WHAT GIVES STUDENTS CONFIDENCE THEY WILL SUCCEED IN INTRO GEOLOGY

Students need to believe they will succeed in order to persevere in a course. Therefore, nearly halfway through the course, I asked students how an assignment or event helped them realize they would succeed in my gamified introductory geology course. Of the 47 students who completed the assignment, 85% (40) students were online, 70% (33) were female, and 43% (15) were minoritized. Nearly half of students identified the labs as leading to their confidence of success, and other assignments frequently identified included exams/quizzes, posters, and self-reflections about learning. Reasons students gave for their confidence of success were successful performance on an assignment, developing positive emotions and interest, developing learning strategies, the gamified course structure, and the course topic. By knowing these influences on students’ beliefs that they will succeed, we can better support our students.