# Promoting Motivation for Underrepresented Groups in Undergraduate Biology and Chemistry Courses

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $367,948

## Abstract

Promoting Motivation for Underrepresented Groups in Undergraduate
 Biology and Chemistry Courses
ABSTRACT
Our goal is to broaden the participation of at risk-students in biomedical fields with interventions
in gateway biology and chemistry classes. Using a theoretically-grounded utility-value
intervention, we aim to close achievement gaps for first-generation (FG) students, those for
whom neither parent obtained a 4-year college degree, and for underrepresented minority
(URM) students. Lessons learned from our previously funded large-scale double-blind
randomized field experiment in introductory biology courses at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison (UW) demonstrated that the utility value intervention (UVI), in which students write
about the personal relevance of course material, was successful in reducing the achievement
gap for URM students by 40%, relative to a control condition in which students summarized
course content. This effect was even larger for FG-URM students: the gap was reduced by
61%. We build upon these findings by proposing research to (1) determine whether the UVI
effects documented at Wisconsin can be replicated in different types of institutions and courses,
and whether the UVI can be adapted for a more diverse student sample and (2) systematically
understand and refine the nature of the UVI by continuing to test the underlying motivational
theory and mechanisms. To accomplish our goals, our research team at UW will first conduct a
series of laboratory experiments designed to optimize materials and implementation features of
the UVI to create new versions of the UVI that emphasize communal themes. We know from our
previous work that the UVI was most effective for students who were motivated to help others,
and for FG and URM students who wrote about communal themes in their essays. This raises
new questions about whether communal writing is integral to the effectiveness of the UVI for
FG-URM students and whether we might see even stronger UVI effects for FG and URM
students if they are specifically encouraged to reflect on communal themes. We have developed
an experimental design to address these critical questions using multi-institutional field
experiments that provide tests of replication and scale-up potential in biology classes and
extension to chemistry classes, and identify the optimal approach for the greatest impact of the
UVI. We test the new communal-UVI against the original personal-UVI and control writing
assignments with nearly 5,000 students across 6 academic semesters of biology and
chemistry in two uniquely diverse institutions: San Diego State University and Montana State
University, which serve a significant number of FG students and enroll large populations of
Latino and Native American students, respectively.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9902540
- **Project number:** 5R01GM102703-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Judith M. Harackiewicz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $367,948
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-08-15 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9902540

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9902540, Promoting Motivation for Underrepresented Groups in Undergraduate Biology and Chemistry Courses (5R01GM102703-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9902540. Licensed CC0.

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