Re-thinking science capital: the role of ‘capital’ and ‘identity’ in mediating students’ engagement with mathematically demanding programmes at university

Black, Laura; Hernandez‐Martinez, Paul

doi:10.1093/teamat/hrw016

Cited by 25 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…While the more general science related factors explored in the current study were found to be associated with a general self-concept in science, specific forms of capital may be particularly important in each science sub-field. For example, mathematics knowledge and self-efficacy in calculus may be more important for students studying in physics (Black and Hernandez-Martinez, 2016;Ellis et al, 2016). More research is needed to identify, summarize, and test the forms of capital that are valued in each science domain.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Science Capital on Self-Concept in Science: A Study of University Students in New Zealand

et al. 2020

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Understanding factors that contribute to students' self-concept in science is an important task in boosting the number of students studying science and retaining students in science fields. A questionnaire was administered to science students at the University of Auckland in New Zealand (N = 693) to test a theoretical model of science self-concept tied to the work of Pierre Bourdieu. In this model, a student's social capital (i.e., relationships with parents, teachers and peers) and cultural capital (i.e., science related resources) are seen as key determinants of a student's belief that science is a domain in which they can succeed. Results from a Structural Equation Model (SEM) show that, of the factors included in the model, exposure to passionate science teachers during high school was the main predictor of science self-concept for our sample of university science students, while having peers who value science was also found to be important. Interestingly, science-related resources and parents' value of science were not significant predictors of science self-concept, but the number of university generations in the family did have a positive association. Students who self-identified as male had higher levels of science self-concept, even after accounting for social and cultural factors in our theoretical model. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the field of science education and Bourdieu's sociological theory.

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Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Science Capital on Self-Concept in Science: A Study of University Students in New Zealand

et al. 2020

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“…School is falsely presented as a meritocracy with success attributed to innate ability rather than the systemic advantage afforded to those in privileged positions. Bourdieu describes the social and cultural resources that are legitimised and more highly valued by the school as 'symbolic capital' (Black & Hernandez-Martinez, 2016). Bourdieu argues that middle-class parents are more likely to possess the social capital necessary to support their children in developing a mathematical 'habitus' that more closely aligns with the values of the school, e.g.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenging inequity in mathematics education by making pedagogy more visible to learners

Wright¹,

Fejzo²,

Carvalho³

2020

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and

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This paper reports on initial findings from the Visible Maths Pedagogy research project, a collaboration between an academic researcher and two teacher researchers (the paper's authors). The aim of the project was to explore the effects of making pedagogy more visible on students' success in school mathematics. We adopted a Participatory Action Research methodology to plan and evaluate five strategies used alongside 'progressive' teaching approaches to make the teacher's pedagogical rationale more visible to learners. Our findings show that students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, were initially prone to misinterpret the intentions of the teacher. However, the five strategies helped students gain a greater appreciation of the teacher's pedagogical rationale and how to respond appropriately. We discuss the implications of these findings for enabling all students to access the benefits of progressive teaching approaches and for opening up to scrutiny what it means to be a successful learner of mathematics.

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“…As discussed next, our own work has drawn attention to the explanatory power of the concept of science capital with regard to understanding a young person's likelihood of aspiring to continue with science post‐16/18 (see also Cooper & Berry, with regards specifically to students' aspirations to study biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences). While the ideas have been picked up and applied to understanding young people's choice of studying mathematics at degree level (e.g., Black & Herndandez‐Martinez, ; Choudry, Williams, & Black, ; Williams & Choudry, ), young people's engineering aspirations (Moote et al, ; IMechE, ; Royal Academy of Engineering, ) and technology career aspirations (e.g., Wong & Kemp, ), a comparative analysis of the potential relationship between science capital and young people's aspirations and attitudes with regards to technology, engineering, and mathematics has not been specifically empirically explored to date. Through this article, we contribute to addressing this gap; our analyses indicate that the concept of “STEM capital” can help explain why some students are more likely than others to continue with STEM and can be used to understand, and inform efforts to increase and diversify, aspirations and participation across all STEM disciplines.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Science capital has also been applied to explore engagement in informal science activities in historic visitor attractions (Essex & Haxton, ). It has also been applied to mathematics, with development of the concept of maths capital (Black & Herndandez‐Martinez, ; Choudry et al, ; Williams & Choudry, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science capital or STEM capital? Exploring relationships between science capital and technology, engineering, and maths aspirations and attitudes among young people aged 17/18

et al. 2020

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We previously proposed that science capital (science‐related forms of cultural and social capital) can be used as a theoretical lens for explaining the patterned nature of aspirations and educational participation among young people aged 11–16. Building on these findings, the present article investigates whether science capital is related to post‐18 aspirations to pursue further STEM study and whether science capital can be extended to related disciplines including engineering, maths and technology. Specifically, we report on correlational analyses exploring the relationships between science, technology, engineering and maths attitudes and science capital. Drawing on data from a new survey of 7,013 17/18 year old English secondary school students, analyses showed that science capital, while strongly related to engineering and physical science future study aspirations, was not strongly related to the pursuit of either maths or technology postsecondary study. The findings also suggest that engineering and maths attitudes have a stronger relationship to science capital than attitudes relating to technology. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings and propose that science capital might be more usefully applied to “SEM,” with links to technology fields and aspirations needing further exploration.

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Re-thinking science capital: the role of ‘capital’ and ‘identity’ in mediating students’ engagement with mathematically demanding programmes at university

Cited by 25 publications

References 22 publications

The Impact of Science Capital on Self-Concept in Science: A Study of University Students in New Zealand

The Impact of Science Capital on Self-Concept in Science: A Study of University Students in New Zealand

Challenging inequity in mathematics education by making pedagogy more visible to learners

Science capital or STEM capital? Exploring relationships between science capital and technology, engineering, and maths aspirations and attitudes among young people aged 17/18

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