Project Profile

This Miami University project will synthesize research conducted from 2000 to the present regarding the effects of innovative technology-based educational interventions on PreK-12 students' STEM career outcomes. This mixed-method study will include two concurrent, interrelated components?a quantitative meta-analysis and a qualitative synthesis. The goal of the project is to provide a more complete understanding of rigorous intervention research regarding the effects on students' STEM career outcomes. The research team will analyze variations in effect sizes among intervention characteristics, learning contexts, student demographics, and study designs. This study will provide insights regarding what types of interventions work best for which student populations, in what educational settings, and within what community contexts.

The quantitative meta-analysis component of this project will provide a comprehensive picture of the ways interventions using innovative technologies and technology-based learning experiences influence PreK-12 students' STEM career outcomes, directly or indirectly, to identify intervention characteristics that offer the most evidence of effectiveness for impacting STEM career development overall, and specifically, for students traditionally underserved in STEM education and underrepresented in STEM careers. Qualitative synthesis will supplement findings about magnitudes and variations of effects with findings that 1) help explain how and why intervention characteristics influence career outcomes for different types of students and 2) further develop theoretical constructs that reflect underrepresented groups' STEM career development trajectories in culturally appropriate ways. Methodologic features of this proposed study will include: (a) comprehensive review of quantitative and qualitative, peer-reviewed and gray literature, 2000 to present; (b) use of a broad definition of ""career-related outcomes"" to theoretically link effects, variables, and moderators to more proximal, measurable career outcomes; (c) study of a broad range of innovative technology interventions; (d) searching, screening, coding, analyzing, and synthesizing processes following rigorous, systematic review guidelines; (e) consideration of relevant moderator variables and interactions among variables to identify critical intervention features and settings associated with positive outcomes; and (f) control of study rigor and publication biases. By synthesizing quantitative and qualitative components at a meta-level, this study will provide a model of scholarly review that is replicable across fields for other studies of program-level impacts.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.