative judgment, providing increased opportunities for feedback, and supporting students as they practiced their growing skills. Together, these results indicate that LAs can be an important means to reduce social and psychological barriers for students in gateway science courses, increasing their sense that they belong to the class and STEM more broadly.