Psychosocial Interventions to Improve Postsecondary Student Mathematics Attainment: A Meta-Analysis Exploring What Works and for Whom

许多大学生在学习数学方面有困难，不是因为他们无法学习，而是因为他们常常不相信自己能成功。学生的信念，以及他们与学习相关和受社会影响的需求、观念、目标和策略，通常被称为社会心理因素，是影响他们学业成就的关键因素。由于这些因素是可塑的，许多针对心理社会因素的干预措施已经被评估，并且可以在大学数学课堂中实施。然而，这些干预措施的效果如何，以及这些干预措施的效果如何变化，这些问题仍然存在。该项目将通过调查社会心理干预的有效性来解决国家优先考虑的问题，即加强大学生的数学素养。该项目将收集和评估大学数学中社会心理干预的累积证据。该项目的研究结果将有助于提高大学学生的数学成绩，为管理人员和教师提供可以利用学生心理社会素质的循证实践。该项目是对大量研究的全面系统回顾和荟萃分析，这些研究测试了针对心理社会机制的干预措施，以提高高等教育学生的数学成就。该项目旨在通过随机对照试验或高质量准实验设计，检查已发表和未发表的研究，这些研究调查了心理社会干预对数学成绩的影响。根据策略学习模型和相关文献，干预措施将被分类，并根据所针对的社会心理机制汇总干预效果。使用频率论的方法，该项目将回答两个主要的研究问题：大学数学的社会心理干预对学生的数学成绩和社会心理因素的总体有效性是什么？干预效果异质性的其他来源是什么？这种定量综合将创建一个丰富的研究及其影响数据库，为干预措施何时以及在多大程度上改变学生的社会心理素质和影响学生的数学成绩提供证据。将使用MUTOS框架进行系统分析，该框架根据方法(M)、单位(U)、治疗(T)、结果(O)和环境(S)对研究进行分类。这些类别将作为随机效应元回归模型中可测试的调节因子，评估干预效应的大小或方向是否因这些特征而变化。探索治疗效果的异质性将对成功的社会心理干预的组成部分产生见解，扩展心理学理论知识，并为大学数学循证课程的设计提供信息。本项目由美国国家科学基金会EDU核心研究（ECR）项目支持。ECR项目强调在该领域产生基础知识的基础STEM教育研究。投资在至关重要、广泛和持久的关键领域：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 college students have difficulty learning mathematics not because they are unable to learn but because they often do not believe they can perform successfully. Students’ beliefs, along with their learning-related and socially influenced needs, perceptions, goals, and strategies, often described as psychosocial factors, are key factors to their academic achievement. Because such factors are malleable, many interventions targeting psychosocial factors have been evaluated and could be implemented in college math classrooms. However, questions remain about how effective these interventions might be and how the effects of such interventions may vary. This project will address the national priority to strengthen college students’ mathematics attainment by investigating the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions. The project will collect and assess the accumulated evidence on psychosocial interventions in college mathematics. The findings from the project will help to improve mathematics outcomes for students in college, providing administrators and instructors with evidence-informed practices that can harness students’ psychosocial qualities. The project is a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of a large body of studies that test interventions targeting psychosocial mechanisms to improve postsecondary students’ mathematics attainment. The project aims to examine published and unpublished studies that investigated the effects of psychosocial interventions on mathematics attainment through randomized controlled trials or high-quality quasi-experimental designs. Drawing from the Model of Strategic Learning and related literature, interventions will be categorized, and intervention effects aggregated, according to the psychosocial mechanism(s) being targeted. Using a frequentist approach, the project will answer two primary research questions: What is the overall effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in college mathematics on students’ mathematics attainment and psychosocial factors? What are other sources of heterogeneity among intervention effects? This quantitative synthesis will create a rich database of studies and their effects, providing evidence about when, and to what degree, interventions alter students’ psychosocial qualities and impact students’ math outcomes. A systematic analysis will be conducted using the MUTOS framework which categorizes studies based on methods (M), units (U), treatments (T), outcomes (O), and settings (S). These categories will serve as testable moderators within random effects meta-regression models, assessing if the magnitude or direction of intervention effects vary by these characteristics. Exploring heterogeneity in treatment effects will generate insights regarding the components of successful psychosocial interventions, extend knowledge of psychological theories, and inform the design of evidence-based programs in college mathematics. This project is supported by NSF’s EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.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.