11,736 research outputs found
Educational commitment and social networking: The power of informal networks
The lack of an engaging pedagogy and the highly competitive atmosphere in
introductory science courses tend to discourage students from pursuing science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Once in a STEM field,
academic and social integration has been long thought to be important for
students' persistence. Yet, it is rarely investigated. In particular, the
relative impact of in-class and out-of-class interactions remains an open
issue. Here, we demonstrate that, surprisingly, for students whose grades fall
in the "middle of the pack," the out-of-class network is the most significant
predictor of persistence. To do so, we use logistic regression combined with
Akaike's information criterion to assess in- and out-of-class networks, grades,
and other factors. For students with grades at the very top (and bottom), final
grade, unsurprisingly, is the best predictor of persistence---these students
are likely already committed (or simply restricted from continuing) so they
persist (or drop out). For intermediate grades, though, only out-of-class
closeness---a measure of one's immersion in the network---helps predict
persistence. This does not negate the need for in-class ties. However, it
suggests that, in this cohort, only students that get past the convenient
in-class interactions and start forming strong bonds outside of class are or
become committed to their studies. Since many students are lost through
attrition, our results suggest practical routes for increasing students'
persistence in STEM majors.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 8 tables, 6 pages of Supplementary Material
Modeling Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: An Agenda for Future Research and Evaluation
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are being championed as scalable ways of involving undergraduates in science research. Studies of CUREs have shown that participating students achieve many of the same outcomes as students who complete research internships. However, CUREs vary widely in their design and implementation, and aspects of CUREs that are necessary and sufficient to achieve desired student outcomes have not been elucidated. To guide future research aimed at understanding the causal mechanisms underlying CURE efficacy, we used a systems approach to generate pathway models representing hypotheses of how CURE outcomes are achieved. We started by reviewing studies of CUREs and research internships to generate a comprehensive set of outcomes of research experiences, determining the level of evidence supporting each outcome. We then used this body of research and drew from learning theory to hypothesize connections between what students do during CUREs and the outcomes that have the best empirical support. We offer these models as hypotheses for the CURE community to test, revise, elaborate, or refute. We also cite instruments that are ready to use in CURE assessment and note gaps for which instruments need to be developed.Howard Hughes Medical InstituteScience and Mathematics Educatio
Linking engagement and performance: The social network analysis perspective
Theories developed by Tinto and Nora identify academic performance, learning
gains, and involvement in learning communities as significant facets of student
engagement that, in turn, support student persistence. Collaborative learning
environments, such as those employed in the Modeling Instruction introductory
physics course, provide structure for student engagement by encouraging
peer-to-peer interactions. Because of the inherently social nature of
collaborative learning, we examine student interactions in the classroom using
network analysis. We use centrality---a family of measures that quantify how
connected or "central" a particular student is within the classroom
network---to study student engagement longitudinally. Bootstrapped linear
regression modeling shows that students' centrality predicts future academic
performance over and above prior GPA for three out of four centrality measures
tested. In particular, we find that closeness centrality explains 28 % more of
the variance than prior GPA alone. These results confirm that student
engagement in the classroom is critical to supporting academic performance.
Furthermore, we find that this relationship for social interactions does not
emerge until the second half of the semester, suggesting that classroom
community develops over time in a meaningful way
The Interactions of Relationships, Interest, and Self-Efficacy in Undergraduate Physics
This collected papers dissertation explores students’ academic interactions in an active learning, introductory physics settings as they relate to the development of physics self-efficacy and interest. The motivation for this work extends from the national call to increase participation of students in the pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Self-efficacy and interest are factors that play prominent roles in popular, evidence-based, career theories, including the Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the identity framework. Understanding how these constructs develop in light of the most pervasive characteristic of the active learning introductory physics classroom (i.e., peer-to-peer interactions) has implications on how students learn in a variety of introductory STEM classrooms and settings structured after constructivist and sociocultural learning theories.
I collected data related to students’ in-class interactions using the tools of social network analysis (SNA). Social network analysis has recently been shown to be an effective and useful way to examine the structure of student relationships that develop in and out of STEM classrooms. This set of studies furthers the implementation of SNA as a tool to examine self-efficacy and interest formation in the active learning physics classroom. Here I represent a variety of statistical applications of SNA, including bootstrapped linear regression (Chapter 2), structural equation modeling (Chapter 3), and hierarchical linear modeling for longitudinal analyses (Chapter 4).
