Supporting STEM Academic Advising for Undergraduate Student Achievement

该项目旨在通过确定学术顾问的激励信念和实践来服务于国家利益，以提高本科生在STEM(科学、技术、工程和数学)方面的动机和成就。尽管学术导师对学生的成功起着关键作用，但在STEM教育研究中，学术导师的作用一直被忽视。随着导师承担越来越多的建议，我们必须更好地了解STEM成功建议背后的因素，以促进学生更好的学习结果。根据国际教育、科学、文化和科学研究所的目标：提高学生在STEM学科中的坚持性并为机构建设奠定基础，假设学术建议经历塑造了学生如何接近和体验课堂学习和职业发展活动。这个1级参与学生学习IUSE：EDU项目将增进对学术建议如何影响STEM领域本科生的动机、学习行为和成就结果的理解。除了产生新的知识来促进我们对这些重要学习过程的科学理解外，该项目还将确定干预手段，以提高STEM的保留率和成就，特别是来自这些领域代表性不足的群体的学生。该项目将追求以下具体研究目标：1)表征建议风格、建议风格偏好，以及对学术顾问和本科生在生物学和心理学方面拥有的能力和兴趣的隐含信念；2)通过对建议风格、能力心态信念和兴趣心态信念等维度的编码，评估建议会议的内容。3)考察自我报告和观察到的建议风格以及对能力和兴趣的内隐信念是否与学生的结果显著相关，如动机、选课行为、课堂学习、完成学位的进展和成绩。这项研究植根于生态系统的观点，强调在塑造人类发展的多个层面上人与环境的相互作用的重要性，并将采用结合定量和定性数据元素的纵向测量设计。数据将为动机科学的理论建设提供信息，并将阐明建议与STEM课堂教学/学习之间的联系。该项目的结果将传播给更广泛的STEM教育，并建议社区在STEM学生的动机和留存方面引发内部和跨机构的改进。最终，这项工作将为培养所有本科生在STEM专业的成功、鼓励留住和学位进步提供更广泛的方法。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 identifying the motivational beliefs and practices among academic advisors that can enhance motivation and achievement in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at the undergraduate level. Although academic advisors play a key role in student success, the role of the academic advisor has been consistently overlooked in STEM education research. As advisors take on ever-increasing advising loads, it is imperative that we better understand the factors underlying successful advising in STEM for promoting better learning outcomes for students. Consistent with the IUSE: EDU goals of increasing persistence of students in STEM disciplines and laying the groundwork for institutional improvement, it is hypothesized that academic advising experiences shape how students approach and experience classroom learning and career-building activities. This Level 1 Engaged Student Learning IUSE: EDU project will advance understanding of how academic advising shapes motivation, learning behaviors, and achievement outcomes in undergraduate students pursuing STEM fields. In addition to generating new knowledge to advance our scientific understanding of these important learning processes, the project will identify levers for intervention to increase STEM retention and achievement, especially for students from groups that have been underrepresented in these fields.The project will pursue the following specific research aims: 1) characterization of the advising styles, advising style preferences, and implicit beliefs about ability and interest possessed by academic advisors and undergraduate students in biology and psychology, 2) assessment of the content of advising meetings by coding on dimensions such as advising style, ability mindset beliefs, and interest mindset beliefs, and 3) examination of whether self-reported and observed advising styles and implicit beliefs about ability and interest are significantly associated with student outcomes such as motivation, course-taking behavior, classroom learning, progress towards degree completion, and grades. The study is rooted in an ecological systems perspective that emphasizes the importance of person-context interactions at multiple levels in shaping human development and will employ a longitudinal measurement design that incorporates both quantitative and qualitative data elements. Data will inform theory building in motivation science and will illuminate connections between advising and classroom instruction/learning in STEM. The results of the project will be disseminated to the broader STEM education and advising communities to spark within- and cross-institutional improvements in STEM student motivation and retention. Ultimately, this work will inform expanded approaches for fostering the success of all students in undergraduate STEM majors, encouraging retention and degree progression. The NSF IUSE: EDU 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.