The relationships among high school STEM learning experiences, expectations, and mathematics and science efficacy and the likelihood of majoring in STEM in college

Şahin, Alpaslan; Ekmekci, Adem; Waxman, Hersholt C.

doi:10.1080/09500693.2017.1341067

Cited by 68 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Increasing student interest in science represents one of the most important potential positive outcomes of science fair. Previous research by others had shown that participating in science competitions helped to maintain high school student interest in pursuing science education and science careers albeit to a small extent, but those studies did not take into account whether or not students were required to do science fair [28][29][30][31][32]. Other research has analyzed student motivations and the benefits of participating in science fair, but here too the impact of requiring science fair participation was not taken into consideration [33][34][35].…”

Section: P General Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

High school science fair: Positive and negative outcomes

2020

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The goal of our ongoing research is to identify strengths and weaknesses of high school level science fair and improvements that can help science educators make science fair a more effective, inclusive and equitable learning experience. In this paper, we confirm and extend our previous findings in several important ways. We added new questions to our anonymous and voluntary surveys to learn the extent to which students had an interest in science or engineering careers and if science fair participation increased their interest in science or engineering. And we surveyed a national rather than regional high school student group by incorporating our survey into the Scienteer online portal now used by Texas and some other states for science fair registration, parental consent, and project management. We learned that about~60% of the more than 300 students in the national cohorts completing surveys in 2017 and 2018 said that they were interested in a career in science or engineering, and~60% said that participating in science fair increased their interest in science or engineering. About two-thirds of the students were required to participate in science fair, and that requirement reduced the frequency of students who said that science fair increased their interest. In the worst case,~10% of the students who said that they were not interested in a career in science or engineering and who were required to participate in science fair engaged in research misconduct (i.e., plagiarism and making up their results). Students' positive comments about competition in science fair focused on the competition incentive, whereas their positive comments about science fair that was non-competitive focused on learning about the scientific process and learning in general. We discuss the findings in the context of National Science Teaching Association guidance about voluntary science fair participation and begin to identify features of science fair practice consistent with increased student interest in the sciences or engineering.

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Section: P General Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

High school science fair: Positive and negative outcomes

2020

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“…Past work examining science students’ motivation and engagement from a self‐determination perspective has shown that students who experience feelings of relatedness and who express positive competence beliefs tend to continue and excel in STEM coursework (Chachashvili‐Bolotin, Milner‐Bolotin, & Lissitsa, ; Sahin, Ekmekci, & Waxman, ; Skinner, Saxton, Currie, & Shusterman, ). High levels of perceived competence can help maintain interest in higher education as high levels of perceived competence and high outcome expectations had a negative correlation with lack of interest in higher education (Chachashvili‐Bolotin et al., ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High levels of perceived competence can help maintain interest in higher education as high levels of perceived competence and high outcome expectations had a negative correlation with lack of interest in higher education (Chachashvili‐Bolotin et al., ). When studying the role of perceived competence on high school students’ decision to pursue a STEM major, Sahin and colleagues () found that students with high levels of science and math perceived competence were more likely to consider majoring in STEM in college. For students who decide to enroll and pursue STEM majors, these factors affect student achievement (Skinner et al., ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research conducted specifically in STEM learning contexts underscores the importance of perceptions of competence for STEM learners. Starting in high school, students with high levels of math and science perceived competence were more likely to consider majoring in STEM in college (Sahin et al., ). Students with low levels of perceived competence are more likely to leave the STEM fields, compared to students with high levels of perceived competence in STEM (AAUW, ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The roles of social influences on student competence, relatedness, achievement, and retention in STEM

2018

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Students' perceptions of competence and relatedness are known to influence learning processes and achievement, and may have particular import for underrepresented science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learners. Sources of social support that contribute to undergraduate life science learners' perceived competence and relatedness were examined, as were achievement and retention outcomes influenced by these sources of support and selfdetermination theory components. Female, ethnically underrepresented, or first-generation students reported similar levels of perceived competence and relatedness in STEM compared to their majority counterparts at a large, urban university. However, social supports, competence, and relatedness were differentially important for these subgroups as predictors of achievement and intention to leave a science major. For the full sample, competence perceptions predicted greater achievement and lessened intentions to leave a major. Competence perceptions were primarily derived from contact with classmates, especially for underrepresented groups. Feelings of relatedness were specifically important for the retention of women pursuing science degrees. Contacts with STEM peers and classmates were sources of relatedness for majority groups, but classmate contact was not significant for underrepresented groups. Findings highlight the value of promoting competence and relatedness and the differing sources that these subgroups draw on to build the perceived competence and relatedness that can predict achievement and retention.

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“…In much of the research on STEM careers, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) [7] has been the most widely used theoretical framework for empirical inquiry [8]. Empirical studies have shown that self-efficacy [9][10][11][12][13][14], interests [6,11,[15][16][17], course selection [14,16], STEM-related activities, school engagement [16,18], academic proficiencies, and familial background [16] are predictive of STEM-related career paths. In a recent qualitative study, Li, Mau, Chen, Lin, & Lin [19] identified four domains, personal input, contextual variables, outcome expectations, and self-efficacy, that were involved in the STEM career development of high-school students, which parallel with the SCCT theoretical framework.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing High School Student’s STEM Career Interests Using a Social Cognitive Framework

2019

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This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the STEM Career Interest Survey (STEM-CCIS) with data from 590 high-school students in Taiwan. Measurement models based on Social-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and STEM discipline-specific dimensions (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) were examined using confirmatory factor analyses. Findings from confirmatory factor analyses indicated that STEM-CCIS possesses adequate reliability and factorial validity, replicating the sound psychometric properties of the original English version of the STEM-CIS. Implications for the use of the STEM-CCIS are discussed.

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The relationships among high school STEM learning experiences, expectations, and mathematics and science efficacy and the likelihood of majoring in STEM in college

Cited by 68 publications

References 39 publications

High school science fair: Positive and negative outcomes

High school science fair: Positive and negative outcomes

The roles of social influences on student competence, relatedness, achievement, and retention in STEM

Assessing High School Student’s STEM Career Interests Using a Social Cognitive Framework

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