Development of a Short-Form Measure of Science and Technology Self-efficacy Using Rasch Analysis

Despite an increased focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in U.S. schools, today’s students often struggle to maintain adequate performance in these fields compared with students in other countries (Cheek in Thinking constructively about science, technology, and society education. State University of New York, Albany, 1992; Enyedy and Goldberg 2004; Mandinach and Lewis 2006). In addition, despite considerable pressure to promote the placement of students into STEM career fields, U.S. placement is relatively low (Sadler et al. in Sci Educ 96(3):411–427, 2012; Subotnik et al. in Identifying and developing talent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM): an agenda for research, policy and practice. International handbook, part XII, pp 1313–1326, 2009). One explanation for the decline of STEM career placement in the U.S. rests with low student affect concerning STEM concepts and related content, especially in terms of self-efficacy. Researchers define self-efficacy as the internal belief that a student can succeed in learning, and that understanding student success lies in students’ externalized actions or behaviors (Bandura in Psychol Rev 84(2):191–215, 1977). Evidence suggests that high self-efficacy in STEM can result in student selection of STEM in later educational endeavors, culminating in STEM career selection (Zeldin et al. in J Res Sci Teach 45(9):1036–1058, 2007). However, other factors such as proficiency play a role as well. The lack of appropriate measures of self-efficacy can greatly affect STEM career selection due to inadequate targeting of this affective trait and loss of opportunity for early intervention by educators. Lack of early intervention decreases selection of STEM courses and careers (Valla and Williams in J Women Minor Sci Eng 18(1), 2012; Lent et al. in J Couns Psychol 38(4), 1991). Therefore, this study developed a short-form measure of self-efficacy to help identify students in need of intervention.     

A phenomenological reinterpretation of Horner’s fear of success in terms of social class

The current study developed the concept of fear of success that was originally examined by Martina Horner (1970; Journal of Social Issues, 28(2), 157–175, 1972). The key dimension in Horner’s (1970; Journal of Social Issues, 28(2), 157–175, 1972) studies was gender. The key dimension in the current study was social class. It was hypothesised that individuals from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds fear that, for them, success will lead to alienation from their community, and the loss of identity and loss of overall sense of belonging within their culture. The majority of the previous studies were based in the USA and examined fear of success using objectivist conceptions of success and quantitative methodologies. Eleven participants took part in the current study, three males and eight females. Two-phase qualitative interviewing was employed as the primary source of data collection in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the constructions and experiences of the participants in relation to success. The majority of participants believed that they would have to make vast life changes, in order to facilitate their views of desired success. The participants’ fear was rooted in what they perceived as the “consequences of success”. These participants occupied a “trade-off mindset”; for these young people, success meant leaving their family, friends, community and culture behind. The thought of losing this “connection” and sense of belonging was expressed with noticeable anxiety.     

A “research” into international student-related research: (Re)Visualising our stand?

This paper uses Tight (High Educ Res Dev 23(4):395–411, 2004; High Educ Res Dev 31(5):723–740, 2012; High Educ Res Dev 32(1):136–151, 2013)’s journal analysis and review framework to review a sample of 497 journal articles on researches concerning international students over the past 30 years. It was found that a majority of the articles focus on the students’ in-campus, academic and social experience. Even with different conceptualisation of the terms “international student” and “international student mobility”, international students undergo similar challenges throughout their sojourn duration, and much of the responsibilities in managing international students fall on universities and respective faculty members within the institutions. It might seem as if we are going in circles in terms of the issues and concerns in managing international students, but the silver lining out of this observation is the increased ethnical awareness among countries and higher education institutions in hosting and safeguarding the students throughout their international higher education experience, albeit rather slowly. The analysis brings to attention how much have we achieved in internationalisation of higher education in general and international student-related research in particular, and the potential for greater expansion and focus on managing the student population within a comprehensive “life cycle” approach.     

