Science capital or STEM capital? Exploring relationships between science capital and technology,engineering, and maths aspirations and attitudes among young people aged 17/18

We previously proposed that science capital (science-related forms of cultural and social capital) can be used as a theoretical lens for explaining the patterned nature of aspirations and educational participation among young people aged 11–16. Building on these findings, the present article investigates whether science capital is related to post-18 aspirations to pursue further STEM study and whether science capital can be extended to related disciplines including engineering, maths and technology. Specifically, we report on correlational analyses exploring the relationships between science, technology, engineering and maths attitudes and science capital. Drawing on data from a new survey of 7,013 17/18 year old English secondary school students, analyses showed that science capital, while strongly related to engineering and physical science future study aspirations, was not strongly related to the pursuit of either maths or technology postsecondary study. The findings also suggest that engineering and maths attitudes have a stronger relationship to science capital than attitudes relating to technology. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings and propose that science capital might be more usefully applied to “SEM,” with links to technology fields and aspirations needing further exploration.     

Investigating the Longer-Term Impact of the CREST Inquiry-Based Learning Programme on Student Self-regulated Processes and Related Motivations: Views of Students and Teachers

This study investigates the impact of participation in the CREativity in Science and Technology (CREST) programme on student self-regulated processes and related motivations. The CREST scheme, a student-run science project managed by the British Science Association, is currently being implemented in schools across the UK to increase student engagement and motivation in science. Through implementing a rigorous quasi-experimental research design using two intervention conditions and one control group with immediate as well as 3-month delayed post-test data, the results documented both the immediate and longer-term positive impact of CREST participation on students’ self-reported levels of self-regulation. The present study also investigates changes in teachers’ perceptions of students’ self-regulated learning through CREST programme participation. Group differences regarding changes in student self-reported self-regulation were not matched when looking at the teacher-reported self-regulated learning results at both immediate post-test and delayed post-test. These discrepancies are discussed in relation to analyses conducted on the other motivational constructs measured.

     

Femininity,science, and the denigration of the girly girl

Hyper-femininity and the construction of the ‘girly girl’ label have been documented widely, but there has been less attention to their content (or any distinctions between these constructs). Indeed, it can be argued that the content of femininity remains a controversial and somewhat under-researched topic in feminist scholarship. This is also the case in relation to science, which has been widely characterised as a masculine terrain, but there has been less attention to why femininity is excluded from/by science. This article attempts to unpick some of these issues, with a particular focus on the construct of the ‘girly girl’, in relation to access to science. Drawing on qualitative data from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded ASPIRES 2 project, we analyse the discourses used by young people and parents in discussion of ‘girly girls’ and physics. We show the misogynist and excluding discourses projected onto the ‘girly girl’, and indeed that are used to interpolate femininity more broadly. We found that in discussions of science and (hyper-)femininity, even potentially positive feminine attributes were denigrated. Hyper-femininity was produced as ‘more than lack’: vacuous, but also a risible presence. In reflecting on our findings we consider whether femininity may be more derided in some discursive contexts (e.g. science discourse) than others, and whether femininity can or should be conceived as more than lack.