Collaborative Research: Maximizing Mentor Effectiveness In Increasing Student Interest And Success In STEM: An Empirical Approach Employing Robotics Competitions

这个合作项目正在进行一项研究，以描绘指导的有效组成部分，为代表性不足和非代表性不足的学生在干，利用机器人教育计划。 为了了解STEM对成功的期望和追求STEM职业的兴趣，必须了解人们在决定学习什么领域和追求什么职业时所做的与成就相关的选择。如果要充分利用辅导来提高学生追求STEM职业的兴趣，那么就必须明确什么类型的辅导在提高STEM自我效能和与成就相关的选择方面最有效。该提案正在解决以下研究问题：“一般的'最佳实践'辅导方法是否有效，或者是否需要特定的自我效能方法？这两种方法的结合是最佳的吗？此外，学生种族是否会缓和辅导方法的影响？“48支由大约480名男性和女性参与者组成的团队代表了以前没有参加过机器人或类似STEM活动的中学班级。团队导师分为接受最佳实践导师培训、自我效能导师培训、两者结合以及不接受导师培训的组（对照组）。所有团队都参加了由KISS实用机器人研究所组织的Botball区域机器人比赛。采用混合因子设计，该研究考察了三种类型的导师培训对STEM自我效能感和成功预期和/或STEM成就相关选择的影响。结果沿着来自导师的反馈将被用于开发一个导师培训包，该包可用于所有机器人项目，并推广到其他类似的STEM活动。该建议侧重于没有参加过以前的机器人比赛的学生，并且不是“自我选择”的学生（即尚未自愿报名参加机器人比赛）。因此，研究将告知该领域，如果经验本身产生了追求STEM的倾向，而没有参与者在研究开始前已经如此倾向的混杂因素。

This collaborative project is conducting a research study to delineate the effective components of mentoring for underrepresented and non-underrepresented students in STEM, utilizing a robotics educational program. To understand STEM expectations of success and interests in pursuing STEM careers, it is imperative to understand the achievement-related choices people make when deciding what areas to study and what careers to pursue. If mentoring is to be used to its fullest capacity in increasing students' interest in pursuing STEM careers, it is imperative to delineate what type of mentoring is most effective in increasing STEM self-efficacy and achievement-related choices.This proposal is addressing the following research questions: "Can a general 'best practices' mentoring approach be effective or is a specific self-efficacy approach needed? Is a combination of the two approaches optimal? In addition, does student ethnicity moderate the impact of the mentoring approaches?" Forty-eight teams of approximately 480 male and female participants represent middle school classes that have not previously participated in robotics or a similar STEM activity. Team mentors are divided into those receiving best-practices mentor training, self-efficacy mentor training, a combination, and no mentor training (control group). All teams participate in a Botball regional robotics competition organized by the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics. Employing a mixed factorial design, the study examines three types of mentor training for their impact on STEM self-efficacy and expectations of success and/or STEM achievement-related choices. The results along with the feedback from mentors will be used to develop a mentor-training package that could be used in all robotics programs and be generalized to other similar STEM activities.This proposal focuses on students who have not participated in a previous robotics competition and are not 'self-selected' (i.e. have not already voluntarily enrolled in a robotics competition). Therefore, the research will inform the field if the experience itself generated a disposition to pursue STEM without the confounding factor that the participants were already so inclined before the study began.