Portraits of Science Self-Efficacy: Four Undergraduate Women in a Summer Research Experience (original) (raw)
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Effects of an educational intervention on female biomedical scientists’ research self-efficacy
Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2010
Women and people of color continue to be underrepresented among biomedical researchers to an alarming degree. Research interest and subsequent productivity have been shown to be affected by the research training environment through the mediating effects of research self-efficacy. This article presents the findings of a study to determine whether a short-term research training program coupled with an efficacy enhancing intervention for novice female biomedical scientists of diverse racial backgrounds would increase their research self-efficacy beliefs. Forty-three female biomedical scientists were randomized into a control or intervention group and 15 men participated as a control group. Research self-efficacy significantly increased for women who participated in the self-efficacy intervention workshop. Research self-efficacy within each group also significantly increased following the short-term research training program, but cross-group comparisons were not significant. These findings suggest that educational interventions that target sources of self-efficacy and provide domain-specific learning experiences are effective at increasing research self-efficacy for women and men. Further studies are needed to determine the longitudinal outcomes of this effort.
2012
To help address current concerns about the strength and diversity of the United States scientific and technical workforce, expert panels and organizations recommend recruiting young people into active research environments. Here we present a brief review of the construct of self-efficacy and its related social cognitive career theory, as they pertain to research and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). We focus on the use of measures of self-efficacy (SE) for tasks that predict academic preparation in STEM fields and intent to persist in STEM careers, particularly for undergraduate students who are members of demographic groups currently underrepresented in the sciences (e.g. racial and ethnic groups, individuals from disadvantaged socioeconomic or educational backgrounds, and those with disabilities). We present a sample study from our own work, wherein we compare two approaches to providing
CBE life sciences education, 2017
Undergraduate research experiences confer benefits on students bound for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, but the low number of research professionals available to serve as mentors often limits access to research. Within the context of our summer research program (BRAIN), we tested the hypothesis that a team-based collaborative learning model (CLM) produces student outcomes at least as positive as a traditional apprenticeship model (AM). Through stratified, random assignment to conditions, CLM students were designated to work together in a teaching laboratory to conduct research according to a defined curriculum led by several instructors, whereas AM students were paired with mentors in active research groups. We used pre-, mid-, and postprogram surveys to measure internal dispositions reported to predict progress toward STEM careers, such as scientific research self-efficacy, science identity, science anxiety, and commitment to a science career. We ...
International journal of environmental and science education : IJESE, 2018
Background: As the need to involve more students in STEM learning and future careers becomes more pressing, identifying successful methods of engaging students in meaningful scientific learning that increases their interest in science is essential. Student self-efficacy (their confidence or belief in their ability to accomplish tasks) is closely tied to student interest in science, as is student future scientific possible selves. Material and Methods: This manuscript presents the findings of a study that evaluated the Clean Air and Healthy Homes Program (CAHHP), which provides students the opportunity to design and implement authentic scientific research on indoor air quality issues. The program’s influence on student self-efficacy, scientific research and experimental design skills, and future scientific possible selves was examined. Students (n=169) from six schools completed a pre- and post-assessment at the beginning and end of the program. Results: Results showed the greatest i...
Collaborative vs. Apprenticed Undergraduate Research Experiences
2018
To recruit bright students from diverse backgrounds and retain them on a path toward biomedical research careers, we compared two curriculum formats for a 10-week summer undergraduate research program. Students were randomly assigned to either a collaborative learning model (CLM) in which they worked in teams of 3-4 in a dedicated classroom-based laboratory, or a traditional apprenticeship model (AM) in which they conducted mentored research in senior investigators' laboratories. We reported previously that this program enhanced internal dispositions that often predict retention in research career paths, such as Scientific Research Self-Efficacy, and Identity as a Scientist, with no significant differences in these outcomes between CLM and AM. Yet the routes to these positive outcomes may be different in the two program models.
