Collaborative research: a wellbeing intervention for improving statistics learning

The National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education awarded California State University, East Bay Foundation, Inc. $274,271 on October 1, 2026, to conduct a collaborative research project examining how psychosocial interventions improve student wellbeing and performance in introductory statistics courses under the STEM Education program.

The project, conducted in partnership with California State University, Long Beach, delivers a "Kind Statistics Acts" intervention designed to address student mental health challenges including anxiety, depression, and negative self-affect in early statistics courses. Students receive instruction on prosocial behaviors and their scientific basis, then develop and engage in kind acts directed toward peers in their statistics courses. The study compares this intervention against two control conditions and collects data through pre-post surveys measuring statistics knowledge and mental health constructs, student course outcomes, and engagement metrics in kind acts. An external evaluator provides formative and summative assessment throughout.

The project addresses three primary research questions: whether the kind acts intervention improves student wellbeing and statistics performance; whether wellbeing improvements mediate the intervention-to-performance relationship; and whether statistics performance improvement is mediated through general wellbeing and situational wellbeing mechanisms.

Work is performed in Hayward, California with a period of performance extending from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2029. The assistance type is a Project Grant.

Abstract

This level 1 iuse ESL project aims to serve the national interest by exploring how psychosocial interventions impact student wellbeing and performance in introductory statistics courses. This project, a collaboration between california state university, east BAY and california state university long beach, aims to specifically address student mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and negative self-affect. Students will learn about different types of kind acts, along with the underlying science and research base on the potential benefits of prosocial behaviors. Students will then receive support in developing and engaging in kind acts aimed at peers in their introductory statistics course. Student mental health remains a critical challenge across higher education. This project builds from a preliminary study that lays out a clear connection between social anxiety, depression, and statistics anxiety in early statistics courses. The project will explore the following three research questions. (1) to what extent does a kind statistics acts intervention improve student wellbeing and statistics performance? (2) to what extent does improvement in student wellbeing mediate the relationship between a kind acts intervention and improved statistics performance? (3) to what extent is improvement in statistics performance mediated from intervention to general wellbeing to situational wellbeing mechanisms? To approach these questions, the kind stats intervention will be compared to two control interventions. Data streams include pre-post surveys on statistics knowledge and several mental health constructs, student course outcomes, data on students engagement in kind acts within the courses of interest. The project will be assessed by an experiences external evaluator that will provide formative and summative feedback to the project team relating to progress towards the project goals. The NSF iuse: EDU program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of stem education for all students. Through the engaged student learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.