The most important attributes for talented students who want to be scientists

Abstract

This study aims to assess the views of Hungarian professors/associate professors regarding important student factors at the beginning of their scientific and academic careers. Two hundred seventy-three university faculty members who work with high-achieving students (e.g., gifted, honors) completed a questionnaire regarding the attributes of gifted students. The study highlights similarities and differences among these Hungarian faculty opinions on student attributes. Data was analyzed for talent-attributes with a logistic regression to discern the differences among different scientific disciplines (medicine, humanities, economics). A one way ANOVA model was used and indicated no difference between traits based on scientific discipline (F = 1.023; df = 5; p > 0.05). The conclusions of this research highlight key attributes of Hungarian honor students identified by Hungarian university teachers and these attributes are closer than we hypothesized related across scientific disciplines.

Profiles of Pre-Service Primary Teachers: Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, and Gender Stereotypes in Teaching Science and Mathematics

“…The first profile is characterized by high masculinity, low submission, and average attitudes and self-efficacy toward teaching science and mathematics. Primary teachers with high masculinity and low submission could be good models for girls, given that these teachers would have positive traits traditionally associated with men, which, as previously explained, could be favorable traits for working in scientific fields (Szabó et al, 2020).…”

“…From these four subscales, masculinity and submission have traits that can be related to the work that is performed in science and mathematics (Szabó et al, 2020). In this way, female participants with low levels of masculinity reported low presence of traits such as being analytical, reflective, and also low presence of characteristics related to higher self-efficacy, like being self-assured and confident.…”

“…A high level of submission corresponds to cultural expectations for women in traditional societies like Chile; whereas if they present traits typically associated with masculinity, then they are judged as aggressive by their school communities or by society in general (Ezzati, 2009). However, people and women who identify with STEM areas, normally have traits that are culturally more associated with masculinity and may distance themselves from traits that are found on the submission subscale (Szabó et al, 2020). Furthermore, women who work in STEM fields recognize that the atmosphere is hostile, they feel isolated and intimidated by their male peers, and have less self-confidence (London et al, 2011).…”

Future primary teachers and pedagogical interactions with boys and girls

“…This is intriguing given that, as suggested by Fournier et al (2020), these pre-service teachers could be regulating boys to generate greater equity in pedagogical interactions that occur in science and mathematics classes, allowing or balancing the participation of both boys and girls. At the same time, as proposed by Navarro et al (2022), primary school teachers with high masculinity and low submission could serve as good role models for girls, due to their positive traits traditionally associated with the male gender, which may also be favorable characteristics for scientific work (Szabó et al, 2021).…”