ALIS-XR

Active Learning in Introductory STEM Courses with Extended Reality

Presenter: Sara Kassis

Co-Presenter(s):
Elisabeth Wade, Wei Wu, Vivien Luo, Abraham Wolcott, Dillon Trelawney, Frank Gomez

Presenter Status: Faculty

Academic Year: 22-23

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Sara Kassis

Department: Engineering

Funding Source/Sponsor: Other

Other Funding Source/Program: National Science Foundation Award #2126711 (2126716 and 2126723 for the collaborators)

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Diversity and Social Justice

Abstract:
California has the largest STEM workforce and anticipates the largest growth in the nation in STEM careers. However, minority groups, especially Latinx workers, represent less than 15% of the California STEM workforce, despite representing nearly 40% of the working-age population. A key contributing factor is that underrepresented minority (URM) students, especially Latinx, suffer from a disproportionately higher failure rate and lower engagement than their peers in STEM. This collaborative research project aims to implement and evaluate active learning with extended reality (XR) technologies to improve learning outcomes and narrow achievement gaps for URM students in introductory STEM courses, as the research literature shows strong evidence that poor performance in introductory STEM courses stands out as the primary reason STEM-interested students from all backgrounds switch to non-STEM majors or drop out of college altogether. The goal of this project is to design, implement and evaluate Active Learning in Introductory STEM Courses with XR (ALIS-XR) as an exemplary model to narrow achievement gaps and promote the systemic transformation to equitable STEM education to, directly and indirectly, impact the learning experiences and educational outcomes of more than 15,000 undergraduate STEM URM freshmen within three Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the California State University (CSU) and community colleges. Using a mixed-method research design, the project team investigates three research questions: 1) What are the barriers and pathways for STEM instructors across disciplines when adopting XR in active learning for introductory courses? 2) What factors and strategies influence XR's effectiveness for achieving learning outcomes in introductory STEM courses? 3) What are the pedagogical impacts of ALIS-XR on learning and achievement gaps for URM students in STEM? The findings of this project will ultimately advance the understanding of a systemic, inclusive approach in leveraging XR technologies for active learning in STEM with the intersectional lens to meet the diverse needs of students, especially URM students that attend HSIs.