Longitudinal associations between Latine parents' support and their adolescents' science motivation and STEM career expectations

INTRODUCTION

Parents' science support and adolescents' motivational beliefs are associated with adolescents' expectations for their future occupations; however, these associations have been mostly investigated among White, middle-class samples. Framed by situated expectancy-value theory, the current study investigated: (1) the associations between parents' science support in 9th grade and Latine adolescents' science intrinsic value, utility value, and STEM career expectations in 11th grade, and (2) whether these indicators and the relations among them differed by adolescents' gender and parents' education.

METHODS

Study participants included Latine adolescents (n = 3060; Mage = 14.4 years old; 49% female) in the United States from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed a significant, positive association between parents' science support and Latine adolescents' science utility value. Additionally, there was a significant, positive association between parents' science support and Latinas' science intrinsic value, but not for Latinos' science intrinsic value. Latine adolescents' science utility value, but not their science intrinsic value, predicted their concurrent STEM career expectations. Though there were no significant mean level differences in adolescents' science utility value or parents' science support based on adolescents' gender, the measure of adolescents' science intrinsic value varied across girls and boys. Finally, adolescents whose parents had a college degree received greater science support from parents compared to adolescents whose parents had less education than a college degree.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest parents' science support and adolescents' intrinsic and utility values have potential associations with Latine adolescents' STEM career expectations near the end of high school.

The Value of Support: STEM Intervention Programs Impact Student Persistence and Belonging

In response to unwaveringly high attrition from STEM pathways, STEM Intervention Programs (SIPs) support STEM students in effort to increase retention. Using mixed methods (survey and focus groups), we studied students at one university who were either supported or unsupported by SIPs to understand how students may differ in experiences believed to contribute to STEM persistence. We evaluated: sense of belonging, scientific self-efficacy, scientific community values, scientific identity, and STEM involvement. The enrollment status of students two and a half years postsurvey was also tracked. SIP students reported significantly higher science identity and sense of belonging and were more involved in STEM-related activities than counterparts unsupported by SIPs. Differences in these measures were correlated with race/ethnicity, college generation status, and age. Notably, SIP students had higher odds of persisting in STEM than students not supported by SIPs. Focus group data provide additional meaning to the measured survey constructs and revealed nuanced qualitative differences between SIP and non-SIP student experiences. Overall, being involved in a SIP at our institution trends positively with theoretical models that explain STEM student persistence. SIPs have the potential to provide and/or facilitate meaningful and critical support, and students without those intentional supports may be left behind.

Reciprocal Associations Between Science Efficacy, STEM Identity and Scientist Career Interest Among Adolescent Girls within the Context of Informal Science Learning

Limited research has explored the longitudinal pathway to youth career interests via identity and efficacy together. This study examined the longitudinal associations between science efficacy, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) identity, and scientist career interest among girls who are historically considered as an underrepresented group among scientists. The sample included 308 girls (M age = 15.22, SD age = 1.66; 42.8% White) from six STEM youth programs, each at a different informal science learning site within the U.K. and the U.S. Longitudinal structural equation modelling demonstrated that science efficacy consistently predicted STEM identity and scientist career interest, and similarly, STEM identity consistently predicted science efficacy over a two-year period. Scientist career interest at 12 months predicted science efficacy at 24 months. The coefficients of efficacy predicting STEM identity and scientist career interest were significantly larger compared to STEM identity and scientist career interest in predicting science efficacy from 12 months to 24 months. Further mediation analysis supported a significant pathway from STEM identity at 3 months to scientist career interest at 24 months via 12-month science efficacy. The findings highlight that science efficacy and STEM identity for girls relate to their scientist career interest and these longitudinal associations are reciprocal. This study suggests that science efficacy and STEM identity mutually influence each other, and enhancing science efficacy and STEM identity is key to promoting adolescents' interest in being a scientist.

Gender and social class inequalities in higher education: intersectional reflections on a workshop experience

Research about the experiences of underrepresented groups in higher education (HE) demonstrates the persistence of challenges, despite policies and institutional strategies to promote inclusion. Diversity and inclusion policies have been part of the HE agenda for several decades, yet most policies and interventions focus on (a) a given, isolated identity experience (e.g., based solely on gender, social class, or ethnicity) rather than more intersectional approaches to identity; and (b) top-down interventions that do not include participants insights in their design. In this paper, we report a case study of a workshop with students at an elite university that drew on an intersectional approach to social identities (IASI), specifically, looking at gender and social class. We explore three key themes: (a) the importance of group processes, (b) the use of visual techniques, and (c) the institutional tensions and the (de)politicisation of social psychology research. Reflecting on this case study we argue that approaches to identity and inclusion in HE can benefit from intersectionality beyond the use of multi and overlapping identity and social group categories. We argue that research in this space is not neutral and needs to acknowledge researchers' position about (a) inclusion and diversity, (b) perceptions of participants in research, and (c) the motivation and aims of institutions where the research is conducted. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of integrating an intersectional approach within social identity research in HE when focusing on underrepresented groups.

