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Science for All: Boosting the Science Motivation of Elementary School Students With Utility Value Intervention

Mon, April 8, 4:10 to 6:10pm, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, Floor: Second Floor, Dominion Ballroom North

Abstract

Objective
The need for students to learn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has increased steadily, while their STEM motivation continues to fall behind. We tested the effects of an intervention highlighting the personal and communal utility value of science in careers on elementary school students’ science motivation and career interest.

Theoretical Framework
The expectancy-value theory posits that expectations for success and subjective task value are important predictors of student motivation (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). Augmenting perceptions of utility is particularly effective for enhancing students’ motivation and performance (Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009). Recent studies have demonstrated that emphasizing the personal (i.e., usefulness of a task for one’s present and future lives) and communal utility (i.e., usefulness of a task for one’s social goals, such as building interpersonal relationships and helping others) of STEM develops STEM interest among students (Brown, Thoman, Allen, & Muragishi, 2015; Gaspard et al., 2015). We tried to replicate this finding in a semester-long intervention program linking science to various non-STEM careers that were popular among students.

Method
A total of 416 fifth and sixth graders (52.6% girls) at a public elementary school in Seoul, Korea, participated in the study. We randomly assigned 9 classes (219 students) in the experimental condition and 8 classes (197 students) in the control condition. The intervention consisted of seven bi-weekly 40-min sessions during regular classroom hours. In the experimental condition, the usefulness of science for attaining personal and communal goals inherent in popular non-STEM careers (e.g., designers, entertainers, and teachers) was emphasized and internalized through classroom activities including postcard writing. The control group reviewed science topics with the same activities. All sessions were taught by eight trained preservice volunteer teachers, who were blind to the study hypotheses and delivered the intervention with high fidelity.

Materials
We assessed students’ perception of personal (Conley, 2012; Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009) and communal (Brown et al., 2015) utility value, interest in science (Durik, Shechter, Noh, Rozek, & Harackiewicz, 2015), appreciation of the role of science in future careers (Pugh, Linnenbrink-Garcia, Koskey, Stewart, & Manzey, 2010), intention to engage in science-related activities (Bong, 2001), and science achievement before and after the intervention. Science exams were developed and administered by the school teachers.

Results
After the intervention, the experimental group perceived greater personal and communal utility in science, appreciated the role of science in future careers more, and was more willing to engage in science-related activities compared to those in the control group (Figure 1). The enhanced perception of science utility mediated the effects of the intervention on science motivation and achievement (Figure 2).

Significance
The current study reports on the efficacy of a theory-based science utility value intervention that works for upper elementary school students, who are on the verge of experiencing a decline in STEM motivation (Jacobs, Lanza, Osgood, Eccles, & Wigfield, 2002). Our intervention program sheds light on how to resolve the challenges educators face in facilitating the STEM competence and career interest in all students.

Authors