Being ‘at’ university: the social topologies of distance students

This paper considers how online, distance students enact the space of ‘the university’, in the context of the rise of distance education within a traditional, ‘elite’ institution. Aiming to provide insight into how students translate into distance the space of a university which has traditionally had its basis in conventional on-campus education, it locates itself within the ‘new mobilities’ paradigm (Urry in Mobilities. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2007), drawing on four different kinds of social space delineated by Mol and Law (Soc Stud Sci 24(4):641–741, 1994) and Law and Mol (Environ Plan D 19:609–621, 2001) in order to analyse narrative and visual data generated with distance students at the University of Edinburgh. The paper shows that the material campus continues to be symbolically and materially significant for a group of students who may never physically attend that campus. Distance students, we find, need their own version of the ‘spatial certainties’ of bounded, campus space. Yet, in exploring the ‘new proximities’ of online distance education, we also argue that to define institutional and academic authenticity solely in terms of this bounded, ‘regional’ space is inadequate in the face of the other topologies which also come into play throughout distance students’ accounts of what it means to be ‘at’ university.     

“That’s How We Roll”: A Case Study of a Recently Arrived Refugee Student in an Urban High School

This critical case study of one, Somali Bantu male high school student illuminates the struggle for recently arrived refugees at the high school level. Few educational research studies describe how recently arrived refugee students and their families make their transition to US schools (Ngo et al. in Hmong Stud J 8:1?C35, 2007; Hones and Cha in Educating new Americans: immigrant lives and learning. Erlbaum, Mahwah, 1999; Igoa in The inner world of the immigrant child. Erlbaum, Mahwah, 1995). Studies that examine how race, county of origin, and low socio-economic status affect refugee students also are few in number. Specifically Kamya (Soc Work 42:154?C165, 1997) argues that there is a compelling need for research that investigates how racism and stereotypes of Black Americans affect the experiences of African black immigrants and refugees. Rong and Brown (Educ Urban Soc 2:247?C273, 2002) add that black newcomers students often face a triple disadvantage of being black, having limited access to educational opportunity, and being poor. These challenges are particularly relevant for high school students as they have a limited amount of time to acquire proficiency in English and content area knowledge before transitioning to post-secondary education or the work force. In order to better understand how some of these processes work for a recently arrived refugee student in an urban school district, this paper examines the educational adaptation and coping strategies of one Somali Bantu male high school student and his family to the US public school system during the 2007?C2008 school year through the lens of intersectionality.     

Early Integration and Other Outcomes for Community College Transfer Students

The purpose of this study was to explore academic and social integration and other outcomes for community college transfer students. The study used Tinto’s (Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, 1993) Longitudinal Model of Institutional Departure and Deil-Amen’s (J Higher Educ, 82:54–91, 2011) concept of “socio-academic integrative moments” to inform the selection and organization of potential predictors. We developed regression models for relationships between demographic and background variables of interest and perceived academic and social integration following the first six weeks at the receiving university. We also included these perceived integration scores in regression models for six outcomes (first and second semester grade point average, first and second semester earned hours ratios, and second and third semester persistence). Academic and previous college background explained the greatest amount of variance in predicting early integration and academic outcomes.     

Responding to Students’ Learning Preferences in Chemistry

This paper reports on a teacher’s and his students’ responsiveness to a new tetrahedral-oriented (Mahaffy in J Chem Educ 83(1):49–55, 2006) curriculum requiring more discursive classroom practices in the teaching of chemistry. In this instrumental case study, we identify the intentions of this learner-centered curriculum and a teacher’s development in response to this curriculum. We also explore the tensions this teacher experiences as students subsequently respond to his adjusted teaching. We use a Chemistry Teacher Inventory (Lewthwaite and Wiebe in Res Sci Educ 40(11):667-689, 2011; Lewthwaite and Wiebe in Can J Math Sci Technol Educ 12(1):36–61, 2012; Lewthwaite in Chem Educ Res Pract. doi:10.1039/C3RP00122A, 2014) to assist the teacher in monitoring how he teaches and how he would like to improve his teaching. We also use a student form of the instrument, the Chemistry Classroom Inventory and Classroom Observation Protocol (Lewthwaite and Wiebe 2011) to verify the teacher’s teaching and perception of student preferences for his teaching especially in terms of the discursive processes the curriculum encourages. By so doing, the teacher is able to use both sets of data as a foundation for critical reflection and work towards resolution of the incongruence in data arising from students’ preferred learning orientations and his teaching aspirations. Implications of this study in regards to the authority of students’ voice in triggering teachers’ pedagogical change and the adjustments in ‘teachering’ and ‘studenting’ required by such curricula are considered.     