Relevance of Science, Conceptualization of Scientists, and Contextualized "Failure" as Mediators in the Development of Student Science Identity

The Research Experiences in Marine Science (REMS) Program is a Hawai'i place-based CURE (course-based undergraduate research experience) for late high school and early undergraduate students wherein students conduct independent research that draws upon the history, culture, and ecosystem of their local communities. In addition to providing meaningful access to marine science education and training, REMS addresses a fear of failure expressed by students who view their culture and personal identity as incompatible with undergraduate science pathways. Data about student attitudes toward and conceptualizations of science and scientists were collected through pre- and postprogram open-ended survey items, Draw-a-Scientist Tests, and postprogram interviews. Results suggest the combination of place-based elements and an authentic research experience shifted students' conceptualization of scientists to a "humanized" construct. The emergence of this theme coincided with students recognizing themselves as scientists, gaining confidence in content understanding and research skills, increasing interest in science as a career pathway, and recognizing how science affects their communities. This study demonstrates how a CURE that emphasizes the cultural relevance of science, an inclusive conceptualization of a "scientist", and contextualized role of "failure" in science, may contribute to historically marginalized students recognizing themselves as scientists and ultimately persisting in science careers.

Investigating the Influence of Assessment Question Framing on Undergraduate Biology Student Preference and Affect

Nearly all undergraduate biology courses rely on quizzes and exams. Despite their prevalence, very little work has been done to explore how the framing of assessment questions may influence student performance and affect. Here, we conduct a quasi-random experimental study where students in different sections of the same course were given isomorphic questions that varied in their framing of experimental scenarios. One section was provided a description using the self-referential term "you", placing the student in the experiment; another section received the same scenario that used classmate names; while a third section's scenario integrated counterstereotypical scientist names. Our results demonstrate that there was no difference in performance throughout the semester between the sections, nor were there differences in students' self-reported stress and identity. However, students in all three sections indicated that they most preferred the self-referential framing, providing a variety of reasons that suggest that these variants may influence how well a student reads and processes the question. In addition, our results also indicate that the framing of these scenarios can also have a large impact on some students' affect and attitude toward the question. We conclude by discussing implications for the biology education research community and biology instructors.

Preparing the Next Generation for STEM: Adolescent Profiles Encompassing Math and Science Motivation and Interpersonal Skills and Their Associations With Identity and Belonging

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers need both motivation and interpersonal skills in STEM disciplines. The aims of the study were to identify clusters of adolescents who vary in math and science motivation and interpersonal skills and to explore what factors are related to membership in a high math and science motivation and interpersonal skills cluster. Participants included 467 adolescents (312 female; Mage = 15.12 to SD = 1.71 year) recruited from out-of-school STEM programs in the US and UK. Findings from latent class analyses revealed four clusters, including a "High Math and Science Motivation and Interpersonal Skills" group, as well as groups that exhibited lower levels of either motivation or interpersonal skills. STEM program belonging, and STEM identity are related to membership in the high motivation and skills cluster. Findings provide insight into factors that may encourage motivation and interpersonal skills in adolescents, preparing them for STEM workforce entry.

Tech-Savvy Men and Caring Women: Middle School Students’ Gender Stereotypes Predict Interest in Tech-Education

The labor market is strongly gender segregated with few women working in the tech sector (e.g., IT) and few men working in the care sector (e.g., nursing). We tested the hypothesis that middle school students strongly associate technology with men and caregiving with women in a Swedish context (i.e., a country that scores high in gender equality indices), and that these gender stereotypes for tech relate to girls’ lower interest in tech-focused education. We measured technology/caregiving gender stereotypes with implicit (the Implicit Association Test) and explicit (self-report) measures in a sample of middle school students (n = 873). The results supported the main hypotheses, and corroborate Eccles’s expectancy value theory, indicating that the endorsement of implicit gender stereotypes may serve as barriers to pursuing masculine-typed career paths for women. Further, a sample of middle school teachers (n = 86) showed stronger implicit gender stereotypes than the students. Unexpectedly, middle school girls with a foreign background showed no implicit gender stereotypes, which we discuss in relation to the gender-equality paradox. These findings suggest that to fulfill the recruitment needs of an increasingly digitalized world, the tech-industry and other stakeholders should put effort into counteracting the stereotype that technology is for men.

