Closing the communal gap: The importance of communal affordances in science career motivation (original) (raw)
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Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 2017
The goal congruity framework posits that there are consensual beliefs that science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields are not perceived to afford valued goals such as working with or helping others relative to fields such as law and medicine. In three studies, we examine whether experiences engaging with others in the context of STEM would lead to beliefs that STEM fulfills communal goals, and in turn to heightened interest in those fields. In Study 1, we provide evidence that direct experiences such as collaboration, mentorship, and volunteering in the context of STEM predicted greater beliefs that STEM fields allowed communal opportunities, even when controlling for other facets of experience. In Study 2, we replicate and extend these findings with an experimental design, and found that both short-term and long-term communal experience contributed to greater communal affordances and to more positive STEM attitudes. Study 3 demonstrated the effects of communal experience in a naturalistic setting, among a group of high school students. The belief that STEM fields afford communal opportunities robustly predicts positivity toward STEM, and understanding the sources of these beliefs is thus an important question that can inform educational and organizational policy. Economic projections point to a need for one million more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals than the United States will produce over the next decade (Olson & Riordan, 2012). Moreover, the continued underrepresentation of certain groups from STEM fields suggests that the full range of talent is not being utilized.
Social Issues and Policy Review
The United States' inability to achieve equitable workforce development in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career pathways is wellrecognized and has been attributed to the poor retention of a diverse stream of students in academia. Social science theory and research provide evidence that social contextual variables-specifically kindness cues affirming social inclusioninfluence chronic underrepresentation of some groups within STEM career pathways. Review of the literature suggests that the current STEM academic context does not consistently provide cues that affirm social inclusion to all members of the academic population, and that policies that address this disparity are essential to broadening STEM workforce development in the United States.
The factors motivating students' STEM career aspirations: personal and societal contexts
International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 2018
Students' STEM career aspirations have received increasing attention worldwide. To understand students' perspectives toward science in terms of their STEM career aspirations, researchers in the present study analysed the data collected from participants' Qualtrics survey responses. The participants in this study were 9th to 12th grade students (n=44) who voluntarily participated in a one-week STEM camp for which they were offered admission as a result of winning the state science and engineering fair in Texas. The collected data were analysed using thematic analysis along with supplementary analysis of frequency distributions to determine how these motivated students' perspectives toward science influenced their decisions to pursue or avoid STEM-related careers. Results revealed that 79.4 per cent of these students were interested in pursuing STEM careers. Of those who selected STEM careers for their future employment, the perspectives they held regarding science tha...
The Relationship of STEM Attitudes and Career Interest
EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2018
This study examines the relationships between attitudes toward all core STEM subjects and interest in STEM careers among 4th through 12th grade US students through the administration of the Student Attitudes toward STEM (S-STEM) Survey to over 15,000 public school students. The research developed a model based on expectancy-value theory that incorporates key demographic factors of age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Our findings reinforce prior research that students across key demographic factors perceive biological/clinical and physical science career paths differently, resulting in two career clusters. Of interest, the relationship of mathematics attitudes to career interest varied by STEM career cluster. Findings were also supportive of the conclusion that students' attitudes towards STEM careers are not static over their primary and secondary grades, stabilizing and leveling during their secondary years. Gender showed significantly different interest levels for the two career clusters: males higher for physical sciences and females higher for biological/clinical sciences. Racial/ethnic disparity in STEM career interests can be seen more readily in physical sciences and engineering than in the biological sciences. Overall, our work reinforces findings that students, as young as elementary grades, are forming attitudinal associations between their academic and life experience and future STEM careers.
When I grow up: the relationship of science learning activation to STEM career preferences
International Journal of Science Education, 2018
This paper proposes three new measures of components STEM career preferences (affinity, certainty, and goal), and then explores which dimensions of science learning activation (fascination, values, competency belief, and scientific sensemaking) are predictive of STEM career preferences. Drawn from the ALES14 dataset, a sample of 2938 sixth and eighth grade middle-school students from 11 schools in two purposefully selected diverse areas (Western Pennsylvania & the Bay Area of California) was used for the analyses presented in this paper. These schools were chosen to represent socioeconomic and ethnic diversity. Findings indicate that, overall, youth who are activated towards science learning are more likely to have affinity towards STEM careers, certainty about their future career goals, and have identified a specific STEM career goal. However, different dimensions of science learning activation are more strongly correlated with different aspects career preference across different STEM career foci (e.g. science, engineering, technology, health, etc.). Gender, age, minority status, and home resources also have explanatory power. While many results are consistent with prior research, there are also novel results that offer important fodder for future research. Critically, our strategy of measuring affinity towards the specific disciplines that make up STEM, measuring STEM and health career goals separately, and looking at career affinity and career goals separately, offers interesting results and underscores the value of disentangling the conceptual melting pot of what has previously been known as 'career interest.' Study findings also have implications for design of science learning opportunities for youth.