Zwischen Bildungsaufstieg und Karriere Studienperspektiven „nicht-traditioneller Studierender“

This contribution looks at a series of qualitative and quantitative investigations on the study success and study behavior of so-called non-traditional students. Of particular interest are two aspects: the combination of qualitative and quantitative findings, which are mutually complementary and in a sense present plausible corrections for one-sided observations, and controlled observations over a long period of time, as the first studies were carried out within the framework of an international study in 1998 and the last one within the framework of a project sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in 2007. This longer time period certainly increases the plausibility of the cautious diagnoses made, which attempt to capture the relevant changes in this field of research. Such mixed methods research (Derzin 1970, 1989; Flick 1992) – i.e. the link between quantitative and qualitative research and survey methods often termed “triangulation” (cf. Prein/Kelle/Kluge 1993; Flick 1995) – has the advantage that a complex field of research can be scanned using different instruments and through a type of “convergence model” (Jacob 2001) the data won from different methods can be used to mutually validate the results. The qualitative material used in this study comes from theoretical sampling (cf. Glaser 1965; Strauss/Corbin 1996) of data from six German higher education institutions from two points in time (1998 and 2005; n=2x c. 400 surveyed respondents). The quantitative analysis, which was especially carried out for our study, profits from the fact that 2500 interested people responded to our recruitment search for biographic-narrative interviews. This group of people was then asked to participate in a special online survey in 2007 – a cooperative initiative in which around one third of the initial respondents took part. That does, however, mean that the quantitative study is not representative. Our overall research design remains complex, but retains an exploratory character     

Educational Technologists: Leading Change for a New Paradigm of Education

The transition from the industrial age to the information age has happened and is still happening in our society (Duffy, 2009). However, our current educational systems still operate based on the needs of the industrial-age society (Watson, Watson, & Reigeluth, n.d), making them among the least impacted organizations (Reigeluth & Joseph, 2002). This misalignment between schools and society takes the form of a discrepancy between what and how we teach students in schools and how schools are organized and operated (Banathy, 1991; Hargreaves, 1999; Wagner et al., 2006). Educational systems should address current students’ needs to facilitate their learning process and better preparethem for their future lives in society (Collins & Halverson, 2009). In this article, we explain how we envision the new paradigm of education and what roles educational technologists should play to help transform educational systems to this new paradigm.     

School district triggers for reconstructing professional knowledge

In a recent publication, Senge (All systems go: the change imperative for whole system reform. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, 2010, x) stated ??at no time in history has there been a more powerful need for a new vision of the purpose of education.?? Increasingly citizens, academics and practitioners are calling for radical changes to educational practices to meet the needs of a knowledge-based society in the twenty-first century (Dede in 21st Century skills: rethinking how students learn. Solution Tree Press, Bloomington, 2010; Hargreaves and Shirley in The fourth way: the inspiring future for educational change. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, 2009). Accomplishing such substantive educational change requires that individual educators collectively reshape their personal professional knowledge (Connelly and Clandinin in Teachers as curriculum planners: narratives of experiences. OISE Press, Toronto, 1988; Elbaz in Curriculum Inq 11(1):43?C71, 1981) and adapt their personal mental models (Duffy in J Staff Dev 24(1):30?C36, 2003). In 2000, we began a longitudinal study on the role of a school district in facilitating significant educational reform which required adaptations to individual and collective mental models of professional practice. Annually we conducted intensive interviews with a large sample of teachers, school and system administrators in this large Ontario, Canada school district. Recently, we conducted a retrospective analysis of these data collected in order to identify the conditions necessary for a large organization to support knowledge-creation and dissemination. In this paper, we identify three school district actions that triggered individual educators to challenge and reconstruct their professional personal practical mental models of the teaching and learning. First, improved student learning became the central focus of the school district. Second, the school district stressed and created opportunities for educators to collectively engage in professional dialogue about their practice. Third, the school district emphasized the importance of educators individually and collectively using evidence to assess whether their actions improved student learning.     

