GSE/RES Learning Companions as Change Agents: Improving Girls' Self-efficacy Beliefs in Learning Math

犹他州州立大学正在调查虚拟同龄人的教育潜力，以改变女孩对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的负面自我形象和态度，使她们朝着理想的方向发展。虚拟同伴，称为教学代理人作为学习伙伴（帕尔斯），可以鼓励和说服女孩提高他们在学习数学方面的自我效能感，并建立更积极的态度，以追求STEM的职业生涯。研究表明，女孩对STEM领域的负面看法往往是由于社会和文化的影响。家庭、学校和媒体可能会对女孩施加刻板的角色期望，并向女孩灌输理想的“芭比娃娃”女孩形象。因此，许多女孩倾向于将STEM视为男性化，并怀疑自己的竞争能力。女孩需要接触社会环境，鼓励她们克服毫无根据的社会陈规定型观念，并对自己在STEM方面的能力建立建设性的看法。虽然家庭、老师或朋友的刻板印象无法立即改变或影响，但可以创造对女孩友好的虚拟社交环境，帮助女孩建立对STEM的积极态度。该项目将（1）调查帕尔斯在促进女孩学习数学的自信心和效率方面的有效性，（2）调查帕尔斯对此至关重要的特点。为了实现这些目标，计划了一个为期三年的研究议程。在第一年，该项目将侧重于帕尔斯的性别和年龄的影响。这项研究将调查性别（男性与女性）和年龄（成年人与同龄人）是否与女孩选择帕尔斯作为学习伙伴有关，并随后调查女孩的自我效能和态度变化。在第二年，该项目将侧重于帕尔斯的能力和种族的影响。该研究将调查帕尔斯的能力（强与弱）和种族（白人与西班牙裔）是否对白人和西班牙裔女孩选择帕尔斯作为学习伙伴产生影响，并随后影响女孩的自我效能和态度变化。在第三年，该项目将集中在反馈类型和情绪的PAL的效果。本研究将探讨帕尔斯的反馈类型（苛刻与友善）和情绪（共情与非共情）是否会对女孩的成功和失败归因、自我效能感以及与帕尔斯的亲和力产生影响。研究问题将使用准实验设计和定量和定性数据来回答。样本将包括大约200名9年级的女孩在所需的代数I类在公立高中的大中型城市在美国的西部山区国家智力MeritFirst，不像大多数技术为基础的干预措施，一直集中在认知方面的学习，这个项目是面向女孩的数学学习的情感方面。本研究将探讨帕尔斯如何影响女生的数学自我效能感和积极的数学学习态度。第二，帕尔斯是一种特殊的教学工具，它是基于人与同伴互动研究的结果。该项目将确定可能影响女孩数学自我效能和态度的帕尔斯的具体特征。第三，基于PAL的干预措施将在整个学期定期在普通教室实施。该项目将提供基于课堂的证据，证明帕尔斯在K-12环境中的教育价值及其长期使用的意义。更广泛的影响该项目是通过多学科团队的合作努力进行的，因此将对多个社区产生影响，例如妇女/性别教育，一般STEM教育，教育技术，人机交互，如果发现有效，与人类指导计划相比，帕尔斯可能是一种有效且具有成本效益的干预措施，可以重塑女孩的STEM信念和态度。通过课堂实施，该项目对帕尔斯在提高高加索和少数民族女孩的数学自我效能和态度方面的作用产生了影响。PAL/学习者的关系，在该项目中确定的帕尔斯的有影响力的特点将提供对人类关系的研究，以及对人/机交互的影响。

Utah State University is investigating the educational potential of virtual peers to change girls' negative self-images and attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), moving them in a desirable direction. The virtual peers, called pedagogical agents as learning companions (PALs), may encourage and persuade girls to increase their belief of self-efficacy in learning math and to build more positive attitudes toward pursuing careers in STEM.Research indicates that girls' negative views of the fields of STEM are often due to social and cultural influences. Family, schools, and media are likely to impose stereotypic role expectations on girls and infuse girls with ideal "Barbie doll" images of girls. As a result, many girls tend to identify STEM as masculine and doubt their ability to compete. Girls need to be exposed to social environments that will encourage them to overcome ungrounded social stereotypes and build constructive views of their competency in STEM. Although the stereotypic views of family, teachers, or friends cannot be immediately changed or influenced, girl-friendly virtual social environments can be created to help girls build positive attitudes toward STEM. The project will 1) investigate the effectiveness of PALs in facilitating girls' self-confidence and efficacy in learning math and 2) investigate the characteristics of PALs critical to that end. To reach the goals, a three-year research agenda is planned. In the first year, the project will focus on the effects of the gender and age of PALs. The research will investigate whether gender (male vs. female) and age (adult vs. peer) are related to girls' choices of PALs as their learning partners and, subsequently, girls' self-efficacy and attitude change. In the second year, the project will focus on the effects of the competency and ethnicity of PALs. The research will be an investigation of whether PALs' competency (strong vs. weak) and ethnicity (Caucasian vs. Hispanic) have an impact on Caucasian and Hispanic girls' choices of PALs as their learning partners and, subsequently, girls' self-efficacy and attitude change. In the third year, the project will concentrate on the effects of the feedback type and emotion of PALs. The research will be an investigation of whether PALs' feedback type (harsh vs. nice) and emotion (empathetic vs. non-empathetic) will have an impact on girls' attribution of their success and failure, their self-efficacy, and their feelings of affability with PALs. The research questions will be answered using a quasi-experimental design and both quantitative and qualitative data. The sample will include approximately 200 9th-grade girls in required algebra I classes in public high schools in large and mid-size cities in a mountain-west state of the USA.Intellectual MeritFirst, unlike most technology-based interventions that have been focused on the cognitive aspect of learning, this project is geared toward the affective aspect of girls' math learning. This project will identify how PALs can be used to effect girls' math self-efficacy and positive attitude toward learning math. Second, PALs are a special subset of pedagogical agents and are grounded on findings from human-peer interaction research. This project will identify the specific characteristics of PALs that might affect girls' math self-efficacy and attitudes. Third, PAL-based interventions will be implemented in ordinary classrooms regularly throughout the semester. This project will provide classroom-based evidence on the educational value of PALs in K-12 settings and implications for long-term use.Broader ImpactsThe project is conducted through the collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary team and so will yield implications for multiple communities, such as researchers in women/gender education, STEM education in general, educational technology, human/computer interaction, and artificial intelligence in education.If found to be effective, PALs are potentially an efficient and cost-effective intervention to re-shape girls' STEM beliefs and attitudes, compared to human-mentoring programs. Through classroom implementation, the project has implications for PALs' role for improving Caucasian and minority girls' math self-efficacy and attitudes. The influential characteristics of PALs for PAL/learner relations identified in the project will provide implications for research on human relations as well as on human/computer interactions.