I want to be a scientist/a teacher: students' perceptions of career decision-making in gender-typed,non-traditional areas of work

The study examines the career decision-making of Swiss academic high school students opting for a career in a non-traditional, gender-typed area of work during the transition to higher education. Based on a longitudinal study, a qualitative study with 11 female students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and 13 male student teachers was conducted in order to analyse their perceptions of the career decision-making process. They felt supported by their parents and teachers. Women showed a strong sense of identity as future scientists without mentioning specific career goals. Men, by contrast, referred to job security-related considerations and emphasised the importance of role models for their choice. Female students emphasised their status of being ‘unique in a men's world' whereas male student teachers highlighted the role of ‘masculinity in the classroom'.     

Gender,self‐efficacy and achievement among South African Technology teacher trainees

This article considers the relationship between gender and self‐efficacy in teacher trainees engaged in an electricity‐related design and construction task. Quantitative data (examination scores, task assessment, and questionnaire) and qualitative data (interviews and written student reflections) were collected. There is a gender bias in student teachers entering the University with more male than female students having done Science to grade 12 level. In addition, the continuing differential in standards of education in South African schools necessitated distinguishing those who had attended educationally advantaged from those who had attended educationally disadvantaged schools. In the examination, a test of theoretical knowledge, male students in each group outperformed female students. This we explain in terms of school background, gender responses from family members who regarded Science as a male domain, and the resulting lower self‐efficacy of female students. However, female students achieved as well as male students in the design and construction task. We argue that although males had better self‐efficacy levels than females at the outset, the hands‐on, individual nature of a task in a domain usually constructed as male led to female students developing increased levels of self‐efficacy, which ensured task performance matching that of the more knowledgeable male students.     

Exploratory Study of Epistemological Beliefs of Hong Kong Teacher Education Students: Resolving conceptual and empirical issues

A survey study was conducted to investigate the epistemological beliefs of 352 student teachers of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Schommer's 63-item questionnaire was used in the survey study with Schommer's 12 conceptual subscales as variables in Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) analysis followed by varimax and oblimin rotation. Three factors were generated with an eigen value of 1.00 as cut-off. Some features distinct from Schommer's studies were identified. The three factors were complex, with two to three subscales representing different dimensions loaded together. The subscale concerned with Omniscient Authority, which was not reported in Schommer's findings, substantively loaded in one of the factors. Social-cultural factors were suggested to account for the apparent differences in factor structure obtained in this study, with implications drawn for teacher education. Revision of Schommer's questionnaire was suggested to study epistemological beliefs for local context.     

What to do next: an exploratory study of the post-secondary decisions of American students

Research on college choices is the new tool used by Higher Educational Institutions to help them identify the influences and factors affecting potential student populations. To measure the growing rate of working students in higher education, we propose to examine the decisions made after graduating from high school to current demographic changes. In this study, we use data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002) to estimate the influence of individual variables on post graduating high school choices using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Untangling the individual choices allows us to examine, four possible after high school life choices—students who decide to pursue post-secondary education (student); those who decide to work while attending a post-secondary institution (working student); those who decide to enter the workforce (worker) or high school graduates who neither work nor enroll in postsecondary education (unemployed). Results suggest that aside from socioeconomic status and achievement, interesting patterns for gender, ethnicity and family composition and its effect on the likelihood of a high school graduate’s life choices emerged. As an example, Asian students are more likely to enter their next phase in life as a student than a working student in comparison to white ones. That result is a clear example that not all high school students are alike in their life choices; therefore, for a better understanding in the needs and decision making ways of high school graduates, this paper addresses different factors that lead to a post-secondary decision in order to accommodate their transition to HEI.     

