Synthesis: Impact of integrating innovative technologies in STEM classrooms on K-12 students' STEM career outcomes

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This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by engaging in hands-on field experience, laboratory/project-based entrepreneurship tasks and mentorship experiences. The NSF ITEST program supports research on the design, development, implementation, and selective spread of innovative strategies for engaging students in technology-rich experiencesThis Miami University project will synthesize research conducted from 2000 to the present regarding the effects of innovative technology-based educational interventions on PreK-12 students' STEM career outcomes. This mixed-method study will include two concurrent, interrelated components—a quantitative meta-analysis and a qualitative synthesis. The goal of the project is to provide a more complete understanding of rigorous intervention research regarding the effects on students' STEM career outcomes. The research team will analyze variations in effect sizes among intervention characteristics, learning contexts, student demographics, and study designs. This study will provide insights regarding what types of interventions work best for which student populations, in what educational settings, and within what community contexts.The quantitative meta-analysis component of this project will provide a comprehensive picture of the ways interventions using innovative technologies and technology-based learning experiences influence PreK-12 students' STEM career outcomes, directly or indirectly, to identify intervention characteristics that offer the most evidence of effectiveness for impacting STEM career development overall, and specifically, for students traditionally underserved in STEM education and underrepresented in STEM careers. Qualitative synthesis will supplement findings about magnitudes and variations of effects with findings that 1) help explain how and why intervention characteristics influence career outcomes for different types of students and 2) further develop theoretical constructs that reflect underrepresented groups' STEM career development trajectories in culturally appropriate ways. Methodologic features of this proposed study will include: (a) comprehensive review of quantitative and qualitative, peer-reviewed and gray literature, 2000 to present; (b) use of a broad definition of "career-related outcomes" to theoretically link effects, variables, and moderators to more proximal, measurable career outcomes; (c) study of a broad range of innovative technology interventions; (d) searching, screening, coding, analyzing, and synthesizing processes following rigorous, systematic review guidelines; (e) consideration of relevant moderator variables and interactions among variables to identify critical intervention features and settings associated with positive outcomes; and (f) control of study rigor and publication biases. By synthesizing quantitative and qualitative components at a meta-level, this study will provide a model of scholarly review that is replicable across fields for other studies of program-level impacts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.