GSE/RES Learning Companions as Change Agents: Improving Girls' Self-efficacy Beliefs in Learning Math

犹他州立大学正在研究虚拟同伴的教育潜力，以改变女孩对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的负面自我形象和态度，将她们推向一个理想的方向。这些虚拟的同伴，被称为作为学习伙伴的教学代理人（PALs），可能会鼓励和说服女孩增加她们对学习数学的自我效能感的信念，并对追求STEM职业建立更积极的态度。研究表明，女孩对STEM领域的负面看法往往是由于社会和文化的影响。家庭、学校和媒体很可能将刻板的角色期望强加给女孩，并向女孩灌输理想的“芭比娃娃”形象。因此，许多女孩倾向于认为STEM是男性化的，并怀疑自己的竞争能力。女孩需要接触社会环境，鼓励她们克服毫无根据的社会刻板印象，并对自己在STEM领域的能力建立建设性的看法。虽然对家庭、老师或朋友的刻板印象不能立即改变或影响，但可以创建女孩友好的虚拟社会环境，帮助女孩建立对STEM的积极态度。该项目将1)调查PALs在促进女孩学习数学的自信和效率方面的有效性，2)调查在这方面至关重要的pal的特征。为了实现这些目标，计划了一个为期三年的研究议程。在第一年，该项目将侧重于pal的性别和年龄的影响。该研究将调查性别（男性vs女性）和年龄（成人vs同龄人）是否与女孩选择伙伴作为学习伙伴有关，进而影响女孩的自我效能感和态度变化。在第二年，该项目将侧重于pal的能力和种族的影响。该研究将调查伙伴的能力（强与弱）和种族（白种人与西班牙裔）是否会影响白种人和西班牙裔女孩选择伙伴作为学习伙伴，进而影响女孩的自我效能感和态度变化。在第三年，该项目将重点研究pal的反馈类型和情感的影响。该研究将调查朋友的反馈类型（严厉vs友善）和情感（移情vs非移情）是否会影响女孩对成功和失败的归因、自我效能感和对朋友的亲和力。研究问题将回答使用准实验设计和定量和定性数据。样本将包括大约200名9年级的女孩，她们在美国西部山区的一个州的大中型城市的公立高中上必修代数I课。首先，与大多数专注于学习认知方面的技术干预不同，该项目侧重于女孩数学学习的情感方面。本项目将确定如何利用PALs来影响女孩的数学自我效能感和积极的数学学习态度。其次，pal是教学代理的一个特殊子集，基于人类同伴互动研究的发现。本项目将确定可能影响女孩数学自我效能感和态度的pal的具体特征。第三，本学期将定期在普通教室实施以pal为基础的干预。该项目将提供基于课堂的证据，证明pal在K-12环境中的教育价值及其长期使用的影响。更广泛的影响该项目是通过一个多学科团队的合作努力进行的，因此将对多个社区产生影响，例如妇女/性别教育、一般STEM教育、教育技术、人机交互和教育中的人工智能。如果被发现是有效的，与人类指导计划相比，PALs可能是一种有效且具有成本效益的干预措施，可以重塑女孩的STEM信仰和态度。通过课堂实施，本项目对PALs在改善白人和少数民族女孩数学自我效能感和态度方面的作用具有启示意义。该项目确定的PAL对PAL/学习者关系的影响特征将为人际关系以及人/计算机交互的研究提供启示。

Utah State University is investigating the educational potential of virtual peers to change girls' negative self-images and attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), moving them in a desirable direction. The virtual peers, called pedagogical agents as learning companions (PALs), may encourage and persuade girls to increase their belief of self-efficacy in learning math and to build more positive attitudes toward pursuing careers in STEM.Research indicates that girls' negative views of the fields of STEM are often due to social and cultural influences. Family, schools, and media are likely to impose stereotypic role expectations on girls and infuse girls with ideal "Barbie doll" images of girls. As a result, many girls tend to identify STEM as masculine and doubt their ability to compete. Girls need to be exposed to social environments that will encourage them to overcome ungrounded social stereotypes and build constructive views of their competency in STEM. Although the stereotypic views of family, teachers, or friends cannot be immediately changed or influenced, girl-friendly virtual social environments can be created to help girls build positive attitudes toward STEM. The project will 1) investigate the effectiveness of PALs in facilitating girls' self-confidence and efficacy in learning math and 2) investigate the characteristics of PALs critical to that end. To reach the goals, a three-year research agenda is planned. In the first year, the project will focus on the effects of the gender and age of PALs. The research will investigate whether gender (male vs. female) and age (adult vs. peer) are related to girls' choices of PALs as their learning partners and, subsequently, girls' self-efficacy and attitude change. In the second year, the project will focus on the effects of the competency and ethnicity of PALs. The research will be an investigation of whether PALs' competency (strong vs. weak) and ethnicity (Caucasian vs. Hispanic) have an impact on Caucasian and Hispanic girls' choices of PALs as their learning partners and, subsequently, girls' self-efficacy and attitude change. In the third year, the project will concentrate on the effects of the feedback type and emotion of PALs. The research will be an investigation of whether PALs' feedback type (harsh vs. nice) and emotion (empathetic vs. non-empathetic) will have an impact on girls' attribution of their success and failure, their self-efficacy, and their feelings of affability with PALs. The research questions will be answered using a quasi-experimental design and both quantitative and qualitative data. The sample will include approximately 200 9th-grade girls in required algebra I classes in public high schools in large and mid-size cities in a mountain-west state of the USA.Intellectual MeritFirst, unlike most technology-based interventions that have been focused on the cognitive aspect of learning, this project is geared toward the affective aspect of girls' math learning. This project will identify how PALs can be used to effect girls' math self-efficacy and positive attitude toward learning math. Second, PALs are a special subset of pedagogical agents and are grounded on findings from human-peer interaction research. This project will identify the specific characteristics of PALs that might affect girls' math self-efficacy and attitudes. Third, PAL-based interventions will be implemented in ordinary classrooms regularly throughout the semester. This project will provide classroom-based evidence on the educational value of PALs in K-12 settings and implications for long-term use.Broader ImpactsThe project is conducted through the collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary team and so will yield implications for multiple communities, such as researchers in women/gender education, STEM education in general, educational technology, human/computer interaction, and artificial intelligence in education.If found to be effective, PALs are potentially an efficient and cost-effective intervention to re-shape girls' STEM beliefs and attitudes, compared to human-mentoring programs. Through classroom implementation, the project has implications for PALs' role for improving Caucasian and minority girls' math self-efficacy and attitudes. The influential characteristics of PALs for PAL/learner relations identified in the project will provide implications for research on human relations as well as on human/computer interactions.