Effects of self-efficacy-enhancing interventions on the math/science self-efficacy and career interests, goals, and actions of career undecided college students.

Abstract

This investigation evaluated the effects of both performance accomplishment and vicarious learning experiences on the math/science self-efficacy and career interests, goals (i.e., aspirations), and actions (i.e., choice of major and enrollment in courses) of career undecided college students. Undergraduates who possessed at least a moderate level of math ability and who self-reported at least a moderate level of career undecidedness were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: performance accomplishment only, vicarious learning only, combined treatment (performance accomplishment and vicarious learning), or the control group. Pre-and posttreatment assessments of participants' math/science self-efficacy, vocational interests, career aspirations, and career choice actions (i.e., choice of major and courses) revealed significant effects of the performance accomplishment and combined treatments on several of the dependent variables. Theoretical and counseling implications of the results are discussed.

Identifying events that impact self-efficacy in physics learning

“…Studies have shown that self-efficacy is able to predict a university student's persistence in science majors as well as science career choices [9,10,13,14,16]. Additionally, researchers have found that self-efficacy can predict achievement in science for high school students [24,25] and university students [8][9][10][11][12].…”

“…Since the 1980s an abundance of research has shown that science self-efficacy, or confidence in one's own ability to complete the actions necessary to perform a task [7], is related to success in particular fields [8][9][10][11][12], as well as a predictor of the career choice an individual will make [10,[13][14][15][16]. A few researchers in physics education have also shown a link between physics self-efficacy and success [17][18][19].…”

Engaged Teaching-Learning: Outcome Evaluation for Social Work Students in a Graduate-Level Service Learning Research Course

“…Specifically, students' confidence in their own ability to perform social work tasks related to research and program evaluation can be assessed by using the ESE to measure change in self-efficacy. As other studies have investigated how to best assess the effects of self-efficacy on learning and performance in various domains (Chang et al, 2014;Luzzo, Hasper, Albert, Bibby, & Martinelli, 1999;Shively, Smith, Bormann, & Gifford, 2002), this study contributes to the social work literature in this regard. The results of this study provide initial evidence that using an engaged-learning model such as service learning improves students' self-efficacy.…”

Determining the Effects of Pre-College STEM Contexts on STEM Major Choices in 4-year Postsecondary Institutions Using Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling

“…Similar to the effects of taking advanced math courses, students who take advanced science courses are more likely to enter STEM disciplines in post-secondary institutions (e.g., Muller, Stage, & Kinzie, 2001;Trusty, 2002;Anderson & Kim, 2006;Sahin, Morgan, & Erdogan, 2012). Like the positive relationship between math self-efficacy and STEM major choices, not surprisingly, there is a positive association between science self-efficacy and STEM major selection in college (Luzzo, Hasper, Albert, Bibby, & Martinelli, 1999;Scott & Mallinckrodt, 2005). In summary, most STEM studies have focused on traditional learning contexts in math and science disciplines, whereas relatively little attention has been paid to pre-college STEM contexts that are considered progressive learning contexts linked to practical STEM tasks.…”