Ninth‐grade students' perceptions of the factors that led them to major in high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines

Abstract

On completing middle-school (ninth grade), Israeli students must choose which discipline(s) to major in upon entering high school. This study, grounded in Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT), identified and modeled the factors that contributed to students' academic choices from their own subjective perspectives. We collected qualitative and quantitative data from ninth graders in two urban middle-schools (n=295) at the school year's end. We found that (a) most students cited interest and utility value as their main motivations for choosing a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major, expectancies were mentioned less; (b) students who chose a STEM major had statistically significant higher scores for EVT's key predictor variables (personal attributes, "subjective task value," "expectation of success," perceived effects of environmental factors) than their counterparts who majored in non-STEM disciplines; (c) the positive perceptions of their peers' interest and ability in science contributed significantly to students' choice to major in STEM disciplines; and (d) no significant gender differences re academic choice were found. One highly unexpected finding emerged: Science Education. 2019;103:1176-1205. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sce 1176 |

INFLUENCING FACTORS OF 10th GRADE STUDENTS’ SCIENCE CAREER EXPECTATIONS: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL

“…Framed in expectancy-value models, this research explained the influencing factors and the mechanism of science career expectations from the perspective of science beliefs. First, science interest belief, self-efficacy belief, value belief and parents support could positively predict students' science career expectations, which was consistent with many studies (Mujtabaet al, 2018;Andersen & Ward, 2014;Caspi et al, 2019;Dewitt et al, 2013). Besides, the direct effect of teachers' support on science career expectations was not significant.…”

“…On the one hand, according to the result of direct effect, students' expectation of science careers is largely influenced by their beliefs of interest, self-efficacy, value and parents' support towards science. This result showed that the factors related to students' personality and family background were the closest factors influencing their science career expectations, and the previous studies, such as Sha et al (2016), Caspi et al (2019) and Mohtar et al (2019), did not distinguish the distance effect of the influencing factors. Sha et al (2016) found that parents' INFLUENCING FACTORS OF 10 th GRADE STUDENTS' SCIENCE CAREER EXPECTATIONS: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL (pp.…”

“…Some scholars further explored the interaction between science beliefs, social supports and career expectation (Sha et al, 2016), and they found that parents' support not only directly predicts students' science participation and selection, but also indirectly influences science interest and self-efficacy. Caspi et al (2019) proposed that students' STEM efficacy beliefs and interest beliefs could play a positive intermediary role between environment and career expectations. Therefore, this research assumed that science beliefs played an intermediary role between social support and science career expectations, and the hypotheses were as follows:…”

Investigating underrepresented and first‐generation college students' science and math motivational beliefs: A nationally representative study using latent profile analysis

“…EVT has been used widely in science education research to understand the relationship between students' motivational science beliefs and key science outcomes (e.g., Andersen & Chen, 2016;Andersen & Ward, 2014;DeBacker & Nelson, 1999;Guo, Marsh, Parker, Morin, & Dicke, 2017;Sullins, Hernandez, Fuller, & Tashiro, 1995;Wang & Degol, 2013). Similar research has been conducted in other STEM areas (e.g., Ball, Huang, Cotten, & Rikard, 2017; Ball, Huang, Rikard, & Cotten, 2019;Caspi et al, 2019;Gaspard et al, 2019;Gottlieb, 2018;Lauermann et al, 2017;Perez, Wormington, et al, 2019;Riegle-Crumb et al, 2011). Researchers theorize that EVT is shaped by a mix of psychological, contextual, cultural, and social factors (Eccles, 2009;Eccles et al, 1983), and therefore individual choices are assumed to be embedded in and reflect the social and cultural forces of the individuals' environments (Wigfield & Cambria, 2010).…”

What are the Problem Representations and Assumptions About Gender Underlying Research on Gender in Physics and Physics Education? A Systematic Literature Review

“…f) Intentions, interests and beliefs: twenty-four studies investigated students' intentions to study physics, as well as their interests and subjective beliefs (self-concept and self-efficacy) towards learning physics content. Studies evaluating students' intentions showed that boys were more likely to study non-compulsory physics at high school or university (Caspi et al, 2019;Sheldrake et al, 2017). However, one study showed that female undergraduate students who have had intention to study physics while at high school were more likely than males to graduate with a physics degree (Rodriguez et al, 2016).…”