Self-efficacy data were collected using the Sources of Self-Efficacy for Science Courses – Physics survey (SOSESC-P), and interest data were collected using the physics identity survey. Data for these studies came from the Modeling Instruction sections of Introductory Physics with Calculus offered at Florida International University in the fall of 2014 and 2015. Analyses support the idea that students’ perceptions of one another impact the development of their social network centrality, which in turn affects their self-efficacy building experiences and their overall self-efficacy. It was shown that unlike career theories that emphasize causal relationships between the development of self-efficacy and the subsequent growth of student interest, in this context student interest takes precedence before the development of student self-efficacy. This outcome also has various implications for career theories
Investigating Student Communities with Network Analysis of Interactions in a Physics Learning Center
Developing a sense of community among students is one of the three pillars of
an overall reform effort to increase participation in physics, and the sciences
more broadly, at Florida International University. The emergence of a research
and learning community, embedded within a course reform effort, has contributed
to increased recruitment and retention of physics majors. Finn and Rock [1]
link the academic and social integration of students to increased rates of
retention. We utilize social network analysis to quantify interactions in
Florida International University's Physics Learning Center (PLC) that support
the development of academic and social integration,. The tools of social
network analysis allow us to visualize and quantify student interactions, and
characterize the roles of students within a social network. After providing a
brief introduction to social network analysis, we use sequential multiple
regression modeling to evaluate factors which contribute to participation in
the learning community. Results of the sequential multiple regression indicate
that the PLC learning community is an equitable environment as we find that
gender and ethnicity are not significant predictors of participation in the
PLC. We find that providing students space for collaboration provides a vital
element in the formation of supportive learning community.Comment: 14 pages, 3 tables, 4 figure
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The Evolution of Student Engagement: Writing Improves Teaching in Introductory Biology
In response to calls for pedagogical reforms in undergraduate biology courses to decrease student attrition rates and increase active learning, this article describes one faculty member’s conversion from traditional teaching methods to more engaging forms of practice. Partially told as a narrative, this article illustrates a.) the way many faculty initially learn to teach by modeling the pedagogy from their own undergraduate programs; b.) the kind of support biology faculty may need to break out of traditional molds; c.) how writing can promote active learning; and d.) the impact of reformed pedagogy on student levels of engagement. The latter will be demonstrated through assessment results gathered from student surveys, reflective writing, and focus group interview. Ultimately, the study challenges misunderstandings some faculty might have regarding the value of writing in science classes and offers inspiration, urging critical reflection and persistence
Correlation Between Student Collaboration Network Centrality and Academic Performance
We compute nodal centrality measures on the collaboration networks of
students enrolled in three upper-division physics courses, usually taken
sequentially, at the Colorado School of Mines. These are complex networks in
which links between students indicate assistance with homework. The courses
included in the study are intermediate Classical Mechanics, introductory
Quantum Mechanics, and intermediate Electromagnetism. By correlating these
nodal centrality measures with students' scores on homework and exams, we find
four centrality measures that correlate significantly with students' homework
scores in all three courses: in-strength, out-strength, closeness centrality,
and harmonic centrality. These correlations suggest that students who not only
collaborate often, but also collaborate significantly with many different
people tend to achieve higher grades. Centrality measures between simultaneous
collaboration networks (analytical vs. numerical homework collaboration)
composed of the same students also correlate with each other, suggesting that
students' collaboration strategies remain relatively stable when presented with
homework assignments targeting different skills. Additionally, we correlate
centrality measures between collaboration networks from different courses and
find that the four centrality measures with the strongest relationship to
students' homework scores are also the most stable measures across networks
involving different courses. Correlations of centrality measures with exam
scores were generally smaller than the correlations with homework scores,
though this finding varied across courses.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. PE
Teaching Methods Matter: A Comparison of Learning Outcomes and Persistence in STEM between Traditional Lectures and Active Learning Using Undergraduate Learning Assistants in Introductory Chemistry Courses
Student retention in STEM majors is low. The literature is clear: poor teaching contributes to students’ decisions to leave STEM. From this I wondered if the teaching method made a difference in their choice. This study followed a quantitative, quasi-experimental research design. I compared two teaching methods, a traditional lecture (TRAD) and active learning using the Learning Assistant Program (LAP) to determine if there was a difference in student learning outcomes and persistence in STEM for students enrolled in an introductory chemistry course at a mid-sized regional comprehensive public university (RCPU). My results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups based on student performance on the American Chemical Society Final Exam and the percentage of students who enrolled in a subsequent STEM course. However, I found a statistically significant difference between the two groups when comparing Total Points Earned, and the DFW rates. LAP students achieved higher performance and a 2:1 overall pass ratio compared to TRAD students. The LAP teaching method positively influenced women and students of color with higher performance in overall grades achieved and course completion rates. The active learning teaching method that used the Learning Assistant Program improved student performance and persistence in the introductory chemistry courses and was particularly effective for women and students of color
Predicting time to graduation at a large enrollment American university
The time it takes a student to graduate with a university degree is mitigated
by a variety of factors such as their background, the academic performance at
university, and their integration into the social communities of the university
they attend. Different universities have different populations, student
services, instruction styles, and degree programs, however, they all collect
institutional data. This study presents data for 160,933 students attending a
large American research university. The data includes performance, enrollment,
demographics, and preparation features. Discrete time hazard models for the
time-to-graduation are presented in the context of Tinto's Theory of Drop Out.
Additionally, a novel machine learning method: gradient boosted trees, is
applied and compared to the typical maximum likelihood method. We demonstrate
that enrollment factors (such as changing a major) lead to greater increases in
model predictive performance of when a student graduates than performance
factors (such as grades) or preparation (such as high school GPA).Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure
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