Gender and the Choice of a Science Career: The Impact of Social Support and Possible Selves
Sex Roles, 2011
This study examined the relationships among perceived social support, beliefs about how one would fare in a science career, and perceptions and choice of a career in science. Participants were 48 men and 33 women from the Midwestern United States who had been identified as gifted in mathematics and science and participated in a high school science enrichment program. They ranged in age from 24 to 28 years old, and the sample was predominantly White (83.3%). Participants completed an online measure approximately 10 years after the program ended examining their sources of support and beliefs about the self as a scientist to see how these variables influence perceptions of a science career and actual career. We expected that the relationship between perceived support from people and current job held would be mediated by participants' beliefs about their personal life as a scientist in the future. Similarly, we expected that the relationship between a perceived supportive environment and having a science career would be mediated by participants' beliefs about their career as a scientist in the future. Findings indicated that social support contributed directly to men's and women's ability to envision themselves in a future science career, which, in turn, predicted their interest in and motivation for a science career. No significant gender differences were found in the predictors of men's and women's perceptions and choice of a science career. Implications for recruitment of students into scientific majors and careers are discussed.
In this study, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is used to explore changes in the career intentions of students in an undergraduate research experience (URE) program at a large public minority-serving college. Our URE model addresses the challenges of establishing an undergraduate research program within an urban, commuter, underfunded, Minority-Serving Institution (MSI). However, our model reaches beyond a focus on retention and remediation toward scholarly contributions and shifted career aspirations. From a student's first days at the College to beyond their graduation, we have encouraged them to explore their own potential as scientists in a coordinated, sequential, and self-reflective process. As a result, while the program's graduates have traditionally pursued entry-level STEM jobs, graduates participating in mentored research are increasingly focused on professional and academic STEM career tracks involving postgraduate study. In addition to providing an increasingly expected experience and building students' skills, participation in undergraduate research is seen to have a transformative effect on career ambitions for many students at MSIs. While undergraduate research is often thought of in context of majority-serving institutions, we propose that it serves as a powerful equalizer at MSIs. Building on the institutional characteristics that drive diversity, our students produce scholarly work and pursue graduate degrees, in order to address the long-standing under-representation of minorities in the sciences.
The Role of Self-Efficacy and Identity in Mediating the Effects of STEM Support Experiences
We report results from two studies testing the Mediation Model of Research Experiences (MMRE), which posits that science (or engineering) self-efficacy and identity as a scientist (or engineer) mediate the association between support programs and students’ commitment to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Study 1 included 502 matriculated and recently graduated undergraduate STEM students. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that research experience, instrumental mentoring, and involvement in a community of scientists were associated with commitment to a STEM career, mediated through science/engineering self-efficacy and identity as a scientist/engineer. There were few interactions with ethnicity and none with gender. In Study 2, 63 undergraduate students in science/engineering support programs were surveyed with a similar instrument at the beginning and end of their programs. Pre-post analyses indicated that increases over time in community...
Psychosocial Pathways to STEM Engagement among Graduate Students in the Life Sciences
CBE life sciences education, 2016
Despite growing diversity among life sciences professionals, members of historically underrepresented groups (e.g., women) continue to encounter barriers to academic and career advancement, such as subtle messages and stereotypes that signal low value for women, and fewer opportunities for quality mentoring relationships. These barriers reinforce the stereotype that women's gender is incompatible with their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field, and can interfere with their sense of belonging and self-efficacy within STEM. The present work expands this literature in two ways, by 1) focusing on a distinct period in women's careers that has been relatively understudied, but represents a critical period when career decisions are made, that is, graduate school; and 2) highlighting the buffering effect of one critical mechanism against barriers to STEM persistence, that is, perceived support from advisors. Results of the present study show that perceived ...
Sex Roles, 2019
Although it is well known that women have relatively high rates of attrition from STEM occupations in the United States, there is limited empirical research on the views and experiences of female STEM degree-earners that may underlie their commitment to their chosen fields. Utilizing survey data from 229 women completing STEM degrees at two U.S. universities, the present study examines how perceptions of occupational affordances and interactions with others in the field predict their occupational STEM commitment. Additionally, the study employs an intersectional lens to consider whether the patterns of association are different for Asian women and White women. Multivariate regression analyses reveal that although communal goal affordances do not significantly predict women's occupational STEM commitment, agentic goal affordances are a strong predictor of such commitment. Regarding experiences with others in the field, results reveal that classmate interactions are not associated with STEM commitment, whereas positive faculty interactions do significantly predict such commitment. However, further analyses reveal racial differences in these patterns because agentic goal affordances are much weaker predictors of occupational STEM commitment for Asian women than for White women, and results indicate that faculty interactions are significant predictors of STEM commitment only for White women. Thus, our results strongly suggest that the theoretical models of motivation and support that underlie much of the discussion around women in STEM do not similarly apply to women from all racial backgrounds and that more research is needed that considers how both gender and race simultaneously shape STEM engagement and persistence.