Development and Evaluation of a Comprehensive Utility Value Intervention for General Chemistry

普通化学综合实用价值干预措施的开发和评估

• 批准号: 2121416
• 负责人: Scott Lewis
• 金额: $ 27.84万
• 依托单位: University of South Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-15 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121416&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Evaluation; Comprehensive; Utility; Value

Many students who start college intending to major in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field ultimately do not complete a degree in a STEM field. Addressing the issue of students leaving STEM majors is important because there may soon be a shortage of STEM professionals to meet the Nation’s demands. Prior research shows that some students experience a loss of motivation to pursue a STEM major particularly while taking introductory STEM courses. Learning theory suggests that motivation may be enhanced when a student sees the value of engaging with an activity due to its relevance for their future plans, referred to as its utility value. This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EHR) Engaged Student Learning Level 1 project aims to serve the national interest by developing, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive utility value intervention (UVI) for general chemistry courses. The UVI will be designed to improve students’ perceptions of the usefulness of general chemistry coursework, which is required for many STEM majors, and thus enhance students’ motivation to persist in general chemistry and STEM majors. The hypothesized mechanism underlying the design of the UVI is informed by Eccles’ Expectancy Value Theory, which explains an individual’s engagement as the result of their expectations for success and subjective task value, including utility value. An expectation based on this theory is that improving students’ utility value of general chemistry will enhance students’ persistence and result in improved academic performance, as well as motivation to engage in similar courses in the future. The project team will implement the UVI in three course sections of first-semester General Chemistry and three course sections of second-semester General Chemistry at the University of South Florida. The UVI will include prompts for each student to relate general chemistry topics to their future plans, provide individualized feedback that incorporates links to chemistry-related news articles tailored to the plans each student identifies, and brief presentations on the applicability of general chemistry topics to STEM careers and everyday life applications. The intervention design will also be informed by interviews with senior undergraduate chemistry students and STEM professionals regarding the utility value of the general chemistry. The UVI will be evaluated using a quasi-experimental design that will examine intervention and comparison group students’ pre- and post-course perceived utility and course performance, as well as their STEM course enrollments one-year after the intervention. In addition, the team will conduct focus groups to provide a qualitative description of the impact of the intervention on students’ perceived utility value of chemistry. The implementation of the UVI will directly impact over 1200 students, and the dissemination plan includes professional development and support for thirty additional general chemistry instructors to incorporate UVIs into their courses. 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.

许多开始在大学，技术，工程或数学（STEM）领域专业的学生最终没有完成STEM领域的学位。解决离开STEM专业的学生问题很重要，因为很快可能会有STEM专业人员不足以满足国家要求。先前的研究表明，有些学生会失去攻读STEM专业的动力，尤其是在参加介绍STEM课程的同时。学习理论表明，当学生看到与活动与未来计划相关的活动的价值时，可能会增强动力，这被称为其效用价值。这种改善的本科STEM教育（IUSE：EHR）涉及学生学习级别1项目旨在通过开发，实施和评估通用化学课程的全面公用事业价值干预（UVI）来服务国家利益。 UVI将旨在提高学生对一般化学课程的有用性的看法，这是许多STEM专业所需的，从而增强了学生在一般化学和STEM专业中坚持的动力。 Eccles的预期价值理论为UVI设计的基础机制提供了信息，该理论解释了个人的参与，因为他们对成功和主观任务价值（包括效用价值）的期望。基于该理论的期望是，提高学生对通用化学的效用价值将增强学生的持久性并改善学习成绩，并在将来参加类似课程的动机。该项目团队将在南佛罗里达大学的第一学期通用化学的三个课程和三个课程的课程中实施UVI。 UVI将为每个学生提供与他们未来计划相关的一般化学主题的提示，提供个性化的反馈，其中包含了与每个学生所识别的计划量身定制的与化学相关的新闻文章的链接，并简要介绍了一般化学主题在STEM职业中的适用性和每天的生活应用。干预设计还将通过与高级本科化学学生和STEM专业人员的访谈有关通用化学的实用性价值的访谈。将使用准实验设计对UVI进行评估，该设计将检查干预和比较小组学生在课程前和课程后的效用和课程绩效以及干预后一年的STEM课程入学率。此外，团队将进行焦点小组，以对干预对学生感知的化学效用价值的影响进行定性描述。 UVI的实施将直接影响1200多名学生，并且传播计划包括专业发展和支持30名额外的通用化学教师，以将UVIS纳入其课程。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过订婚的学生学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估诚实的支持。

项目成果

Efficacy and Insights Gained from a Utility Value Intervention with Inorganic Chemistry Students

从无机化学学生的效用价值干预中获得的功效和见解

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00045
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Journal of Chemical Education
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Wang, Ying;Lewis, Scott E.
• 通讯作者: Lewis, Scott E.