Gender,race, ethnicity,and science education in the middle grades

This article examines gender differences in science achievements and attitudes during the middle grade, when our nation's scientific pipeline begins to emerge. It uses data from a large, nationally representative sample of eighth-grade students (NELS-88). The findings show that in these grades female students do not lag behind their male classmates in science achievements tests, grades, and course enrollments. Actually, some female students have higher probabilities of enrolling in high-ability classes than males. However, female students have less positive attitudes toward science, participate in fewer relevant extracurricular activities, and aspire less often to science careers than males. Students' science attitudes and career interests vary according to students' gender as well as their racial or ethnic background. These findings emphasize the need to further examine the interrelationships between gender and race or ethnicity in our efforts to understand the processes leading to women's limited participation in science-related careers.     

Expanding horizons: Encouraging cross‐campus student collaboration to develop a novel food product for individuals experiencing dysphagia

At the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), cross‐campus collaborations are strongly encouraged; however, due to the vast size of the university, opportunities for student collaboration commonly rely on serendipitous events—being at the right place at the right time. On a cold day in February 2017, the required serendipity befell Clarion Mendes (Speech and Hearing Sciences [SHS]) and Dawn Bohn (Food Science and Human Nutrition [FSHN] concentration Food Science [FS]). The SHS department is part of the College of Applied Health Sciences and the FS department is part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences. SHS graduate students in Speech–Language Pathology pursue careers in schools, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. FS undergraduate and graduate students often pursue careers in food product development, quality assurance, sensory science, ingredient applications, and regulatory compliance. Seemingly, these two fields are contextually discrete (and geographically quite separated at UIUC). Nevertheless, through Clarion's vision and Dawn's enthusiasm, the two initiated an important student collaboration between two initially isolated, but forever connected, fields. How did professors from two very different fields determine that their students could make excellent collaborators? It all began with a well‐loved, neon–orange snack food—Cheetos^®.     

The effects of individual characteristics,socioeconomic status,and political engagement on the attainment of student leadership roles in Chinese university students

This study analyzes the effects of individual characteristics, socioeconomic status, and political engagement among Chinese university students with respect to their attainment of student leadership roles. The study investigated 10,930 students from elite Chinese universities. The results showed that female and only-child students were more likely to become student leaders than male students and students with siblings. Students from local Hukou (household registration) were less likely than students from nonlocal Hukou, to become student leaders. Each upgrade of one level in the membership of the Chinese Communist Party doubled the students’ odds for attaining student leadership roles.     

Connecting high school physics experiences,outcome expectations,physics identity,and physics career choice: A gender study

This study explores how students' physics identities are shaped by their experiences in high school physics classes and by their career outcome expectations. The theoretical framework focuses on physics identity and includes the dimensions of student performance, competence, recognition by others, and interest. Drawing data from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project, which surveyed college English students nationally about their backgrounds, high school science experiences, and science attitudes, the study uses multiple regression to examine the responses of 3,829 students from 34 randomly selected US colleges/universities. Confirming the salience of the identity dimension for young persons' occupational plans, the measure for students' physics identity used in this study was found to strongly predict their intended choice of a physics career. Physics identity, in turn, was found to correlate positively with a desire for an intrinsically fulfilling career and negatively with a desire for personal/family time and opportunities to work with others. Physics identity was also positively predicted by several high school physics characteristics/experiences such as a focus on conceptual understanding, real‐world/contextual connections, students answering questions or making comments, students teaching classmates, and having an encouraging teacher. Even though equally beneficial for both genders, females reported experiencing a conceptual focus and real‐world/contextual connections less frequently. The explicit discussion of under‐representation of women in science was positively related to physics identity for female students but had no impact for male students. Surprisingly, several experiences that were hypothesized to be important for females' physics identity were found to be non‐significant including having female scientist guest speakers, discussion of women scientists' work, and the frequency of group work. This study exemplifies a useful theoretical framework based on identity, which can be employed to further examine persistence in science, and illustrates possible avenues for change in high school physics teaching. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 978–1003, 2010     

Students' science perceptions and enrollment decisions in differing learning cycle classrooms

