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Background: The substantial growth in gamification research has connected gamified learning to enhanced engagement, improved performance, and greater motivation. Similar to gamification, personalized learning analytics dashboards can enhance student engagement. Objectives: This study explores the student experiences and academic achievements using a gamified dashboard in a large, introductory STEM course. Methods: We examined two groups of students enrolled in different sections of a one‐semester‐long physical geology course with a total enrollment of 223 students. The only difference between the groups was that one had access to the dashboard. The data collection included students' assignments, overall performances, and exam scores. Students in both sections completed a Science Literacy Concept Inventory survey at the beginning and end of the term. Additionally, students completed an end‐of‐term survey containing open‐ended questions on their experience and interactions with specific elements. Results: Students shared mostly positive comments about their experience with the dashboard, and the final grade of students with access to the dashboard was 13% higher, on average, compared to their peers in the non‐dashboard section. Conclusion: With low costs and little time invested, gamified dashboards could have a significant impact on student performance in large STEM lecture courses. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Leaner dashboards that provide personalized feedback are linked to improved student performance in undergraduate STEM courses. However, students may be reticent to adopt dashboards, especially students in the middle range of the performance distribution, for whom the impact of the dashboard may be most significant.Prior research on gamification in STEM courses suggests that adding gameful elements like progress trackers, badges, and rewards can increase students' engagement in undergraduate coursework.The combination of personalized learning in dashboards and the motivational experience of gamification should boost student engagement, dashboard adoption, and ultimately foster academic achievement. What this paper adds: In this paper, we examine the differences in academic performance between students with and without access to a gamified learning dashboard in an undergraduate Geology course.We observe that students with access to the dashboard (the treatment group), outperform students without access (the control group). The greatest benefit is observed for students who use the dashboard more frequently.Students reported that the progress tracker, the badges, and the rewards all incentivized their use and provided useful feedback about their performance. Students who did not adopt the dashboard expressed a need for more detail about the tool and its purpose. Implications for practice and/or policy: Instructors and instructional designers for large enrollment undergraduate STEM courses should consider the affordances of gamified learner dashboards for increasing engagement and for providing synchronous feedback about learners' strategies in the course.Aligning the dashboard to the content of the curriculum—by ensuring that badges reflect key concepts‐ encouraged participation and helped students identify the utility of the tool. Dashboards should be personalized to individuals and to the course.Adding gameful elements in a low‐cost intervention for increasing adoption and engagement of dashboards in large enrollment introductory courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that educational robotics (ER) may impact student learning, especially in relation to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) areas. In the STEM framework, particularly for younger children, the "E" and the "T" are considered to be missing letters, because few studies have concentrated on teaching and evaluating technology and engineering through ER activities. This study aimed to develop and test the efficacy of an ER protocol to teach robotics in a sample of 389 students, hypothesizing that girls would be as successful as boys. A Robotics Questionnaire assessing the basics of robotics was developed for this study. A Wilcoxon nonparametric test was performed in order to evaluate improvements (p < 0.05). A Mann–Whitney nonparametric test was performed in order to test the presence of gender differences (p < 0.05). Data indicated significant improvements for all the age ranges considered. No gender differences were found. In order to evaluate the efficacy of a didactic intervention utilizing ER, it is important to assess the impact on children's technological and engineering (robotics, in particular) knowledge. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Studies have shown that educational robotics (ER) has a potential impact on student learning.In the STEM framework, the "E" and the "T" are considered the STEM missing letters.What this paper adds: This study aims at developing and testing the efficacy of an ER protocol to teach robotics.The hypothesis that girls will be equally successful than boys is explored too, and no gender differences were found.Implications for practice and/or policy: Our results suggest that ER can be utilized to learn robotics, bringing technology in the schools.ER could be considered as a tool able to contribute to girl's involvement in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an iterative design along with multiple methodological approaches and a large representative sample, this study presents reliability, validity, and fairness evidence for two surveys measuring student attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and math (S-STEM) and interest in STEM careers for (a) 4th- through 5th-grade students (Upper Elementary S-STEM) and (b) 6th- through 12th-grade students (Middle/High S-STEM). Findings from exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested the use of a four-factor structure to measure student attitudes toward science, math, engineering/technology, and 21st century skills. Subject matter experts and literature reviews provided evidence of content validity. Reliability levels were high for both versions. Furthermore, both the Upper Elementary S-STEM and Middle/High S-STEM Surveys demonstrated evidence of configural, metric, and scalar invariance across grade levels, races/ethnicities, and genders. The findings support the validity of interpretations and inferences made from scores on the instruments’ items and subscales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]