Infusing Authentic Inquiry into Biotechnology

Societal benefit depends on the general public’s understandings of biotechnology (Betsch in World J Microbiol Biotechnol 12:439–443, 1996; Dawson and Cowan in Int J Sci Educ 25(1):57–69, 2003; Schiller in Business Review: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (Fourth Quarter), 2002; Smith and Emmeluth in Am Biol Teach 64(2):93–99, 2002). A National Science Foundation funded survey of high school biology teachers reported that hands-on biotechnology education exists in advanced high school biology in the United States, but is non-existent in mainstream biology coursework (Micklos et al. in Biotechnology labs in American high schools, 1998). The majority of pre-service teacher content preparation courses do not teach students appropriate content knowledge through the process of inquiry. A broad continuum exists when discussing inquiry-oriented student investigations (Hanegan et al. in School Sci Math J 109(2):110–134, 2009). Depending on the amount of structure in teacher lessons, inquiries can often be categorized as guided or open. The lesson can be further categorized as simple or authentic (Chinn and Malhotra in Sci Educ 86(2):175–218, 2002). Although authentic inquiries provide the best opportunities for cognitive development and scientific reasoning, guided and simple inquiries are more often employed in the classroom (Crawford in J Res Sci Teach 37(9):916–937, 2000; NRC in Inquiry and the national science education standards: a guide for teaching and learning, 2000). For the purposes of this study we defined inquiry as “authentic” if original research problems were resolved (Hanegan et al. in School Sci Math J 109(2):110–134, 2009; Chinn and Malhotra in Sci Educ 86(2):175–218, 2002; Roth in Authentic school science: knowing and learning in open-inquiry science laboratories, 1995). The research question to guide this study through naturalistic inquiry research methods was: How will participants express whether or not an authentic inquiry experience enhanced their understanding of biotechnology? As respondents explored numerous ideas in order to develop a workable research question, struggled to create a viable protocol, executed their experiment, and then evaluated their results, they commented on unexpected topics regarding the nature of science as well as specific content knowledge relating to their experiments. Four out of five participants reported they learned the most during authentic inquiry laboratory experience.     

The nanny in the schoolhouse: the role of femme-Caribbean identity in attaining success in urban science classrooms

A growing body of teacher identity-based research has begun to embrace that the development of self-understanding about being a teacher is critical to learning how to teach. Construction of a professional teacher identity requires much more beyond mere content, skills and a foundational pedagogy. It also includes an intersection of the personal and professional self, which gives way to the emergence of multiple identities in the classroom. An educator’s gender, nationality, language and interests among other tenets all permeate the classroom field and coexist alongside the professional role identity. This paper aims to use narrative as a way to discuss how science educators can mediate holding several identities in the classroom in order to create an environment characterized by successful teaching and learning. Drawing from an array of sociocultural theoretical perspectives, complementary constructs of identity by Jonathan Turner (Face to face: toward a sociological theory of interpersonal behavior. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2002) and Amartya Sen (Identity and violence: the illusion of destiny. W. W. Norton, New York, 2006), George Lakoff’s (Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1980) work on metonymy, and David Bloome’s (2005) theorization of the power of caring relationships, I explore the ways in which my Black female Caribbean identity has transformed the science classroom field and created positive resonance for some of my privileged White students who have Caribbean caretakers at home. To begin, I unpack how Afro-Caribbean immigration to urban centers in the United States continues to produce childcare occupational opportunities in places like New York City. Being a first generation Trinidadian immigrant, my many identities have structured my science teaching praxis and consequently transformed the way my students learn science. A significant part of this paper is a reflexive account of experiences (primarily dialogue) with science students situated both within and outside the science classroom. Conversations with students who were raised through the hired help of Caribbean nannies have revealed that there is a strong resemblance to the way they perceive their caretakers as they do me—their instructor. These conversations serve as a backdrop to illuminate the dynamic nature of identity construction and its relationship to the development of ongoing dialogue. The hope is that this autoethnographic work illustrates the salience of student lifeworlds in affording opportunities for success in the science classroom. Additionally, this research seeks to illustrate how understanding the unconscious ‘backgrounding’ and ‘foregrounding’ of certain identities in the classroom can improve one’s praxis in the urban science classroom and possibly increase student success in science. It is also hoped that this story reiterates the importance of using stories for purposes of scholarship, for moving towards better understandings of the social situations we are concerned to investigate as researchers and for better communication of those understandings.     