This investigation examined 10th‐grade biology students' decisions to enroll in elective science courses, and explored certain attitudinal perceptions of students that may be related to such decisions. The student science perceptions were focused on student and classroom attitudes in the context of differing learning cycle classrooms (high paradigmatic/high inquiry, and low paradigmatic/low inquiry). The study also examined possible differences in enrollment decisions/intentions and attitudinal perceptions among males and females in these course contexts. The specific purposes were to: (a) explore possible differences in students' decisions, and in male and female students' decisions to enroll in elective science courses in high versus low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms; (b) describe patterns and examine possible differences in male and female students' attitudinal perceptions of science in the two course contexts; (c) investigate possible differences in students' science perceptions according to their decisions to enroll in elective science courses, participation in high versus low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms, and the interaction between these two variables; and (d) examine students' explanations of their decisions to enroll or not enroll in elective science courses. Questionnaire and observation data were collected from 119 students in the classrooms of six learning cycle biology teachers. Results indicated that in classrooms where teachers most closely adhered to the ideal learning cycle, students had more positive attitudes than those in classrooms where teachers deviated from the ideal model. Significantly more females in high paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms planned to continue taking science course work compared with females in low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms. Male students in low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms had more negative perceptions of science compared with males in high paradigmatic classrooms, and in some cases, with all female students. It appears that using the model as it was originally designed may lead to more positive attitudes and persistence in science among students. Implications include the need for science educators to help teachers gain more thorough understanding of the learning cycle and its theoretical underpinnings so they may better implement this procedure in classroom teaching. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1029–1062, 2001     

The Transition Services Checklist

A coordinated set of activities for a student, designed within an outcome oriented process, which promotes movement from school to post-school activities, post-secondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation. The coordinated set of activities shall be based upon the individual student's needs, taking into account the student's preferences and interests, and shall include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives, and when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation. (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. 1401 [a] [19]).     

Linking early science and mathematics attitudes to long-term science,technology, engineering,and mathematics career attainment: latent class analysis with proximal and distal outcomes

There is a need to identify students' early attitudes toward mathematics and science to better support their long-term persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Seventh graders from a nationally representative sample (N = 2,861) were classified based on their responses to questions about their attitudes toward mathematics and science using latent class analysis. Four distinct groups of students that differed in terms of their attitudes were identified. There were relationships between attitudinal group membership, demographic characteristics, mathematics and science achievement, and STEM career attainment. Females and underrepresented minorities were more likely to be in the positive attitude group. However, despite these early positive attitudes, females and underrepresented minorities were less likely to be employed in a STEM career some 20 years later. Information about student interests organized in this manner can be used to better target specific interventions to support and encourage persistence in STEM careers.     

Making the connection: The role of social and academic school experiences in students' emotional engagement with school in post-secondary vocational education

This study examines the emotional engagement with school of a diverse sample of 909 students in post-secondary vocational education in the Netherlands. Using multilevel regression analysis, we assess the role of students' background characteristics and school experiences, and their interaction, in students' emotional engagement with school. At-risk students do not report lower levels of emotional engagement, except for students using (soft)drugs. While Dutch dropout prevention focuses on fostering a sense of belonging through enhancing teacher–student relationships, we do not find a significant role of perceived support from school staff in students' sense of belonging. A good relationship with classmates is more important to engage students in post-secondary vocational education. Perceiving an academic fit is most prominently related to the emotional engagement of vocational students, indicating that a sense of belonging should not only be defined in social, but also in academic terms.     

“I'm just not that great at science”: Science self-efficacy in arts and communication students

Research in science education confirms the importance of self-efficacy in students' persistence and success in the sciences. The current study examined the role of science self-efficacy in nonspecialist, arts and communication-oriented students encountering science in a general education context. Participants (N = 275) completed a beginning- and end-of-semester survey including a Science Self-Efficacy Scale, a “connection to science” measure—the Inclusion of Science in Self Scale—and a Science Anxiety Scale. Participants also responded to two open-ended “sources of science efficacy” questions, and provided background/demographic information and access to their academic records. Results showed a significant increase in science self-efficacy and connection to science—although no change in science anxiety—over the course of the semester. The observed shift in self-efficacy for minority and international students was of particular note. These students started the course with lower confidence but, by the end of the semester, reported comparable science self-efficacy, and achieved similar grades to their White/Non-Hispanic and US resident classmates. Contrary to expectations, science self-efficacy did not predict performance in the class. However, students' self-reported sources of efficacy indicated increased confidence in using science in daily life, and confirmed the value of mastery experiences and of personally meaningful, student-centered course design in scaffolding student confidence. Results are discussed in terms of the individual and instructional factors that support science self-efficacy and student success in this unique, general education science environment.     

