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After-School and Informal STEM Projects: the Effect of Participant Self-Selection

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Abstract

This research represents an unforeseen outcome of the authors’ National Science Foundation Innovation Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program grant in science education. The grant itself focused on the use of serious educational games (SEGs) in the science classroom, both during and after school, to teach science content and affect student perceptions of science and technology. This study consists of a Bayesian artificial neural network analysis, using the preintervention measures of affect, interest, personality, and cognitive ability, in members of both the treatment and comparison groups to generate the probabilities that students would opt into the treatment group or choose not to participate. It appears, from this sample and the sampling methods of other related studies within the field, that despite sometimes profound results from technology interventions in science, interventions are affecting only those who already have a strong interest in STEM due to the manner in which participants are recruited.

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Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1114499.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teaching and Learning, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway #453005, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA

    David B. Vallett

  2. State University of New York, University at Buffalo, New York, USA

    Richard Lamb

  3. East Carolina University, Greenville, USA

    Leonard Annetta

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  1. David B. Vallett
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Correspondence to David B. Vallett.

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Vallett, D.B., Lamb, R. & Annetta, L. After-School and Informal STEM Projects: the Effect of Participant Self-Selection. J Sci Educ Technol 27, 248–255 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-017-9721-1

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