A utility-value writing intervention increases course grades in introductory biology relative to a summarizing control¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr3·q3·i0negligible
Currency · newest study 2018 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i0 Students exposed to any dosage of UV writing earned higher final course grades than control students (β = .09, p = .009). → Canning 2018
Evidence¶
Canning 2018¶
Canning, E. A., Harackiewicz, J. M., Priniski, S. J., Hecht, C. A., Tibbetts, Y., & Hyde, J. S. (2018). Improving Performance and Retention in Introductory Biology with a Utility-Value Intervention. Journal of educational psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000244
q3 · i0 · causal · r3
Randomized double-blind experiment with 577 students in three sections of introductory biology, blocked on gender, testing the UV intervention averaged across dosage and timing with prior GPA, gender, and initial interest as covariates. UV students averaged M = 2.96 versus M = 2.77 in control, "β = .09, p = .009" — a small standardized effect.
"We found that the UV intervention increased course grades (M = 2.96, SD = .71), compared to the control condition (M = 2.77, SD = .75), β = .09, p = .009, indicating that students who wrote a UV essay at any point in the semester received on average a higher grade in the course than students in the control group."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- UV dosage shows a nonmonotonic pattern: one or three UV essays outperform two for grades and continuation — related
- The overall intervention contrast comparing all UV conditions to control was not significant, and no individual UV condition significantly outperformed control in the dummy-coded model — reports the opposite
- In a college biology course, students assigned a variety of self- and other-focused utility-value assignments earned higher course grades than students who wrote the same assignment type three times — related
- Timing of a single UV essay is moderated by prior performance: early UV essays help low performers, late UV essays help high performers — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
uv-intervention-increases-biology-grades |
title |
A utility-value writing intervention increases course grades in introductory biology relative to a summarizing control |
description |
A utility-value writing intervention increases course grades in introductory biology relative to a summarizing control |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2018 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-24 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — canning-2018 |
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