2017 - Expectancy-Value and Children’s Science Achievement: Parents Matter

Attribution: Thomas, Julie A.; Strunk, Kamden K.
Researchers: Julie A. ThomasKamden K. Strunk
University Affiliation: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Email: julie.thomas@unl.edu
Research Question:
(1) Do teachers’ expectancy for student success and parents’ expectancy for their children’s success in science predict children’s expectancy for success in science and achievement in science? (2) Does children’s expectancy for success in science predict their achievement in science? (3) Does parents’ expectancy for success in science have an indirect influence on children’s achievement (through their expectancy for success)? (4) Do the relationships among parent expectancy, teacher expectancy, student expectancy, and achievement operate similarly for girls and boys?
Published: Yes
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Journal of Research in Science Teaching
Journal Entry: Vol. 54, No. 6, Pp. 693–712
Year: 2017
Findings:

– Teachers’ expectancy for children’s success in science did not significantly predict students’ fifth grade science achievement.
– Parents’ expectancy did predict students’ fifth grade science achievement.
– Children’s science self-efficacy significantly influenced science achievement scores. This was a weaker influence than the direct effect of parents’ expectancy of children’s success in science.
– None of the dependent variables showed significant difference between genders.
– The influence of parent expectancy on child self-efficacy for science and science achievement is equally strong for both boys and girls.

Scholarship Types: Journal Article Reporting Empirical ResearchKeywords: Academic AchievementExpectancy Value ModelMotivationParentsScienceTeachersRegions: MidwestMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: SurveyAnalysis Methods: Linear RegressionMANOVAPath Analysis Sampling Frame:Elementary school children and their parents and teachers in 23 rural, Oklahoma schools within a 50–150 mile radius of the research base
Sampling Types: Non-random - opportunityAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:

The open systems perspective informed the authors’ broad view of the ways in which parents and teachers negotiate the socialization process of schools.
Modified intersectional theory guided their exploration of rural students’ pursuit of science tracks.

The authors initially collected survey data from children (and their parents and teachers) enrolled in the third grade, and then attempted to follow those same children as they progressed through the 4th and 5th grades. The sample for analysis was further limited to those children whose maternal parent also completed and returned surveys to yield a final sample of 153 matched sets of parent, child, and teacher surveys for all 3 years.

DV: Science achievement (Oklahoma Core Curriculum Test scores), science expectancy for success, perceived utility value for science

IV: self-efficacy, parent expectancy, and teacher expectancy

Controls: race/ethnicity, gender, parents’ education, household income

Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:Factors related to STEM readiness
Archives: K-16 STEM Abstracts

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