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Promoting STEM Interest and Positive Emotions in Fourth-Grade Girls and Boys

Mon, April 11, 7:45 to 9:45am, Convention Center, Floor: Level Two, Room 207 A

Abstract

Interest in STEM generally declines through the primary and secondary grades (Tytler Osborne, Williams, Tytler & Cripps Clark, 2008). One way to promote student interest in STEM content during secondary school is to target younger students who have not yet lost interest in STEM content. In previous research (Authors, 2015), we were able to sustain girls’ interest in STEM over the course of a year-long intervention in middle-school.
In this study, we sought to promote and measure STEM interest and enjoyment in 4th grade boys and girls through a STEM intervention that uses toy cars and tracks (Authors, 2015). Speedometry is a 2-week curriculum aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which targets concepts such as potential and kinetic energy. Of particular concern was whether the curriculum would appeal to both girls and boys.

Methods and Procedures
Participants. Participants were 1482 4th grade students from 60 classrooms in a large, diverse urban area in Southern California in a randomized control trial.
Interest and Emotions Measures. The interest measure consisted of 14 Likert-scale items (α = .857). Four items measured general interest in the STEM activity (e.g., If you had free time outside of school would you do this activity again?). Five items targeted mathematics and five targeted science aspects of the activity (e.g., Does this activity make you want to learn more about math[science]?). Emotions were measured with 6 Likert-scale items targeting two discrete emotions; (excited and bored) and four epistemic emotions (confused, frustrated, surprised, and curious). Emoticons were used to help convey the interest and emotions constructs to young students who were largely English Language Learners.

Results and Discussion
Overall Effects. To determine whether the intervention was successful, all variables were entered into a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Results indicate that there were significant differences between groups F (5, 1107) = 19.17, p < .05. Students who participated in the intervention showed statistically greater knowledge gains, greater interest, more positive emotions, and less negative emotions than the control group (p < .05 for all outcomes).
Gender Effects. The treatment increased interest for both boys and girls over their non-treatment counterparts suggesting that the intervention was effective at promoting interest in both boys and girls. In addition, treatment girls were less bored, confused, and frustrated than their treatment counterparts, suggesting the treatment decreased negative emotions for girls. Evidence from the qualitative analysis of teacher interviews supports these finding. All teachers reported that the curricular unit promoted student engagement, interest in science and mathematics with no observed gender differences.

Discussion and Implications
The development of interest and positive emotions around STEM in early grades is an important objective of curriculum development. Our results suggest that Speedometry was effective in promoting learning gains as well as interest in both boys and girls. In addition, an important finding is the reduction of negative emotions around STEM content for girls in the treatment group, which may lead to future positive learning outcomes.

Authors