– Gender and race/ethnicity are associated with science identity but not with discovery orientation.
– The positive association between discovery orientation and science identity is mediated by science interest, importance, and reflected appraisal.
– There are statistically significant differences in science interest between groups. Science interest is higher among white boys than for minority girls. Overall, science importance, perceived science ability, and science reflected appraisal means are also fairly high, particularly compared with science other-ID and science self-ID.
– Science importance is higher among white and minority boys than for white and minority girls. Perceived science ability is higher among white than minority students. White boys and girls have higher scores than minority boys and girls on the questions about parents and teachers, giving them positive messages about their science performance (reflected appraisal).
– White boys have significantly higher science other-ID than all other groups, while only white boys and minority girls differ significantly on science self-ID.
Current Selections
ClearDiscovery Orientation, Cognitive Schemas, and Disparities in Science Identity in Early Adolescence
Identifying Taiwanese Teachers’ Perceived Self-efficacy for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Knowledge
-Male teachers outperformed female teachers in each dimension
of the survey.
-Teachers’ self-efficacy in synthesized knowledge of STEM had two mediating effects. One was in the relationship between self-efficacy in engineering design and attitudes toward STEM education. The other was in the relationship between self-efficacy in Mathematical Thinking and Attitudes toward STEM education. Displaying higher self-efficacy in Engineering Design or Mathematical Thinking is not sufficient to positively predict their attitudes toward STEM education. It is having teachers with higher self-efficacy in the synthesized knowledge of STEM that matters.
-Taiwan teachers tend to have relatively high self-efficacy in terms of their Mathematical Thinking knowledge.
-Taiwan teachers seem to manifest favorable Attitudes regarding STEM education.
-Twain teachers have relatively low confidence in their Engineering Design knowledge.
– Teachers’ Scientific Inquiry and Technology Use did not relate to their self-efficacy in Synthesized Knowledge of STEM and Attitudes toward STEM education.
– Only when teachers demonstrate higher confidence in combining technology use, engineering design, and mathematical thinking into a single learning topic of science in many ways will they believe in the positive impact of STEM education on students.
– When designing teachers’ professional development, the educational authorities concerned should be very intentional in facilitating teachers’ understanding of concepts and processes that are applied through engineering design and mathematical thinking activities.
Threats and Supports to Female Students’ Math Beliefs and Achievement
– While controlling for prior achievement and race, gendered differential treatment was negatively associated with math beliefs and achievement, whereas relevant math instruction was positively associated with these outcomes.
– Gendered differential treatment by teachers in the 8th grade negatively related to student math importance and math grade within the same year.
– Gendered differential treatment by teachers in the 11th-grade was negatively related to 11th-grade SCMA.
– In 8th and 11th grade, relevant math instruction was positively related to students’ math importance and SCMA
– 8th-grade and 11th grade relevant math instruction had an indirect effect upon math importance via self-concept of math ability.
– Self-concept of math ability in the 8th grade partially mediated the relationship between 8th-grade relevant instruction and self-
concept of math ability in the 11th-grade.
– Maryland Math Achievement scores in the 9th grade partially mediated the relationship between 8th-grade gendered differential treatment and self-concept of math ability in the 11th grade.
The Role of Mothers’ Communication in Promoting Motivation for Math and Science Course-Taking in High School
– There was a significant effect of the experimental intervention on course-taking, such that adolescents whose parents received the intervention took more MS in 12th grade, compared with controls.
– There was an indirect effect of personal connections on STEM course-taking through adolescent’s interest.- More years of mother’s education were associated with higher perceptions of adolescents’ math ability.
– Neither mothers’ years of education nor mothers’ perception of adolescents’ math ability predicted number of conversations between mothers and adolescents or personal connections articulated in the interviews.
– Mothers with more years of education generated more elaborated responses in their interview.
– There was a significant interaction between number of conversations and elaboration, such that the highest level of interest occurred with high elaboration and few conversations.
– Adolescents whose parents received the intervention reported more UV in 10th grade than those whose parents were in the control group.
– Higher levels of interest in 10th grade predicted more STEM courses taken in 12th grade.
– There was a significant interaction between elaboration and number of conversations such that the highest levels of course-taking were achieved either with the combination of high elaboration and fewer conversations, or less elaboration but more conversations.
An Investigation of the Linkage Between Technology-Based Activities and STEM Major Selection in 4-Year Postsecondary Institutions in the United States: Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling
1) To what extent do technology-based activities affect students’ selections of STEM majors in 4-year postsecondary institutions at the student level, taking into account math performance, gender, racial/ethnic background, and socioeconomic status (SES)? 2) To what extent do technology-based activities and technology-based school environment affect students ‘selections of STEM majors in 4-year postsecondary institutions at the school level, taking into account math performance, gender, racial/ethnic background, and SES?
Parental Support and High School Students’ Motivation in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics: Understanding Differences Among Latino and Caucasian Boys and Girls
The authors examine if a variety of parental behaviors predict students’ ability self-concepts in and value they place on biology, chemistry, and physics.
Predictors of Latina/o Community College Student Vocational Choice of STEM Fields: Testing of the STEM-Vocational Choice Model
1) Are there statistically significant effects of exogenous factors associated with observed vocational interest on the dependent variable of vocational choice in STEM at transfer for community college students? 2) Will the exogenous and observed variables in the STEM-VC model serve as a successful predictive model for the intention to major in a STEM field at transfer for Latina/o community college students? For White students? 3) Are there significant differences between Latina/o and White student respondents in the final STEM-VC model measurement and pathway model and what are these differences between the two ethnic populations?
Predictors of Latina/o community college student vocational choice of STEM fields: Testing of the STEM-vocational choice mode
1) Are there statistically significant effects of exogenous factors associated with observed vocational interest on the dependent variable of vocational choice in STEM at transfer for community college students? 2) Will the exogenous and observed variables in the STEM-VC model serve as a successful predictive model for the intention to major in a STEM field at transfer for Latina/o community college students? For White students? 3) Are there significant differences between Latina/o and White student respondents in the final STEM-VC model measurement and pathway model and what are these differences between the two ethnic populations?
Pathways to a STEMM Profession
This analysis focuses on differences in pathways to a science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine
(STEMM) professions.
Pathways to STEMM Professions for Students From Noncollege Homes
This analysis focuses on differences in pathways to a science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine
(STEMM) profession between households in which no parent has a baccalaureate and households in which at least one parent has a baccalaureate.
African-American Students' College Transition Trajectory: An Examination of the Effect of High School Composition and Expectations on Degree Attainment
What is the relationship between highschool composition and students’ degree expectations and their effect on degree attainment for African-Americans?
Persistence in Science of High-Ability Minority Students: Results of a Longitudinal Study
The purpose of this study was to construct a comprehensive model to investigate why some high-ability minority students follow through with their plans to become scientists and engineers, while others with the same plans do not.
An Organizational Analysis of the Effects of Ability Grouping
Examines variation in the quality and effects of instructional discourse across ability groups.
Faculty Desegregation and Student Achievement
Faculty Desegregation Influence on Student Achievement.
Curricula and Coursework: A Surprise Ending to a Familiar Story
Why are some students placed in college tracks and others not? Why is track placement so influential?
The Perpetuation of Segregation Across Levels of Education: A Behavioral Assessment of the Contact Hypothesis
Examines if black students who attend desegregated high schools are more likely to attend desegregated colleges.