Identifying and Promoting Mechanisms by which Learning Assistants Foster Belonging and Self-efficacy in Underserved Student Populations

该项目旨在通过学习助理（LAs）方法提高STEM教育的公平性，从而为国家利益服务，该方法旨在支持大型STEM入门课程中不同学生群体的学习。通过这一设计，该项目旨在改善LAs对学生归属感、自我效能感和科学认同感的影响，因为他们正在经历第一学期的生物和化学入门课程。助理教师是指有课程学习经验的本科生，他们与教师合作，为正在积极学习的课堂上的同龄人提供支持。虽然研究发现LAs平均可以增加学生对入门科学课程的归属感，但目前尚不清楚LAs是否或如何能够特别支持来自服务不足群体的学生的归属感和信心。该项目将促进对实践的理解，以增强洛杉矶大学项目对三个群体学生的影响：女性、种族和民族边缘群体的学生和第一代学生。重要的是，深入了解如何构建一个公平的LA项目，为大型入门课程的学生提供服务，可能会对这些课程的整体学生保留率和成功产生积极影响。此外，在洛杉矶项目中为STEM教育界提供公平的方法可能会对STEM学科和机构类型产生影响。该项目将在一所大型大学的化学和生物项目中进行多阶段的努力，以解决对STEM教育公平的呼吁。项目团队将追求三个具体目标。首先是评估在入门STEM课程中纳入学习助理（LAs）对学生群体中学生的归属感、科学自我效能感和科学身份的影响。其次是描述那些来自服务不足群体的学生描述为洛杉矶对归属感和科学自我效能感影响的重要机制。最终目标是调整洛杉矶计划，以支持促进归属感和科学自我效能感的机制，这些学生来自服务不足的群体。该项目将采用混合方法，其中包括经过验证的调查、回归方法（确定纳入LAs对不同学生群体是否有不同影响）、焦点小组访谈和主题分析（确定模式）。利用焦点小组访谈的结果，洛杉矶计划将适应支持结构和行为，可能对来自服务不足群体的学生产生影响。这些变化的整合将通过讲师报告和LA现场笔记进行评估。该项目将由领导团队与外部咨询委员会合作进行评估。研究结果将通过会议和出版物分享，供本科STEM教育工作者采用和适应这些做法。该项目有可能扩大对洛杉矶项目机制的了解，通过这些机制，洛杉矶项目可以减少来自服务不足群体的学生的社会和心理障碍，从而更普遍地增加对门户课程和STEM的归属感。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过其参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 increasing equity in STEM education through a Learning Assistants (LAs) approach designed to support diverse student populations in large introductory STEM courses. Through this design, the project seeks to improve the impact of LAs on students’ sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and science identity as they move through the first term of introductory biology and chemistry. LAs are undergraduate students with prior experience in a course who work with an instructor to provide support for their peers currently in an active learning classroom. While LAs have been found to increase students’ belonging in gateway science courses on average, it is not known whether or how LAs can specifically support belonging and confidence for students from underserved groups. This project will advance understanding of practices that enhance the impact of LA programs for students in three groups: women, students in racially and ethnically marginalized groups, and first-generation students. Importantly, gaining a deeper understanding of how to structure an equitable LA program that serves students in large introductory courses has the potential to have a positive impact on overall student retention and success in these courses. Moreover, providing the STEM education community with equitable approaches within an LA program is likely to have implications across STEM disciplines and institution types. This project will pursue a multi-staged effort within the chemistry and biology programs of a large university to address the call for equity in STEM education. The project team will pursue three specific aims. The first is to assess the impacts of incorporating Learning Assistants (LAs) on students’ sense of belonging, science self-efficacy, and science identity across student populations in gateway STEM courses. The second is to characterize the mechanisms students from groups that have been underserved describe as important for LA impacts on belonging and science self-efficacy. The final aim is to adapt the LA program to support mechanisms that promote belonging and science self-efficacy in students from groups that have been underserved. The project will use a mixed methods approach that includes validated surveys, regression approaches to determine whether incorporating LAs has different impact on different populations of students, focus group interviews, and thematic analysis to identify patterns. Using the results from the focus group interviews, the LA program will be adapted to support structures and behaviors likely to be impactful for students from groups that have been underserved. The incorporation of these changes will be assessed using instructor reports and LA field notes. The project will be evaluated by the leadership team in collaboration with an external advisory board. Findings will be shared through conferences and publications for undergraduate STEM educators to allow the adoption and adaptation of these practices. This project has the potential to expand knowledge about mechanisms by which LA programs can reduce social and psychological barriers for students from groups that have been underserved, thereby increasing belonging in gateway courses and STEM more generally. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its 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.