The Role of In-Class Inquiry in Shaping Student Identity and Outcomes in Entry-Level STEM Courses

该项目旨在通过改善大型入门级STEM课程的教育经验来服务于国家利益。在这些课程中，许多学生感到不舒服问问题。这种不情愿是由缺乏信心、害怕看起来很愚蠢以及不喜欢打断别人等问题造成的。 不愿在课堂上提问的学生在传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的情况下更为明显。因此，减轻这些课堂气氛因素被认为是减少STEM大学生流失的关键。在大班中增加学生探究的一种有希望的方法是使用课堂匿名反向通道作为社交层，以提高学生的课堂参与度。反向渠道是数字对话，如“聊天”，发生在课堂上，并允许学生匿名发布问题。有证据表明，使用反向通道增加了提出问题的频率和学生参与课堂互动的范围。然而，到目前为止，这项研究还没有将课堂上使用反向通道与保持学生STEM持久性的更广泛目标联系起来。这项研究将获得有关反向通道作为教学技术的有效性的信息，以改善本科生的STEM教育，确定反向通道的使用是否增加了学生的STEM身份和持久性，并确定反向通道的使用是否与传统上在STEM学科中代表性不足的学生不同。研究将与一个由11所大学组成的联盟协调进行，这些大学正在努力通过开发公平和包容的STEM课程和教学实践来改善基础STEM课程。将通过一个高等教育视频平台公司进行进一步传播，该公司可以与客户机构分享该项目的经验教训。拟议的研究基于现有的教育框架，并基于一个模型，该模型包括反向通道可用性及其对STEM身份和持久性的影响之间的潜在中介。中介是基于期望价值理论，自我决定理论，以及归属感，课堂提问和寻求帮助的广泛研究。期望价值理论侧重于学生的效能感，价值观，以及提出问题的个人和社会成本，并与STEM教育文献中最近的研究有关。自决理论调解人是归属感和自主权的基本需求，学生觉得他们属于班级以及STEM学科的程度，对于代表性不足的学生群体尤为重要。关于学生提问和寻求帮助的大量文献至关重要，因为它尚未被纳入反向渠道研究。本研究将比较学生对求助威胁的知觉与对提问益处的知觉。将使用多水平和多组分析对中介进行测试，并包括非反向通道类间差异的统计控制（例如，班级规模）。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。该项目由NSF改善本科STEM教育计划：教育和人力资源支持。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the educational experiences in large entry-level STEM courses. In these courses, many students feel uncomfortable asking questions. This reluctance is caused by issues such as a lack of confidence, fear of looking foolish, and discomfort with interrupting. The reluctance to ask questions in class is more pronounced for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. Accordingly, mitigating these classroom climate factors is considered critical to decreasing STEM college student attrition. A promising approach to increase student inquiry in large classes is to use in-class anonymous backchannels as a social layer to improve student classroom engagement. Backchannels are digital conversations, such as “chat,” that occur during a class session and allow students to anonymously post questions. There is evidence that the use of a backchannel increases the frequency of questions posed and the range of students participating in classroom interactions. Thus far, however, the research has not connected the use of backchannels in classes to the broader goal of maintaining student STEM persistence. This research will obtain information about the effectiveness of backchannels as a teaching technique to improve STEM education for undergraduate students, determine whether the use of backchannels increases student STEM identity and persistence, and determine whether backchannel use differs for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Research will be conducted in coordination with a consortium of eleven universities that are working to improve foundational STEM courses through development of equitable and inclusive STEM curricula and teaching practices. Further dissemination will occur via a higher education video-platform company that can share lessons learned by the project with their client institutions. The proposed research is grounded in existing educational frameworks and is based on a model that includes potential mediators between backchannel availability and its influence on STEM identity and persistence. The mediators are based on Expectancy-Value Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and extensive studies of belonging, classroom questioning, and help seeking. Expectancy-Value Theory focuses on student efficacy, values, and the personal and social cost of asking questions, and is relevant to recent studies in the STEM education literature. Self-Determination Theory mediators are the basic needs of belonging and autonomy, the extent to which students feel that they belong to the class as well as the STEM discipline, and are especially important for underrepresented student populations. The extensive literature on student questioning and help seeking is critical since it has yet to be incorporated into backchannel research. This research will compare students’ perceived help-seeking threat versus the perceived benefits of asking questions. Mediators will be tested using multi-level and multi-group analyses and include statistical controls for non-backchannel between-class differences (e.g., class size). The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This project is supported by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources. Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.