Student dropout in distance education: An application of Tinto's model

The primary purpose of this study was to validate Tinto's theoretical model of student dropout in a distance education programme enrolling adult students. The variables used in adapting the model to the distance education situation were consistent with accepted definitions of the essential elements in Tinto's model: student background characteristics, academic and social integration, goal satisfaction, institutional commitment, and the criterion, student dropout. The study surveyed 356 students enrolled in university‐level courses at The Open Learning Institute (OLI) located in Richmond, British Columbia. Discriminant and path analyses were the basic statistical procedures used to assess the predictive validity of the model and determine the pattern of association among model variables. Previous validation studies of Tinto's model suggested social integration factors would have little effect on dropout behaviour among non‐traditional student groups. However, in the present study, direct telephone contact between faculty and students significantly influenced student commitment and persistence. Overall, the Tinto model appears to be a useful framework within which to investigate the process of student attrition‐persistence in a distance education institution.     

Beliefs about Schooled Knowledge: Domain Specific or Domain General?

This study explored the domain specificity of students' beliefs about academic knowledge in three related studies. Using a four-factor model as an initial framework, a series of domain-specific items about mathematics and history was developed. In Study I, these items were administered to 182 undergraduates, and the psychometric properties and underlying factor structure were examined via exploratory factor analysis. In Study II, the modified instrument, the Domain-Specific Beliefs Questionnaire (DSBQ), was administered to 633 students and a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. A subsample of participants' responses on the DSBQ was also compared to responses on Schommer's epistemological questionnaire. Study III involved a second confirmatory factor analysis using data from a new sample (n = 523). Those data were examined for potential gender differences. Overall, the results of this investigation suggested that students possess certain domain-specific beliefs about knowledge in mathematics and history. Further, a significant moderate relationship between the DSBQ and Schommer's questionnaire provided some evidence of domain-generality in undergraduates' epistemological beliefs.     

Calibration Between Undergraduate Students' Prediction of and Actual Performance: The Role of Gender and Performance Attributions

This study investigated changes in male and female students' prediction and postdiction calibration accuracy and bias scores, and the predictive effects of explanatory styles on these variables beyond gender. Seventy undergraduate students rated their confidence in performance before and after a 40-item exam. There was an improvement in students' bias between prediction and postdiction judgments, although male students' decrease in bias was greater than female students. Female students' accuracy remained stable from prediction to postdiction, and male students exhibited greater accuracy then females. Additionally, the task centered and student centered testing styles positively predicted students' accuracy while the social centered style was a negative predictor, beyond the effect of gender. In addition, no attribution was a significant predictor of bias.     

Using peer and teacher-student exemplar dialogues to unpack assessment standards: challenges and possibilities

Dialogic use of exemplars is effective in developing student understanding of assessment standards. However, limited studies have investigated how exemplar dialogues are conducted in the post-secondary context. To fill the gap, this teacher-research explores the characteristics of peer and teacher–student exemplar talk in three post-secondary classrooms and the challenges in the dialogic process. The participants involved 69 first-year post-secondary students, a critical friend and a teacher-researcher. Data analysis on selected dialogue excerpts, an open-ended survey, focus group interviews with the students, critical friend’s commentary and a teacher-researcher reflective journal indicated two major issues: (i) students’ lack of capacities to resolve socio-cognitive conflict in the peer dialogue; (ii) the dilemma of addressing students’ immediate assessment needs and developing their long-term evaluative judgements in the teacher–student dialogue. Recommendations are made to tackle the challenges and to orchestrate productive exemplar dialogues.