Promoting Motivation for Underrepresented Groups in Undergraduate Biology Courses

描述(由申请者提供)：提高少数民族学生对生物入门课程的兴趣和动机至关重要，因为这些课程是进入生物医学科学后续课程和职业生涯的门户。我们提出了两种社会心理学干预的实验场测试：价值观肯定技术侧重于学生的个人价值观；效用价值干预侧重于课程内容的价值或有用性。到目前为止，这些干预措施都没有在大学生物课程中进行过测试，也没有在同一门课程中一起进行过测试。我们相信，这些干预措施可以结合起来，促进生物方面代表性不足的学生的动机和表现。我们建议在威斯康星州大学的生物学入门课程中对2200名学生进行大规模的现场实验，以及一系列补充的实验室实验，以检验这些干预措施的作用机制。我们将评估价值肯定和效用价值干预在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校生物科学专业为期一年的入门生物学序列中的单独和综合影响。我们将对四个队列(N=2200)的入门生物学学生进行纵向跟踪，从他们参加入门生物学课程到他们大学毕业。我们的目标是：1)测试价值观肯定干预在受威胁群体(少数族裔学生和第一代学生)生物导论课中的有效性，以获得以下结果：课程保留率、课程表现和对生物的兴趣2)检验在受威胁群体生物入门课中效用价值干预的有效性：以下结果：课程保留率、课程表现和对生物学的兴趣；3)测试两种干预措施的组合，以确定它们是相加还是协同作用，促进受威胁群体的生物课程的动机和表现。此外，我们计划使用纵向设计，测试这两种干预措施对学生毕业后的选课、专业选择和职业规划的长期影响，验证我们的假设，即这些干预措施应该有效地促进生物医学职业生涯的动机。最后，我们将通过系统地改变干预措施的参数，在大规模的纵向现场实验中测量假想的介体，并通过在实验室研究中进行实验研究，来检验这些干预措施的工作机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is critically important to promote interest and motivation for underrepresented ethnic minority (UEM) students in introductory biology courses, because these courses serve as a gateway to successive courses and careers in the biomedical sciences. We propose an experimental field test of two social psychological interventions: the values affirmation technique focuses on the student's personal values; the utility value intervention focuses on the value or usefulness of course content. To date, neither intervention has been tested in college biology courses, nor have these interventions been tested together in the same course. We believe that these interventions can be combined to promote motivation and performance for underrepresented students in biology. We propose a large-scale field experiment with 2200 students in introductory biology courses at UW, as well a set of complementary laboratory experiments to examine the mechanisms through which these interventions work. We will evaluate the separate and combined effects of Values Affirmation and Utility Value interventions in the year-long introductory biology sequence taken by biological science majors at UW- Madison. We will follow four cohorts (N=2200) of introductory biology students longitudinally from their enrollment in the introductory biology course through their graduation from college. Our goals are 1) to test the effectiveness of the values affirmation intervention in introductory biology classes for threatened groups (underrepresented ethnic minority students and first-generation students) for the following outcomes: retention in the course, course performance, and interest in biology 2) Examine the effectiveness of the utility value intervention in introductory biology classes for threatened groups for the following outcomes: retention in the course, course performance, and interest in biology, 3) Test the two interventions in combination to determine whether they work additively or synergistically to promote motivation and performance in biology courses for threatened groups. In addition, we plan to test the long-term effects of both interventions on students' subsequent course-taking, choice of major, and career plans at graduation, using a longitudinal design, testing our hypothesis that these interventions should be effective in promoting motivation for biomedical careers. Finally, we will examine the mechanisms through which these interventions work, by systematically varying the parameters of the interventions and measuring hypothesized mediators in the large-scale, longitudinal field experiment and by conducting experimental research in laboratory studies.