Targeted Infusion Project: Increasing Student Motivation and Engagement in STEM Courses through Gamification

历史黑人学院和大学本科项目(HBCU-UP)通过有针对性的灌输项目，支持基于证据的创新模式和方法的开发、实施和研究，以改善HBCU本科学生的准备和成功，使他们能够攻读科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)研究生课程和/或职业。温斯顿·塞勒姆州立大学的这个项目旨在通过开发能够使用游戏设计原则和机制组织计算机科学和物理课程的软件来提高学生的动机、参与度和学习表现。这种方法是通过使用游戏元素来激发学生在课程中的特定行为，如即时反馈、失败的自由、选择的自由、升级、进度条、徽章和排行榜。活动和战略是以证据为基础的，形成和总结性评价的强有力计划是该项目的一部分。该项目的目标是：实现一个能够支持STEM课程游戏化的课程游戏化平台；为两门计算机课程、数据结构和数据库系统入门以及一门物理课程--物理学原理--的游戏化模块开发教材；评估开发的软件和创建的教材，以评估其对学生动机、参与度和学业表现的影响。课程游戏化利用外在和内在的动机来吸引和激励学生学习，有可能提高学业成绩，并有助于提高STEM学科的保留率和毕业率。因此，拟议的游戏化方法和支持软件将特别有利于那些学生STEM毕业率较低的机构。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Targeted Infusion Projects supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) graduate programs and/or careers. The project at Winston Salem State University seeks to improve the motivation, engagement, and academic performance of students by building software that enables the organization of computer science and physics courses using game design principles and mechanisms. This approach is about motivating particular student behavior in a course through the use of game elements, such as instant feedback, freedom to fail, freedom of choice, leveling, progress bars, badges, and leaderboards. The activities and strategies are evidence-based and a strong plan for formative and summative evaluation is part of the project. This project has the objectives to: implement a course gamification platform that can support the gamification of STEM courses; develop instructional materials for gamifying modules of two computing courses, Data Structures and Introduction to Database Systems, and one physics course, Principles of Physics; and evaluate the developed software and created instructional materials to assess their effect on student motivation, engagement, and academic performance. Course gamification, which leverages extrinsic and intrinsic motivators for engaging and motivating students to learn, has the potential to improve academic performance and contribute to increased retention and graduation rates in STEM disciplines. Therefore, the proposed gamification approach and supporting software will be especially beneficial for institutions whose students have low STEM graduation rates.