Improving Undergraduates’ Motivation and Retention in STEM Through Classroom Interventions: A Meta-Analysis

该项目旨在通过综合课堂干预如何提高科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域的本科生的动机结果(例如，兴趣)和留存能力的经验证据，为国家利益服务。该项目侧重于促进传统上在STEM中任职人数不足的本科生取得成功的方法(例如，女性；黑人、西班牙裔和美国印第安人学生；来自低收入家庭的学生；第一代学生)。这些群体的STEM学位完成率较低，继续阻碍机构努力实现教育公平，并阻碍国家努力满足STEM劳动力需求。令人鼓舞的是，越来越多的研究证据表明，具有可塑性的教学实践和轻微的动机干预可以提高这些学生的成就、动机和留存能力。该项目旨在通过以下几种关键方式在先前相关综合的基础上加以发展和扩展：(A)综合在本科生STEM课堂上出现的更广泛的干预措施；(B)侧重于与STEM的留存和实际留存有关的动机因素的影响，作为主要结果(而不是STEM课程的学习成绩)；以及(C)确定产生最强效果的具体干预组成部分。该项目的重点是在本科课堂上测试干预措施，这将有助于为STEM教授提供可操作的见解，以设计他们的课程并改变他们的指导，以增加本科生在STEM的动力和留存。该项目旨在通过综合关于本科生STEM课堂干预的两大独立文献，在理论和实践上对该领域作出贡献：(A)动机干预(例如，价值观肯定)和(B)教学干预(例如，积极学习)。综合将包括对这些干预措施的试验性和准试验性评估，重点是留住的效果(例如，参加下一门STEM课程，毕业时获得STEM学位)和与留住有关的动机因素(例如，兴趣、自我效能、归属感)。项目小组将使用严格的系统审查和元分析方法来提高审查过程的透明度，减少审查人员的偏见，并确保项目的调查结果是可靠的和全面的现有证据。统计分析将调查干预设计特征、学生人口统计和实施背景如何有助于解释为什么某些研究显示出比其他研究更强的效果。项目团队将利用大学伙伴关系、同行评议的期刊、会议和媒体渠道，向研究人员和实践者广泛传播研究结果，大规模推广基于证据的课堂实践。NSF IUSE：EHR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 synthesizing empirical evidence on how classroom interventions can increase motivational outcomes (e.g., interests) and retention for undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The project focuses on approaches to foster success for undergraduates who have been traditionally underrepresented in STEM (e.g., women; Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students; students from low-income families; first generation students). Low rates of STEM degree completion for these groups continue to hinder institutional efforts for educational equity and national efforts to address STEM workforce needs. Encouragingly, growing research evidence suggests that malleable instructional practices and light-touch motivational interventions can increase the achievement, motivation, and retention for such students. This project aims to build on and extend related prior syntheses in several critical ways by (a) synthesizing a wider range of interventions that occur in undergraduate STEM classrooms; (b) focusing on effects for motivational factors related to retention and actual retention in STEM as primary outcomes (rather than academic performance in STEM courses); and (c) identifying specific intervention components that yield the strongest effects. The project’s focus on interventions tested in undergraduate classrooms will help provide STEM professors with actionable insights for designing their classes and changing their instruction to increase undergraduates’ motivation and retention in STEM. This project aims to contribute both theoretically and practically to the field by synthesizing two largely separate bodies of literature on undergraduate STEM classroom interventions: (a) motivational interventions (e.g., values affirmation) and (b) instructional interventions (e.g., active learning). The synthesis will include both experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of these interventions, focusing on effects for retention (e.g., taking the next STEM course, graduating with a STEM degree) and motivational factors related to retention (e.g., interests, self-efficacy, sense of belonging). The project team will use rigorous systematic review and meta-analytic methods to improve transparency of the review process, reduce reviewer bias, and ensure the project’s findings are robust and comprehensive of existing evidence. Statistical analyses will investigate how intervention design features, student demographics, and the implementation context may help explain why some studies show stronger effects than others. The project team will leverage university partnerships, peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and media outlets to broadly disseminate findings to researchers and practitioners, promoting evidence based classroom practices at scale. The NSF IUSE: EHR 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.