The Impact of Summer Research Experiences on Community College Students' Self-Efficacy
2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
The overall goal of the TTE REU program is to increase the number of students transferring to a 4 year school to major in science and engineering by enhancing self-efficacy. To date, the TTE REU program has supported 55 community college students. Each TTE participant is hosted and advised by a faculty member and mentored by a graduate student mentor, who provides day to day support to the student during their nine-week internship in an independent research project. This paper will focus on the impact this program has on the students self-reporting of their self-efficacy through an analysis of the program participants and the students who applied but were not accepted into the program. All TTE REU participants were surveyed before and after the research experience and asked 4 self-efficacy questions. Most of the students' reports of self-efficacy increased after the completion of the summer research program. In addition to the pre-post survey comparison among TTE participants, we administered a survey to a group of community college students that applied to but did not participate in the TTE program. The non-participant group received the same survey as the TTE participants during the post-participation period. Having a group of participants and non-participants allowed us to compare whether the TTE group reported higher self-efficacy than their peers who would not have had the opportunity to participate in a similar experience.
Increasing Research Self-Efficacy Among Students in Professional Academic Programs
Innovative Higher Education, 2003
Gains in research self-efficacy for 60 Social Work and 75 Speech-Language Pathology students were compared. Our interest was to investigate whether students enrolled in both research and practice courses made greater gains in research self-efficacy over a semester, as compared to students enrolled in practice courses only. Findings indicated that Speech-Language Pathology students taking both research and practice courses showed the greatest gain. Examination of the Speech-Language Pathology curriculum suggested that when research courses were augmented with opportunities to apply research learning outside of class, greater gain in student confidence was achieved. We discuss implications for curricular development and interdisciplinary discourse on curriculum matters, and these implications reach beyond the two specific disciplines.
Explaining Science Self-Efficacy
In order to avoid the projected shortfall of a half a million science and engineering professionals by the year 2010, many believe that we must find ways to increase the number of minorities and women who choose the sciences as a discipline of study. This study, involving 500 high school students, explores the collective relationships among science self-efficacy, attitudes toward science, and the attributions for success and failure in science. Student attitude toward science was measured using the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA). The Science Self-Efficacy Questionnaire was developed to measure beliefs about competence in school science tasks. In predicting physics, biology, and chemistry self-efficacy, the biographical and aptitude blocks together explained significant variation. In predicting laboratory self-efficacy, the combination of biographical and aptitude measures explained significant but modest variance. The researchers concluded that certain stable variables (aptitude) predict science self-efficacy. However, alterable variables (attributions and attitudes) explained substantially more variation in science self-efficacy, and the overall effect sizes were very large. Contains 28 references. (ZWH)
Profiles of the Sources of Science Self-Efficacy
The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) the latent profiles that arise from middle and high school students' (N = 1225) reported exposure to information from the four hypothesized sources of self-efficacy; (b) the relationships between these latent profiles and science self-efficacy and science achievement; and (c) the differences in latent profiles as a function of implicit theory of science ability, gender, and grade level. Results revealed that a four-class solution fit the data the best. Results support past findings indicating that mastery experiences are a powerful source of self-efficacy. Furthermore, there seemed to be an additive benefit of drawing from multiple sources simultaneously. Gender did not predict membership in these four profiles, but implicit theory of ability and grade level did. The results show that students in the most adaptive profiles drew from multiple sources of efficacy-relevant information and espoused a strong belief in the plasticity of their science abilities, whereas those who were in the least adaptive profiles exhibited a high degree of negative affect and held a fixed view of science ability.
Clinical and Translational Science, 2014
Purpose: With a growing need for developing future physician scientists, identifying characteristics of medical students who are likely to benefit from research training programs is important. This study assessed if specific learning styles of medical students, participating in federally funded short-term research training programs, were associated with research self-efficacy, a potential predictor of research career success. Method: Seventy-five first-year medical students from 28 medical schools, selected to participate in two competitive NIH-supported summer programs for research training in aging, completed rating scales to evaluate learning styles at baseline, and research self-efficacy before and after training. We examined associations of individual learning styles (visual-verbal, sequential-global, sensing-intuitive, and active-reflective) with students' gender, ranking of medical school, and research self-efficacy. Results: Research self-efficacy improved significantly following the training programs. Students with a verbal learning style reported significantly greater research self-efficacy at baseline, while visual, sequential, and intuitive learners demonstrated significantly greater increases in research self-efficacy from baseline to posttraining. No significant relationships were found between learning styles and students' gender or ranking of their medical school. Conclusions: Assessments of learning styles may provide useful information to guide future training endeavors aimed at developing the next generation of physician-scientists. Clin Trans Sci 2014; Volume #: 1-4