Web-Delivered Training to Improve Learning and Achievement for Underrepresented and First-Generation STEM Learners

• In Event: 29.028 - Novel Methods for Assessing and Enhancing Metacognitive Monitoring

Abstract

Many STEM majors fail to complete their degrees, and those who leave report they lack key STEM learning skills. This study examined whether delivering brief trainings that teach learning skills to students directly in their STEM course’s learning management system site would encourage effective learning behaviors, improve achievement, and provide greater benefits for those most underrepresented in the STEM workforce: students from underrepresented ethnic minority groups and first generation college students. Students who spent 60-90 minutes completing training modules made greater use of resources supporting planning, monitoring, and cognitive strategy use, and outperformed students in the control group on initial and final exams. Effects of training were even more pronounced for students from underrepresented minority groups and first generation students.

Authors

• Matthew L. Bernacki, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Lucie Vosicka, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Jenifer Utz, University of Nevada - Las Vegas