Broadening Participation in the Biomedical Sciences with Utility Value Interventions

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Broadening Participation in the Biomedical Sciences with Utility Value Interventions ABSTRACT The goal of this program of research is to broaden the participation of first-generation (FG) and underrepresented ethnic minority (URM) students in biomedical fields with utility-value interventions in gateway biology and chemistry classes. Using a theoretically grounded utility- value intervention, PI aims to close achievement gaps for FG students, those for whom neither parent obtained a 4-year college degree, and for URM students. A previously funded large-scale double-blind randomized study in introductory biology courses at the University of Wisconsin- Madison (UW) demonstrated that the utility value intervention (UVI), in which students write about the personal relevance of course material, was successful in reducing the achievement gaps for FG and URM relative to a control condition in which students summarized course content. The proposed research will (1) test whether UVI effects documented at UW can be replicated in different gateway courses and different universities, (2) test whether the UVI can be adapted for a more diverse student sample, and (3) test the long-term effects of the UVI by following students over time through graduation. PI will analyze the results of a recently completed large-scale multi-site study conducted at three sites. Two versions of the UVI and control writing assignments were tested with more than 7,000 students across 10 academic semesters of biology and chemistry in 3 different institutions: UW, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and San Diego State University. By testing two versions of the UVI across three universities, and following students through graduation, PI can answer three critical questions. First, by testing a new prosocial version of the intervention and comparing it to the established “personal” version, as well as a control group, PI can draw new inferences about the impact of having students reflect on ways that they can use their education in biomedical fields to help others, give back to their community, or make a contribution to society. Second, because PI has collected data from large groups of students from diverse racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds, the data provide the best opportunity to date to test intervention effects for different groups of students in gateway courses. Third, long-term follow-up of students in the multi-site project will help us understand how and why this intervention can be so powerful in broadening participation in the biomedical sciences.