Undergraduates’ pSTEM identity and motivation in relation to gender- and race-based perceived representation, stereotyped beliefs, and implicit associations

Women and underrepresented minoritized (URM) persons remain marginalized in physical science, technology, engineering, and math (pSTEM). Relative to non-URM men, URM women may experience a double disadvantage based on their gender and race whereby they observe few same-gender and few same-race role models in pSTEM while additionally internalizing stereotypes linking pSTEM with non-URM men. Our hypothesized model was partly supported in a sample of undergraduates ( N = 1,068; 68% women, 44% URM). First, perceiving same-gender or same-race pSTEM role models predicted lower explicit stereotypes among women and URM individuals regarding gender and race, respectively. Second, explicit and implicit associations linking pSTEM with men and White/Asian persons predicted (a) lower pSTEM identity among women and URM students and (b) higher identity among men and non-URM students. Finally, both implicit and explicit pSTEM identity positively predicted expectancy–value beliefs.

Gender Stereotypes and Peer Selection in STEM Domains Among Children and Adolescents

Gender stereotypes are harmful for girls’ enrollment and performance in science and mathematics. So far, less is known about children’s and adolescents’ stereotypes regarding technology and engineering. In the current study, participants’ (N = 1,206, girls n = 623; 5–17-years-old, M = 8.63, SD = 2.81) gender stereotypes for each of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) domains were assessed along with the relation between these stereotypes and a peer selection task in a STEM context. Participants reported beliefs that boys are usually more skilled than are girls in the domains of engineering and technology; however, participants did not report gender differences in ability/performance in science and mathematics. Responses to the stereotype measures in favor of one’s in-group were greater for younger participants than older participants for both boys and girls. Perceptions that boys are usually better than girls at science were related to a greater likelihood of selecting a boy for help with a science question. These findings document the importance of domain specificity, even within STEM, in attempts to measure and challenge gender stereotypes in childhood and adolescence.

Analysis of barriers, supports and gender gap in the choice of STEM studies in secondary education

Society is more digitised than ever and there is an urgent need to train people in these sectors, where women are still under-represented. A quantitative descriptive, correlational and explanatory descriptive design was used to identify barriers, supports and gender gaps in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Secondary Education by analysing the interest and perception of 1562 students and 432 teachers. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Lambda test and Crame's V or Phi test were performed together with a qualitative analysis. The results show that fewer female students want to pursue STEM studies, with girls preferring health and education professions and boys preferring engineering and computer science. Indeed, their motivation is different since we found correlations between being a girl and choosing STEM for helping people and society, while earning money is important for boys. Girls believe more necessary than boys to have qualities to study STEM and less often perceive themselves as intelligent and courageous. Our study revealed that families and teachers encourage more boys than girls towards STEM activities. Teachers believe that girls are influence by preconceived ideas, lack of STEM knowledge and lower self-esteem. Regarding gender equality, almost half state that no objectives are included in the curricula, 43.85% do not include it in subjects and only 30% received training. Consequently, female vocations need to be promoted by teaching how STEM solves real-life problems, fostering creativity, increasing self-confidence, promoting STEM activities and making female role models visible. Teachers should receive more gender training and promote gender-sensitive STEM education.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Parents and their Adolescent Children in Relation to Science Learning

With the transition to distance-learning at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, several countries required parents and their children to remain at home, under lockdown. Many parents found themselves taking on additional responsibilities regarding their children's education. However, children do not always interpret their parents' intentions as they intended. This study investigated this complex relationship, showing that parents' emphases regarding science learning changed during the first COVID-19 lockdown and in parallel, the relations between these emphases and their adolescent children's goal orientation and self-efficacy toward science learning also changed. In 2019, one year before the COVID-19 lockdown, the children's mastery and performance orientations toward science, and their self-efficacy in science were significantly correlated with their parent's attitudes toward science. In 2020, shortly after the end of the first COVID-19 lockdown, these relations remained significant, but in addition the parents' emphasis on performance became a significant predictor of the children's mastery and performance orientations, and of their self-efficacy in science. A small increase in the children's performance orientation and self-efficacy in science was seen, and only a small decline in their mastery orientation toward science. These findings contrast with what the literature indicates is typical at this age, when there are no lockdown conditions.

