The authors examine whether differing levels of confidence for coping with barriers to education would moderate the relationship of stereotype threat and STEM self-efficacy.
An Exploration into the Potential Career Effects from Middle and High School Mathematics Experiences: A Mixed Methods Investigation into STEM Career Choice
– Lower levels of mathematics anxiety, higher levels of mathematics courses completed in high school, positive teacher experiences, and multiple instances of exposure to STEM fields while in middle and high school increased the likelihood that students would choose a STEM major.
– Lower levels of mathematics anxiety and being placed into higher-ability mathematics courses in middle and high school correlated with higher levels of mathematics self-efficacy.
– Higher levels of mathematics self-efficacy in middle and high school led to increased instances of pursuing a STEM career.
– Students enrolled in at least Calculus I while in high school were significantly more likely to choose a STEM major in college.
– Interviews revealed a larger percentage of STEM majors indicating positive mathematics teacher experiences than non-STEM majors.
Collective Effects of Individual, Behavioral, and Contextual Factors on High School Students’ Future STEM Career Plans
1. What are the impacts of school and out-of-school-related activities on students’
intention to pursue a STEM degree?
2. What are the impacts of both teacher and parental educational expectations on
students’ intentions to pursue a STEM degree?
3. What are the impacts of a students’ self-efficacy in math and science and college
expectations on the likelihood of pursuing a STEM degree?
4. What are the impacts of interaction effects between individual, environment, and
behavior on students’ likelihood of pursuing a STEM degree?
Examination of Factors Predicting Secondary Students' Interest in Tertiary STEM Education
- What are the factors that predict secondary students’ interest in pursuing STEM fields in tertiary education?
- Do the effects of these factors differ between the two genders?
The Relationships Among High School STEM Learning Experiences and Students' Intent to Declare and Declaration of a STEM Major in College
Investigates how learning experiences of inspiration/reinforcement/preparation toward STEM that students have during high school can help explain the stark differences in STEM involvement by gender and ethnicity.
‘‘But I'm Not Good at Math'': The Changing Salience of Mathematical Self-Concept in Shaping Women's and Men's STEM Aspirations
1) How do women’s and men’s mathematical self-concepts compare across different STEM fields? 2) How has the gender gap in mathematical self-concept changed over the past 40 years within different STEM fields? 3) To what extent has the salience of math self-concept as a predictor of STEM major selection changed for women and men in recent decades?
Motivating Factors for Choosing Engineering as Reported by Racial and Ethnic Minority Students
The authors try to understand the factors that motivate minority students to enter engineering must be understood in order to find effective strategies to increase diversity in the field.
Feeling the Threat: Stereotype Threat as a Contextual Barrier to Women's Science Career Choice Intentions
The goal of the current project was to examine the influence of a proximal contextual barrier, stereotype threat, as a predictor of STEM career outcomes for women within the SCCT framework.
Predicting 9th Graders' Science Self-Efficacy and STEM Career Intent: A Multilevel Approach
The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that predict 9th grade students’ science self-efficacy and STEM career intent.
Linking Early Science and Mathematics Attitudes to Long-Term Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Career Attainment: Latent Class Analysis with Proximal and Distal Outcomes
To identify if students’ early attitudes toward mathematics and science support their long-term persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career.
Determining the Effects of Pre-College STEM Contexts on STEM Major Choices in 4-Year Postsecondary Institutions Using Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling
1) To investigate the influence of computer-based learning activities in math classrooms on STEM major choices in 4-year post-secondary institutions and 2) to analyze the extent to which math teacher motivation affects math performance and math self-efficacy across schools, which plays a vital role in students’ STEM major selection.
Why Students Choose STEM Majors: Motivation, High School Learning, and Postsecondary Context of Support
1) What are the relationships among high school exposure to math and science, achievement and motivational attributes as related to math, intent to pursue STEM upon entry into postsecondary education, and entrance into STEM fields of study? 2) How are students’ initial postsecondary education experiences, such as academic interaction, receipt of financial aid, and remediation, related to STEM entrance? 3) How do these relationships vary by race, gender, and SES?
Modeling Entrance into STEM Fields of Study Among Students Beginning at Community Colleges and Four-Year Institutions
1) What factors contribute to students pursuing STEM degrees in community colleges and four-year colleges? 2) Are there different barriers that underrepresented groups in STEM face? 3) What is the relationship between STEM interests and math self-efficacy beliefs, high school exposure to math and science, and high school math achievement?
Supporting Students' Intentions to Persist in STEM Disciplines: The Role of Living-Learning Programs Among Other Social-Cognitive Factors
What is the influence, if any, of students’ participation in Living-Learning (L/L) programs (either non-STEM-focused or STEM-focused) on their major goals, above and beyond that of the traditional residence hall environment? Moreover, is L/L participation related to other socio-cognitive factors that, in turn, affect major choice goals?
Social cognitive predictors of the interests and choices of computing majors: Applicability to underrepresented students
To extend prior research on SCCT in the context of STEM fields by examining the theory’s potential for understanding the interests and choices of students in the computing disciplines, including two groups of students that remain substantially underrepresented in computing (i.e., women and African Americans).
Pipeline Persistence: Examining the Association of Educational Experiences with Earned Degrees in STEM Among U.S. Students
What factors, starting in 8th grade, relate to a student achieving a STEM degree?