2018 - The Impact of College- and University-run High School Summer Programs on Students’ End of High School STEM Career Aspirations

Attribution: Kitchen, Joseph A.; Sonnert, Gerhard; Sadler, Philip M.
Researchers: Gerhard SonnertJoseph A. KitchenPhilip M. Sadler
University Affiliation: Harvard University
Email: joseph.kitchen@cfa.harvard.edu
Research Question:
(a) Do students who participate in college and university-run STEM summer programs during high school have greater odds of aspiring to a career in STEM at the end of high school, relative to nonparticipants? Does showing the real-life relevance of STEM during the program affect the odds? (b) Do student background characteristics and experiences moderate the relationship between STEM high school summer program participation and end of high school STEM career aspirations?
Published: Yes
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Science Education
Journal Entry: Vol. 102, Issue 3, Pp. 1-19
Year: 2018
Findings:

Descriptive statistics:
– Students of color were more heavily represented among high school summer program participants, relative to their counterparts in the control group.
– There was no statistically significant difference in parents with four-year college degrees between participants and nonparticipants.
– Students who participated in a high school STEM summer program were significantly more likely to have STEM tutoring, compared with nonparticipants.
– On average, summer program participants reported significantly higher SAT mathematics scores and took more mathematics courses than nonparticipants.
– Students who participated in a high school STEM summer program were more likely to have STEM career aspirations at both the beginning and end of high school.

Logistic Regressions:
– Students who reported STEM career aspirations at the beginning of high school had much greater odds of reporting STEM aspirations at the end of high school relative to their peers who did not.
– Males had 2.2 times greater odds of reporting end of high school STEM career  aspirations relative to their female counterparts.
– The number of mathematics courses a student completed in high school was also a significant predictor of end of high school STEM career aspirations. A one course increase was associated with 1.2 times greater odds of reporting end of high school STEM career aspirations.
– Students’ SAT math scores were also statistically significant. A 100 point increase in SAT mathematics score was associated with a 26% increase in the odds of reporting end of high school STEM career aspirations.
– Students who participated in a high school STEM summer program had 1.4 times the odds of indicating end of high school STEM career aspirations relative to those who did not participate in a summer program
– Students who participated in a high school summer program that showed them the real-life relevance of STEM had odds that were 1.8 times those of students who did not participate in a program.
– Students who indicated that they participated in a summer program that did not show them the real-life relevance of STEM were statistically no different from students who did not participate in a program at all in terms of their end of high school STEM aspirations.
– There were no statistically significant interaction terms.

Scholarship Types: Journal Article Reporting Empirical ResearchKeywords: High SchoolSTEM Career IntentSummer LearningRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: SurveyAnalysis Methods: Logistic Regression Sampling Frame:First-year students at US schools participating in the NSF's STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP)
Sampling Types: NationalAnalysis Units: SchoolStudentData Types: Quantitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:

Vocational Anticipatory Socialization (VAS) Model of STEM served as the guiding theoretical framework for this study (Myers, Jahn, Gaillard, & Stoltzfus, 2011). VAS is a socialization theory that posits a number of important factors that shape student interest in STEM including gender, socioeconomic status, messages students receive, experiences students have, and personal factors.

Data for this investigation came from the NSF-funded “Outreach Programs and Science Career Intentions” (OPSCI) study. Data were collected through a large, nationwide survey administered in the fall term of 2013 to first-year students at a sample of U.S. colleges and universities participating in the NSF’s STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP). 414 instructors and 15,847 students completed and returned surveys from 23 four-year and 4 two-year institutions.

DV: end of high school STEM career aspirations (dummy coded; 0 = no STEM career aspirations, 1 = STEM career aspirations)

IV: participation in a high school STEM summer program and whether the program demonstrated the real-life relevance of STEM (0 = Did not participate; 1 =Participated in a program that did not show real-life relevance of STEM; 2 =Participated in a program that showed real-life relevance of STEM)

Controls: gender; race/ethnicity; parents’ education; STEM tutoring; SAT math score; number of math courses; Beginning high school career aspirations

First, descriptive statistics were calculated, and summer program outcomes were summarized. Second, a logistic regression was computed to model main effects and produce odds ratios (OR) for the unweighted and weighted samples. Third, product terms were computed and entered into the weighted logistic regression model to identify any interaction effects between summer program participation and student background factors.

Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:STEM Interest/Pursuit/Aspirations/Intent
Archives: K-16 STEM Abstracts

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