“I See Trayvon Martin”: What Teachers Can Learn from the Tragic Death of a Young Black Male

The goal of this article is to examine the racially hostile environment of U.S. public schooling towards Black males. Drawing on the work of Foucault (Discipline and punish. The birth of the prison, Penguin Books, London, 1977; Michel Foucault: beyond structuralism and hermeneutics, The Harvester Press, Brighton, 1982) regarding the construction of society’s power relations and Bourdieu’s (Power and ideology in education, Oxford University Press, New York, 1977; Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. Greenwood Press, New York, 1986; The logic of practice. Polity Press, Cambridge, 1990) work concerning how beliefs are established, this article demonstrates how power operates within schools alongside racism, racial profiling, and gender stereotypes to criminalize Black males. Additionally, the utilization of the theoretical lenses of populational reasoning (Popkewitz in Struggling for the soul: the politics of schooling and the construction of the teacher, Teachers College Press, New York, 1998), conceptual narrative (Somers and Gibson in Social theory and the politics of identity, Blackwell, Cambridge, 1994), and critical race theory (Delgado and Stefancic 2001) links the common narrative and the cultural memory of Black males to the death of Trayvon Martin and the treatment of Black males in schools.     

The Anatomy of Academic Rigor: The Story of One Institutional Journey

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) draws from student feedback to gauge the level of academic challenge at particular institutions (Kuh 2009). Inspired by attempts to understand the implications of NSSE data on other campuses (Payne et al. 2005), a cross-disciplinary research group at our institution developed a multidimensional model of academic rigor. We argue that learning is most rigorous when students are actively learning meaningful content with higher-order thinking at the appropriate level of expectation within a given context. The model allows instructors and institutional decision-makers to aim towards increased levels of academic rigor in classrooms, departments, and across campus.     

Science as a Web of Trails: Redesigning Science Education with the Tools of the Present to Meet the Needs of the Future

Science education has experienced significant changes since the mid-20th century, most recently with the creation of STEM curricula (DeBoer 1991; Yager 2000). The emergence of the World Wide Web as a tool in research and discovery offers Pre-K-12 science education an opportunity to share information and perspectives which engage students with the scientific community (Zoller 2011). Students are able to access open, transparent sites creating common resources pools and autonomous working groups which can be used for shared problem solving. Science teachers should carefully build web 2.0 technology into their practice based on a changing pedagogy. Instead of focusing on teaching rule-based concepts and processes in which the teacher’s role is that of expert, education should be focusing on possibilities of the web both in scientific research and understanding. In addition, web-focused education can also help remake scientific product as a public good in the lives of both science researchers and science consumers.     

Internationalization of British Universities: Learning from the Experiences of International Counselling Students

This retrospective qualitative study investigated the experiences of 12 international students in a postgraduate counselling programme at a higher education (HE) institution in the UK. Results from an earlier empirical study on these students (Pattison, Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 3: 107–113, 2003) were mapped against concepts derived from a content analysis of Turner and Robson’s (2008) work on the internationalization of HE institutions. The focus is on what can be learned from the perceptions of participants when reframed and reviewed through an internationalization lens. The paper suggests ways in which British universities can enhance the development of academic and intercultural competencies and support the international counselling student to receive an internationalized HE experience.     

