COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: REAL: INTRINSICS: An Interactive Narrative Technology to Reduce Implicit Negative Stereotyping and Improve the Climate in STEM for Underrepresented Students

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Women and people from racial/ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in STEM courses, majors and careers in the United States. Social and psychological factors, in particular the prevalence and persistence of negative stereotypes toward underrepresented group members' abilities in STEM, play a key role in explaining and perpetuating this imbalanced level of participation in STEM fields. In particular, the prevalence and persistence of subtle "micro-inequalities" caused by implicit biases and stereotypes, which have taken the place of more overt, intentional forms of discrimination, have contributed to the "chilly climate" faced by underrepresented students in STEM classrooms. Research has revealed that bias persists in STEM educational contexts, even among individuals who value fairness and even among professionals who are themselves members of underrepresented groups. This project will focus on developing, assessing and deploying a digital interactive narrative platform, called INTRINSICS (Interactive Narrative Technology for Reducing Implicit Negative Stereotyping and Improving the Climate in STEM), for use by introductory-level undergraduate STEM instructors and their students that will allow students to express negative subjective classroom experiences, raise awareness about these subjective experiences among instructors and students in the classroom, and empower instructors and students to be proactive in responding to experiences of discrimination.The project will employ a three-year development and research plan to verify the efficacy and impact of the INTRINSICS platform and its constituent components. In years 1 and 2 (Phase 1: development and guiding research), the technological framework and back-end impact of the platform will be developed and the content, graphics and interface for three modules will be iteratively designed and developed. A set of randomized experiments conducted with undergraduates enrolled in introductory-level physics and biology courses will test the impact of several fundamental variables central to the experience of the platforms' narratives, including narrative voice; the generation versus reception of narrative content; the reception of narrative content believed to be fictional versus content believed to reflect people's actual experiences; and the inclusion versus exclusion of interactive elements. The results of the experiments will directly guide the final content and design of the platform's three modules. In year 3 (Phase 2: applied research and deployment), the researchers will employ a longitudinal design to test the long-term impact of the full INTRINSICS platform among students and professors in introductory-level physics and engineering classes.