Which Group Dynamics Matter: Social Predictors of Student Achievement in Team-Based Undergraduate Science Classrooms

While group work in undergraduate science education tends to have overall benefit, less is known about the specific peer-peer dynamics that optimize learning during group interaction. The current study used peer ratings and self-reported data from 436 students enrolled in team-based undergraduate science courses (biology or chemistry) to determine group dynamics that predicted both willingness to work with peers in the future and individual achievement in the course. Results show that greater personal connection and contributions predicted willingness to work with a group member (R²_biology = 0.75; R²_chemistry = 0.59). While active contribution to a group predicted greater achievement, more noncontent interactions (e.g., encouragement, listening to feedback, being polite) predicted lower achievement, despite these being on-task and relevant. Additionally, having group members who were willing to continue working with a student was a positive predictor of that student's achievement regardless of course. Strikingly, students in chemistry were significantly less willing to work with women in their groups compared with men. Finally, not all forms of group conflict predict decreased achievement. These findings highlight group factors such as student behavior within the group, aspects of the group social environment, and peer support that can be targeted for optimizing undergraduate science learning.

Interview with an avatar: Comparing online and virtual reality perspective taking for gender bias in STEM hiring decisions

Virtual perspective taking can reduce unconscious bias and increase empathy and prosocial behavior toward individuals who are marginalized based on group stereotypes such as age, race, or socioeconomic status. However, the question remains whether this approach might reduce implicit gender bias, and the degree to which virtual immersion contributes to behavioral modulation following perspective taking tasks is unknown. Accordingly, we investigate the role of virtual perspective taking for binary gender using an online platform (Study 1) and immersive virtual reality (Study 2). Female and male undergraduates performed a simulated interview while virtually represented by an avatar that was either congruent or incongruent with their own gender. All participants rated a male and a female candidate on competence, hireability, likeability, empathy, and interpersonal closeness and then chose one of these two equivalently qualified candidates to hire for a laboratory assistant position in the male dominated industry of information technology. Online perspective taking did not reveal a significant influence of avatar gender on candidate ratings or candidate choice, whereas virtual reality perspective taking resulted in significant changes to participant behavior following exposure to a gender-incongruent avatar (e.g., male embodied as female), such that men showed preference for the female candidate and women showed preference for the male candidate. Although between-group differences in candidate ratings were subtle, rating trends were consistent with substantial differences in candidate choice, and this effect was greater for men. Compared to an online approach, virtual reality perspective taking appears to exert greater influence on acute behavioral modulation for gender bias due to its ability to fully immerse participants in the experience of (temporarily) becoming someone else, with empathy as a potential mechanism underlying this phenomenon.

Why Not STEM? A Study Case on the Influence of Gender Factors on Students’ Higher Education Choice

The gender gap in STEM-related job positions is a fact, and it is closely related to the low percentage of women studying STEM degrees. This poses a problem because Europe, as well as the United States and the rest of the developed countries, keep demanding the best engineers and scientists to continue developing innovative products. This problem can thus be approached by answering, firstly, the following question: Why are women not studying STEM degrees? In this paper, we summarize the factors, found in literature, that influence students—both boys and girls—to not study STEM, particularly engineering, computer sciences and technology. We study these influence factors in a sample of N = 338 students from a secondary school placed in the south of Spain; we carry out a survey in order to find out if those students fill out the same answers other researchers have found and published in the related literature. Our main conclusions are as follows: The results confirm that the number of women in technical courses decreases when the level of the course increases; the lack of role models is not an impediment for girls to feel comfortable; unlike boys, girls will not choose engineering, even if their scoring in STEM is good; and we found that girls and women see themselves as not capable of studying an engineering degree more than boys and men do. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the situation regarding the gender gap in STEM fields in ages in which both girls and boys must choose their future studies.

Developmental Trajectories of Science Identity Beliefs: Within-Group Differences among Black, Latinx, Asian, and White Students

Though adolescents' science identity beliefs predict positive STEM outcomes, researchers have yet to examine developmental differences within racial/ethnic groups despite theoretical arguments for such studies. The current study examined science identity trajectories for Black (14%), Latinx (22%), Asian (4%), and White (52%) students (N = 21,170; 50% girls) from 9^th grade to three years post-high school and the variability within each racial/ethnic group based on gender and college generational status. Contrary to the literature, students' science identities increased over time, and the increases were larger for potential first- versus continuing-generation White students. Potential continuing-generation boys had stronger 9^th grade science identities than potential first-generation girls in all groups except Asians. The findings suggest who might benefit from additional supports within each racial/ethnic group.

Born to Code: Does the Portrayal of Computer Scientists as Geniuses Undermine Adolescent Youths' Motivational Beliefs?

Introduction: Computer scientists are often stereotyped as geniuses who are naturally gifted in pSTEM (physical Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Prior correlational research found that this genius stereotype is negatively related to students' pSTEM motivation. However, the effect has not been explored experimentally to evaluate possible casual influences. Using situated expectancy-value theory as a framework, the present experiment tested whether media invoking the genius stereotype negatively impacts high school students' expectancy and value beliefs regarding pSTEM.

