Student affect, achievement and retention in STEM
On October 13th, Professor Jeff Raker, a chemistry education professor at the University of South Florida, gave a seminar as part of CSIE|UM covering his work aimed at investigating the relationship between student affect with achievement and retention in STEM.
Due to the complexity of affect, his seminar focused specifically on work by his group examining the correlation between self-efficacy during the semester and performance on exams. They tested the relationship between the two with a reciprocal causation model. This model showed a reciprocal relationship between self-efficacy and exam performance.
Additionally, exam performance was dependent upon the performance on the first exam, which matches the fact that the initial exam covers fundamental topics necessary for material covered throughout the semester. They also found that self-efficacy developed over time, in addition to being correlated to exam performance.
During Professor Raker’s visit he also met with students in chemistry education and other subdisciplines to discuss his work and path into the field of chemistry education.