UTILITY VALUE INTERVENTION TO SUPPORT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT INTEREST, ENGAGEMENT, AND ACHIEVEMENT IN CALCULUS AND CALCULUS-BASED PHYSICS.

The purpose of this study was to help undergraduate STEM students at a Hispanic-serving institution make connections between calculus and physics content and their lives using a utilityvalue intervention. As part of either a Calculus II or a calculus-based Newtonian Physics course, 471 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either read essays written by peers emphasizing the usefulness of their coursework in their daily life or to a control group. We found that students in the intervention condition reported significantly higher levels of utility value, midterm grades, and earned higher course grades. A path analysis revealed that utility value indirectly improved achievement through interest and engagement factors. Findings support predictions stemming from Expectancy-Value theory and offer practitioners with principles for leveraging perceived utility value, interest, engagement, and achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conference Papers -- Psychology of Mathematics & Education of North America is the property of Psychology of Mathematics & Education of North America and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)