Using Theory To Tell It Like It Is

In this article a graduate level diversity course, “Diversity & Equity in Higher Education” that is based on Johnson’s (2005) Privilege, Power, and Difference, and Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Tate in Rev Res Educ 22:195–247, 1997) is described. Johnson’s concepts, such as paths of least resistance, are explained, as well as CRT, and forms of multiculturalism. The course format, the instructor’s philosophy toward this course, and course assignments are shared. Using the CRT analysis tool developed by former students of this course, an example from a student’s paper is provided as an example of how to use the tool, and how theory is used to help students “see” injustice and oppression. Challenges, such as tackling a complex topic in one semester, are discussed and recommendations are made, such extending the course for two semesters.     

Creativity and Equity: The Legacy of E. Paul Torrance as an Upstander for Gifted Black Males

Nationally, Black males are more under-represented in gifted programs than all other groups (United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, Civil rights data collection. Author, Washington, DC, 2006, 2009); at no time in the history of gifted education can data be found to indicate otherwise (Ford in Multicultural gifted education. Waco, Prufrock Press, 2011a). Before, during, and after segregated schools became unconstitutional, a prolific scholar challenged educators to respond to the severe and pervasive under-representation of Black students in gifted education. This article illustrates how E. Paul Torrance was an upstander (Grantham in Roeper Rev 33:263–272, 2011) who confronted the crisis of under-identified talent among Black students which was, in part, due to narrow race- and class-based conceptions of intelligence. Specifically, this article calls attention to how Torrance valued different types of intelligence and used his scholarship to highlight Black male students’ creative gifts. Using Torrance’s body of work as a guide, implications for research, policy and praxis on creativity from an equity and social justice perspective will be discussed.     

Toward Understanding the Nature of a Partnership Between an Elementary Classroom Teacher and an Informal Science Educator

This study explored the nature of the relationship between a fifth-grade teacher and an informal science educator as they planned and implemented a life science unit in the classroom, and sought to define this relationship in order to gain insight into the roles of each educator. In addition, student learning as a result of instruction was assessed. Prior research has predominately examined relationships and roles of groups of teachers and informal educators in the museum setting (Tal et al. in Sci Educ 89:920–935, 2005; Tal and Steiner in Can J Sci Math Technol Educ 6:25–46, 2006; Tran 2007). The current study utilized case study methodology to examine one relationship (between two educators) in more depth and in a different setting—an elementary classroom. The relationship was defined through a framework of cooperation, coordination, and collaboration (Buck 1998; Intriligator 1986, 1992) containing eight dimensions. Findings suggest a relationship of coordination, which requires moderate commitment, risk, negotiation, and involvement, and examined the roles that each educator played and how they negotiated these roles. Consistent with previous examinations in science education of educator roles, the informal educator’s role was to provide the students with expertise and resources not readily available to them. The roles played by the classroom teacher included classroom management, making connections to classroom activities and curricula, and clarifying concepts. Both educators’ perceptions suggested they were at ease with their roles and that they felt these roles were critical to the optimization of the short time frames (1 h) the informal educator was in the classroom. Pre and posttest tests demonstrated students learned as a result of the programs.     

Success factors impacting Latina/o persistence in higher education leading to STEM opportunities

This study investigates how Latina/Latino youth resist, conform to, and persist in schooling, and explores their preparation for an education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Using Latino Critical Race Theory as a framework, evidence of the “sticky mess” of racial inequalities (Espinoza and Harris in Calif Law Rev 10:499–559, 1997) and the concept of community cultural wealth (Yosso in Race Ethn Educ 8:69–91, 2005) will be used to understand how Latina/o students successfully persist in college. Quantitative and qualitative findings collected at two public universities in 2007–2012 show that Latina/o parents play a significant role in influencing their children’s decision to attend college; family, friend and community support and hard work have also been instrumental in college success. This is evident through parents’ encouragement to persist, expectations to do well and students serving as role models for siblings and peers. As policy makers in the educational arena emphasize STEM fields, there is a significant opportunity for Latino students to make valuable contributions.