An Exploratory Case Study of Olympiad Students’ Attitudes towards and Passion for Science

Oliver, Mary; Venville, Grady

doi:10.1080/09500693.2010.550654

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Female participation rates in U.S. Science Olympiads, for instance, were around 40% (Abernathy & Vineyard, 2001;Jones, 1991). Participation rates in the Australian Science Olympiad (for students age 15-17) were reported according to different subjects; similar to the mathematics and science fairs, females were well represented in the biology Olympiad, but underrepresented in the physics Olympiad (Oliver & Venville, 2011). Furthermore, in the Australian Mathematical Olympiad from Grades 7 to 10 more female than male students took part, whereas the majority of the Grade 11 and 12 participants was male (Leder & Taylor, 1995).…”

Section: Mathematical and Science Olympiad Participation Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender differences in mathematics and science competitions: A systematic review

et al. 2019

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Gendered patterns in mathematics and science interest emerge in early childhood, develop over time, and ultimately reflect advanced course selection in secondary education. During the crucial time adolescents become aware of their strengths and interests and specialize accordingly, they get the opportunity to participate in out‐of‐school learning programs such as mathematics and science competitions. This raises the question whether mathematics and science competitions contribute to gender equity by equally promoting female and male interests. In this article, we present a systematic review on gender differences and the mechanisms explaining success and failure in mathematics and science competitions. On an international level, we found large gender differences regarding participation in all Olympiads with the exception of the biology Olympiad. In fairs and national Olympiads, overall participation rates were not gendered as such, but females preferred biology topics whereas males preferred physics related topics. Male and female achievement in fairs was comparable, but males clearly outperformed female participants at the Olympiads, with the smallest differences in the biology Olympiad. Variables and theoretical frameworks explaining participation and achievement and the role of gender in mathematics and science competitions are discussed. We suggest that gender stereotypes, through their influence on self‐concept and interest, play an important role in the mechanisms resulting in low female participation rates in and beyond mathematics and science competitions (especially in physics and chemistry). The mechanisms we found explaining female representation during a national selection competition might be considered as reflecting those in female mathematics or science careers and could thus serve as food for thought on countering the gender gap in mathematics and science.

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Section: Mathematical and Science Olympiad Participation Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender differences in mathematics and science competitions: A systematic review

et al. 2019

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“…There is a plethora of research related to students' attitudes towards science (i.e., Jones, Howe, & Rua, 2000;Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003), mathematics (for example, Weinberg, Basile, & Albright, 2011;Zambo & Zambo, 2006), and the impact of outreach programs on those attitudes (i.e., Oliver & Venville, 2011;Stake & Mares, 2001). However, the literature pertaining to students' attitudes towards engineering is somewhat limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of an Engineering Camp on Students’ Perceptions of Engineering and Technology

Hammack¹,

Ivey²,

Utley³

et al. 2015

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

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Students' knowledge about a profession influences their future decisions about careers. Research indicates that students tend to hold stereotypical views of engineers, which would hinder engineering as a career choice. The purpose of this study was to measure how participating in a week long engineering summer camp affected middle school students' (N519) attitudes towards engineering and their conceptions of engineering and technology. Results indicate that participation in the programs had a positive impact on the students' understandings of what technology is and the work engineers do. Although the results indicate a positive impact on participants, it is not clear which components of the camp contributed to this change. The partnership between practicing middle school teachers and engineering faculty was important to the success of the camp, revealing the benefits of collaborative efforts between K-12 educators and engineering professionals.

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“…These were intensive activities, sometimes away from home, of sometimes considerable duration (six weeks), with specific and explicit agendas and objectives (developing scientific career aptitudes [187], girls' interest in S&T careers [64], using LEGO sets [145]). Most of the research used only post-tests, while others established comparisons with pretests [205] or with data obtained from other research on equivalent students and where no special intervention was made [148].…”

Section: Summer Camps/competitions/science Fairs/field Tripsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interest, motivation and attitude towards science and technology at K-12 levels: a systematic review of 12 years of educational research

Potvin

Hasni

2014

Studies in Science Education

465

327

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The relationship that exists between students and science and technology (S&T) is a complex and important one. If it is positive, then social, economic and environmental consequences are to be expected. Yet, many problems of interest/ motivation/attitude (I/M/A) towards S&T have been recorded. A lot of research has been conducted on this topic and a certain number of syntheses have been proposed, but very few of them have followed sufficiently systematic procedures. In this article, we offer a synthetic and systematic description of 228 research articles that were published between 2000 and 2012 and indexed in the ERIC database under I/M/A for S&T at K-12 levels. We focus on the origin of these articles, on the constructs they use and define, on the instruments, and finally on the results they provide, whether correlative or causal. Conclusions and recommendations for future research and interventions are formulated.Keywords: science education; technology education; literature review; interest; motivation; attitude; K-12 Introduction A worldwide concernThe connection that exists between students and science and technology (hereafter designated as 'S&T') through the use of such concepts as 'interest', 'motivation' or 'attitude' (hereafter designated as 'interest/motivation/attitude', 'I/M/A') is an important current and ongoing preoccupation and has been a major concern for researchers and educational systems around the world for a very long time (Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003). Although students' I/M/A toward S&T is sometimes judged to be generally positive (Awan, Sarwar, Naz, & Noreen, 2011) -though not without some considerable international differences (p. 43), boy/girl differences and subject-related differences (Schreiner & Sjoberg, 2004) -the idea that interest in S&T is declining has now been widely accepted. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2006, 2008), S&T professions are less attractive and the share of S&T students in higher education has been decreasing considerably. In 2003, Osborne et al. wrote: 'In […] the past decade, the problem has become even more acute ' (2003, p. 1050 This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. , 2014 Vol. 50, No. 1, 85-129, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2014 interest-evaluating items (8) in its international testing initiative (Krapp & Prenzel, 2011). Studies in Science EducationStudents and school science & technology: a relationship under tension and a need for research-based synthetic knowledge According to Krapp and Prenzel (2011), besides developmental or identity-based approaches, it is possible to tackle the problem of interest in S&T by supposing that its development depends 'on the quality and type of instruction ' (p. 35) that is given to students in schools. But ...

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An Exploratory Case Study of Olympiad Students’ Attitudes towards and Passion for Science

Cited by 27 publications

References 38 publications

Gender differences in mathematics and science competitions: A systematic review

Gender differences in mathematics and science competitions: A systematic review

Effect of an Engineering Camp on Students’ Perceptions of Engineering and Technology

Interest, motivation and attitude towards science and technology at K-12 levels: a systematic review of 12 years of educational research

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