Stuart Karabenick, Ph.D. - US grants

The study would develop new measures of non-cognitive outcome of schooling on motivation, self-efficiency, self-regulation strategies, and beliefs about learning. The study addresses the concern of the effect of beliefs and strategies on cognitive growth. These measures could be used in the MSP Projects to assess effects of the various interventions on students. The study would gather large pools of survey data by working with the Math and Science Partnership projects as well as other sites and would analyze these data with sophisticated statistical models. The study will be significantly large enough to include a specific examination of underrepresented groups. The goal of the investigators is to make new tools for assessing student motivation generally available to MSP projects to be used for increasing teachers knowledge about the role of these beliefs, and assist them in helping students. Also, the tools are intended to assist MSPs evaluate the effectiveness of their implementation.

Investigators from the University of Michigan and the University of California - Irvine, in support of partnership projects of the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program, are conducting research on the role of teacher motivation in professional development (PD). The Math and Science Partnership - Motivation Assessment Program II (MSP-MAP II) is building on (a) capacity developed during prior work, (b) current partnerships with two MSP projects, TEAM-Math (Alabama) and TASEL-M (California), and (c) the development of new collaborations, most notably with the Georgia-based Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics. Whereas the MSP program has demonstrated success in improving teacher content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, as well as student proficiency in mathematics and science, the MSP-MAP II project answers a fundamental need to examine the influence of teacher motivation for and engagement in teacher PD. While motivational concerns are often alluded to in PD programs (e.g., participation incentives or teacher confidence), the motivational processes in teacher PD remains an understudied component of teacher training interventions in general, and in MSP interventions in particular. Recognition of the importance of teacher motivation in the PD process arises at a time of renewed focus on teacher motivation, but what distinguishes current work is its comprehensive application of contemporary motivation theory and research. This research offers a range of constructs and assessment tools that are relevant to the process of PD in mathematics and science instruction, and to the formative and summative evaluation of teacher PD interventions in the MSP program.

MSP-MAP II is systematically applying current work on teacher motivation to the domain of teacher PD with the following goals:
(1) developing a knowledge base of motivation theory, research and assessment that is relevant for the PD process;
(2) developing and making available a suite of motivation-related reliable and valid assessment tools for MSP projects to use for formative and summative evaluation;
(3) collaborating with MSP projects to test and refine the proposed model of motivation in teacher PD;
(4) facilitating the incorporation of the model and motivation-related PD assessment tools into existing and future MSP logic models and evaluation designs; and
(5) disseminating the PD model and assessment tools to the broader teaching and research communities.

MSP-MAP II is accomplishing its goals by surveying more than 2,000 teachers at various stages of PD. Through its systematic study of teacher motivation in PD, MSP-MAP II is contributing to the growing theoretical and empirical literature on teacher motivation, particularly in regard to expectancy-value, achievement goals and interest theories.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California-Irvine, and the University of Michigan, will examine the underrepresentation of Hispanics in STEM fields. Hispanic youth, the largest minority and fastest growing demographic group, are the most likely to drop out of the STEM pipeline before college and are the least likely to complete college STEM training. Understanding the psychosocial non-cognitive influences on Hispanic youth's educational and occupational decisions is critical for designing effective strategies to confront this issue. The researchers will document the association of these non-cognitive constructs with Hispanic youth's STEM-related educational and occupational choices and persistence. The project will be funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports fundamental research on STEM learning and education.

The study builds on an existing longitudinal study of 14,000 mostly Hispanic and low-income middle and high school students to create a 15-year database. It also follows up on 1500 Hispanic youths with a more targeted survey. This study will contribute to the further refinement of two major social-cognitive/motivational theories of educational success and educational and occupational choices: Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) and Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT), documenting their association with Hispanic youth's STEM-related educational and occupational persistence. The longitudinal dataset will include measures of such essential constructs as: (a) self-efficacy, mindsets, subjective task values, and affective experiences, (b) educational and career aspirations and attainment, (c) high school course choices, and (d) academic achievement. The researchers will examine the links between these constructs assessed in secondary school and post high school educational and occupational choices and persistence. Finally, the researchers will assess the links between students' experiences in math classrooms, immediate over-the-year changes (motivational beliefs, college and career aspirations) and long-term outcomes (college and occupational choices).

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the educational experiences in large entry-level STEM courses. In these courses, many students feel uncomfortable asking questions. This reluctance is caused by issues such as a lack of confidence, fear of looking foolish, and discomfort with interrupting. The reluctance to ask questions in class is more pronounced for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. Accordingly, mitigating these classroom climate factors is considered critical to decreasing STEM college student attrition. A promising approach to increase student inquiry in large classes is to use in-class anonymous backchannels as a social layer to improve student classroom engagement. Backchannels are digital conversations, such as ?chat,? that occur during a class session and allow students to anonymously post questions. There is evidence that the use of a backchannel increases the frequency of questions posed and the range of students participating in classroom interactions. Thus far, however, the research has not connected the use of backchannels in classes to the broader goal of maintaining student STEM persistence. This research will obtain information about the effectiveness of backchannels as a teaching technique to improve STEM education for undergraduate students, determine whether the use of backchannels increases student STEM identity and persistence, and determine whether backchannel use differs for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Research will be conducted in coordination with a consortium of eleven universities that are working to improve foundational STEM courses through development of equitable and inclusive STEM curricula and teaching practices. Further dissemination will occur via a higher education video-platform company that can share lessons learned by the project with their client institutions.

The proposed research is grounded in existing educational frameworks and is based on a model that includes potential mediators between backchannel availability and its influence on STEM identity and persistence. The mediators are based on Expectancy-Value Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and extensive studies of belonging, classroom questioning, and help seeking. Expectancy-Value Theory focuses on student efficacy, values, and the personal and social cost of asking questions, and is relevant to recent studies in the STEM education literature. Self-Determination Theory mediators are the basic needs of belonging and autonomy, the extent to which students feel that they belong to the class as well as the STEM discipline, and are especially important for underrepresented student populations. The extensive literature on student questioning and help seeking is critical since it has yet to be incorporated into backchannel research. This research will compare students? perceived help-seeking threat versus the perceived benefits of asking questions. Mediators will be tested using multi-level and multi-group analyses and include statistical controls for non-backchannel between-class differences (e.g., class size). The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This project is supported by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources. 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.