Development and Evaluation of a Comprehensive Utility Value Intervention for General Chemistry

许多打算在科学，技术，工程或数学（STEM）领域主修的学生最终没有完成STEM领域的学位。解决学生离开STEM专业的问题很重要，因为可能很快就会出现STEM专业人才短缺，以满足国家的需求。先前的研究表明，一些学生失去了追求STEM专业的动力，特别是在学习STEM入门课程时。学习理论表明，当学生看到参与一项活动的价值时，动机可能会增强，因为它与他们未来的计划相关，被称为其效用价值。这个改进本科STEM教育（IUSE：EHR）的学生学习水平1项目旨在通过开发，实施和评估普通化学课程的综合效用价值干预（UVI）来服务于国家利益。UVI旨在提高学生对普通化学课程有用性的认识，这是许多STEM专业所需的，从而增强学生坚持普通化学和STEM专业的动力。UVI设计的假设机制来自Eccles的期望价值理论，该理论将个人的参与解释为他们对成功和主观任务价值（包括效用价值）的期望。基于这一理论的一个期望是，提高学生的普通化学的实用价值将提高学生的持久性，并导致改善的学业成绩，以及在未来从事类似的课程的动机。项目组将在南佛罗里达大学第一学期普通化学的三个课程部分和第二学期普通化学的三个课程部分实施UVI。UVI将包括提示每个学生将一般化学主题与他们的未来计划相关联，提供个性化的反馈，其中包含针对每个学生确定的计划量身定制的化学相关新闻文章的链接，并简要介绍一般化学主题对STEM职业和日常生活应用的适用性。干预设计还将通过与高年级本科化学学生和STEM专业人员就普通化学的实用价值进行访谈来了解。UVI将使用准实验设计进行评估，该设计将检查干预组和对照组学生的课前和课后感知效用和课程表现，以及干预一年后他们的STEM课程入学情况。此外，小组亦会进行焦点小组讨论，以定性方式描述干预措施对学生感知化学效用价值的影响。UVI的实施将直接影响1200多名学生，传播计划包括专业发展和支持30名普通化学教师将UVI纳入他们的课程。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。

Many students who start college intending to major in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field ultimately do not complete a degree in a STEM field. Addressing the issue of students leaving STEM majors is important because there may soon be a shortage of STEM professionals to meet the Nation’s demands. Prior research shows that some students experience a loss of motivation to pursue a STEM major particularly while taking introductory STEM courses. Learning theory suggests that motivation may be enhanced when a student sees the value of engaging with an activity due to its relevance for their future plans, referred to as its utility value. This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EHR) Engaged Student Learning Level 1 project aims to serve the national interest by developing, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive utility value intervention (UVI) for general chemistry courses. The UVI will be designed to improve students’ perceptions of the usefulness of general chemistry coursework, which is required for many STEM majors, and thus enhance students’ motivation to persist in general chemistry and STEM majors. The hypothesized mechanism underlying the design of the UVI is informed by Eccles’ Expectancy Value Theory, which explains an individual’s engagement as the result of their expectations for success and subjective task value, including utility value. An expectation based on this theory is that improving students’ utility value of general chemistry will enhance students’ persistence and result in improved academic performance, as well as motivation to engage in similar courses in the future. The project team will implement the UVI in three course sections of first-semester General Chemistry and three course sections of second-semester General Chemistry at the University of South Florida. The UVI will include prompts for each student to relate general chemistry topics to their future plans, provide individualized feedback that incorporates links to chemistry-related news articles tailored to the plans each student identifies, and brief presentations on the applicability of general chemistry topics to STEM careers and everyday life applications. The intervention design will also be informed by interviews with senior undergraduate chemistry students and STEM professionals regarding the utility value of the general chemistry. The UVI will be evaluated using a quasi-experimental design that will examine intervention and comparison group students’ pre- and post-course perceived utility and course performance, as well as their STEM course enrollments one-year after the intervention. In addition, the team will conduct focus groups to provide a qualitative description of the impact of the intervention on students’ perceived utility value of chemistry. The implementation of the UVI will directly impact over 1200 students, and the dissemination plan includes professional development and support for thirty additional general chemistry instructors to incorporate UVIs into their courses. The NSF IUSE: EHR program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the 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.