Abstract:
Closing the achievement gap for minority students in higher education requires addressing the lack of belonging these students experience. This paper introduces a psychological intervention that strategically targets key elements within the learning environment to foster the success of minority students. The intervention sought to enhance Palestinian minority student\'s sense of belonging by increasing the presence of their native language. We tested the effectiveness of the intervention in two field experiments in Israel (n > 20,000), at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when all classes were held via Zoom. Lecturers in the experimental condition added a transcript of their names in Arabic to their default display (English/Hebrew only). Our findings revealed a substantial and positive impact on Palestinian student\'s sense of belonging, class participation, and overall grades. In experiment 1, Palestinian student\'s average grade increased by 10 points. In experiment 2, there was an average increase of 4 points among Palestinian students\' semester grade. Our intervention demonstrates that small institutional changes when carefully crafted can have a significant impact on minority populations. These results have significant implications for addressing educational disparities and fostering inclusive learning environment.
摘要:
缩小高等教育中少数民族学生的成就差距需要解决这些学生经验中缺乏归属感的问题。本文介绍了一种心理干预方法,该方法战略性地针对学习环境中的关键要素,以促进少数民族学生的成功。该干预措施旨在通过增加巴勒斯坦少数民族学生的母语来增强他们的归属感。我们在以色列的两个现场实验中测试了干预的有效性(n>20,000),在COVID-19大流行的高峰期,所有课程都通过Zoom举行。处于实验状态的讲师在其默认显示(仅英语/希伯来语)中添加了阿拉伯语姓名的抄本。我们的研究结果揭示了对巴勒斯坦学生的归属感的重大和积极的影响,班级参与,和整体成绩。在实验1中,巴勒斯坦学生的平均成绩提高了10分。在实验2中,巴勒斯坦学生的学期成绩平均提高了4分。我们的干预表明,经过精心设计的微小制度变革可能会对少数民族人口产生重大影响。这些结果对解决教育差距和促进包容性学习环境具有重要意义。