Utility-Value Interventions and College Students' Persistence in STEM: The Role of Expectancies and Values

• In Event: Poster Session 15
  In Poster Session: Motivation in Education SIG Poster Session 1

Abstract

We followed up on a previous study showing positive effects of a utility-value intervention (UVI) in an introductory college biology course, improving grades and helping to close the achievement gap for first-generation underrepresented minority students (8). We found that in addition to improving course grades, the UVI also influenced perceptions of utility value, and these two outcomes in turn predicted students’ persistence (course-taking and majoring) in the biomedical track two years post-intervention. Furthermore, grades and perceived utility value interacted to predict persistence, such that students who received good grades and perceived high levels of utility value were the most likely to persist. Tests of indirect effects suggest that the UVI may influence persistence through effects on these more proximal outcomes.

Authors

• Cameron Hecht, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Judith Harackiewicz, University of Wisconsin

• Stacy J. Priniski, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Yoi Tibbetts, University of Virginia

• Elizabeth Ann Canning, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Janet S. Hyde, University of Wisconsin - Madison