Methods: The sample comprised of 213 U.S. high school students (53% boys, 46% Asian). Participants read one of two versions of an article profiling a student majoring in computer science. The genius condition emphasized the student's natural talent and the importance of being gifted for success in computer science, whereas the control condition did not mention these attributes. Pre- and post-test measures of pSTEM expectancy and value beliefs were assessed.

Results and Conclusions: Students in the genius condition, but not the control condition, demonstrated a significant decline in pSTEM value beliefs. There was no effect on expectancy beliefs. Thus, popular stereotypes of persons in pSTEM as geniuses may contribute to students devaluing of pSTEM subjects. These stereotypes may be especially threatening to girls and students from minoritized backgrounds. Implications are discussed, including the need to address genius stereotypes in pSTEM classrooms.

Who is a scientist? The relationship between counter-stereotypical beliefs about scientists and the STEM major intentions of Black and Latinx male and female students

Background

Despite the diverse student population in the USA, the labor force in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) does not reflect this reality. While restrictive messages about who belongs in STEM likely discourage students, particularly female and minoritized students, from entering these fields, extant research on this topic is typically focused on the negative impact of stereotypes regarding math ability, or the existence of stereotypes about the physical appearance of scientists. Instead, this study builds on the limited body of research that captures a more comprehensive picture of students' views of scientists, including not only the type of work that they do but also the things that interest them. Specifically, utilizing a sample of approximately 1000 Black and Latinx adolescents, the study employs an intersectional lens to examine whether the prevalence of counter-stereotypical views of scientists, and the association such views have on subsequent intentions to pursue STEM college majors, varies among students from different gender and racial/ethnic groups (e.g., Black female students, Latinx male students).

Results

While about half of Black and Latinx students reported holding counter-stereotypical beliefs about scientists, this is significantly more common among female students of color, and among Black female students in particular. Results from logistic regression models indicate that, net of control variables, holding counter-stereotypical beliefs about scientists predicts both young men's and women's intentions to major in computer science and engineering, but not intentions to major in either physical science or mathematics. Additionally, among Black and Latinx male students, counter-stereotypical perceptions of scientists are related to a higher likelihood of intending to major in biological sciences.

Conclusions

The results support the use of an intersectional approach to consider how counter-stereotypical beliefs about scientists differ across gender and racial/ethnic groups. Importantly, the results also suggest that among Black and Latinx youth, for both female and male students, holding counter-stereotypical beliefs promotes intentions to enter particular STEM fields in which they are severely underrepresented. Implications of these findings and directions for future research, specifically focusing on minoritized students, which are often left out in this body of literature, are discussed.

Gendered Beliefs in STEM Undergraduates: A Comparative Analysis of Fuzzy Rating versus Likert Scales

Women are underrepresented in growing positions such as those related to STEM field careers (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). One of the causes for remaining out of that field could lie on gender stereotypes. Undergraduate stereotypes and beliefs are important as could easily uphold future gender segregation at the workplace. In the research arena the measurement of those biased beliefs is important as most commonly used Likert scales (LS) could raise problems in terms of accuracy. As fuzzy rating scales (FRS) are a promising measurement alternative, the aim of this study is to compare the properties of FRS against LS. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 262 STEM and non-STEM participants who answered to a questionnaire that, besides gendered beliefs and injustice perception towards the situation of women at the workplace, included personal characteristics as coursed degree and working experience. Results pointed out, on one hand, that FRS allowed for a better capture of the variability of individual responses, but on the other hand, that LS were better valued than FRS in what is concerned with satisfaction and ease of response. Advantages of FRS for psychosocial measurement are discussed to facilitate the study around causes of segregation that excludes women from the STEM labour market.

Perceptions of the Self Versus One's Own Social Group: (Mis)conceptions of Older Women's Interest in and Competence With Technology

Our analysis investigates how gender, age, and technology stereotypes relate to one another and how this relationship reinforces or questions stereotypes. Based on intersectionality, stereotyping, and sense-making literature, our study explores how older women perceive their own interest in and competence with technology and that of their peers. We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with women between 65 and 75 years of age in Germany. Our findings indicate that their evaluations of others are age and gender stereotyped. When explaining their own interest in technology, they refer to their individual preferences, and for explaining their own competence of technology, they refer to social categories. Plus, assumptions of technology usage seem to be gendered. On the basis of our findings, we discuss the need for taking social categories into account when evaluating inclusiveness with new technologies.