Broadening Participation Research: Investigating the Role of Psychosocial Factors on Students Taking Gatekeeper Courses in STEM

该项目调查了影响北卡罗来纳州中央大学本科生学习和表现的心理社会因素。 该项目扩展了先前的研究，研究人员发现，在学习动机和策略问卷测量的因素中，学生表达的自我效能感被认为是课程表现的最强预测因子，并且在控制先前成绩时是唯一的预测因子。目前的研究将使用一种广义的潜在亚组方法，以允许进行更细粒度的分析，可以详细说明否则可能会错过的关系或相互作用。该项目说明了广义潜在亚组视角产生的可能性，以解决扩大参与STEM教育研究的复杂性和异质性。该研究探讨了广义人口的多个维度的交叉点，其特征是社会经济地位，环境和情境因素，个人和社会身份，以及学生的动机状态，以及与他们参加看门人STEM课程相关的行为和学术成果变量的对应关系。本研究将探讨四个研究问题：（1）从背景特征、动机和心理变量中确定了哪些广义的潜在亚群？(2)背景特征、动机和心理变量是否相互作用影响STEM课程的学习行为？(3)与学习相关的心理社会和行为因素在多大程度上决定了学术成果，例如STEM课程的通过率和保留率？以及（4）在STEM课程的学习行为和学术成果上，广义亚群的学习行为和学术成果反映了什么样的差异效应？调查数据将从STEM入门课程的学生中收集，并使用潜在类别分析作为方法论方法进行分析。 研究结果可以有助于更有效的干预措施，以改善在STEM中代表性不足的群体的保留。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The project investigates the psychosocial factors that influence learning and performance for undergraduate students taking introductory science and mathematics courses at North Carolina Central University. The project extends prior research where the investigator found that among the factors measured on a learning motivation and strategies questionnaire, the students’ expressed self-efficacy was found to be the strongest predictor of course performance, and was the singular predictor when controlling for prior achievement. The current study will use a generalized latent subgroup approach to allow for a finer-grained analysis that could detail relationships or interactions that might be missed otherwise. The project illustrates the possibilities a generalized latent subgroup perspective yields for addressing the complexity and heterogeneity of broadening participation STEM education research.The research explores the intersection of the multiple dimensions of a generalized population, characterized by socioeconomic status, environmental and situational factors, personal and social identities, and motivational states of students, and corresponding relationships with behavioral and academic outcome variables associated with them taking gatekeeper STEM courses. The study will examine four research questions: (1) What generalized latent subgroups are determined from background characteristics, motivational, and psychological variables?, (2) Do background characteristics, motivational, and psychological variables interact to influence learning behavior in STEM courses?, (3) To what extent does the psychosocial and behavioral factors associated with learning determine academic outcomes, such as pass rates and retention in STEM courses? And (4) What differential effects are reflected on learning behaviors and academic outcomes in STEM courses from generalized subgroups? Survey data will be collected from students in introductory STEM courses and analyzed using Latent Class Analysis as a methodological approach. The research results can contribute to more effective interventions to improve retention of underrepresented groups in STEM.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.