Women’s interest development and motivations to persist as college students in STEM: a mixed methods analysis of views and voices from a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Talley, Kimberly Grau; Ortiz, Araceli Martínez

doi:10.1186/s40594-017-0059-2

Cited by 40 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Students are also likely to persist if they have perceived support from advisors (Clark et al 2016;Prime et al 2015), adequate precollege education (Ceglie and Settlage 2016;RiegleCrumb et al 2012), high performance in the classroom (Lang 2008;Milesi et al 2017), and a resilience toward gender stereotypes in STEM (Di Bella and Crisp 2016). Support from family (Hughes 2010;Robinson 2012;Talley and Martinez Ortiz 2017), romantic partners (Barth, Dunlap, and Chappetta 2016), the campus community (Morganson et al 2015;Pedone 2016), and a strong women peer group (Morganson, Jones, and Major 2010;Robnett 2016;Shapiro 2011;Stine 2010) can also aid in women persisting in STEM. Le and Robbins (2016) also found that women were more likely to persist in engineering programs if they had already experienced strong intentions to persist in previous situations.…”

Section: Persistencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Status of Women in STEM in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature 2007–2017

Blackburn

2017

Science & Technology Libraries

261

155

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Increased efforts to diversify science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States have drastically increased the number of studies offering insight into the experiences of women in STEM programs in higher education. This paper presents a thematic review of the literature regarding their status from 2007 to 2017 including journals, trade magazines, theses, and dissertations. It focuses on areas of recruitment, retention, barriers, and faculty issues. Stereotypes, biases, campus culture, classroom experiences, identity, and sense of belonging are also explored. The author additionally identifies gaps and suggests related areas for new research as well as implications for librarians.

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Section: Persistencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Status of Women in STEM in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature 2007–2017

Blackburn

2017

Science & Technology Libraries

261

155

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“…Cultural influences stem from established societal views of the “male image of science”: parental beliefs that girls are not as interested in science as are boys (particularly in the physical sciences), family responsibilities, and lack of support when in a STEM occupation. Early exposure to STEM activities and family influences have been found to contribute to long-term female student motivation to pursue a professional career in STEM fields (Talley and Martinez Ortiz, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextual Choices in Online Physics Problems: Promising Insights Into Closing the Gender Gap

Wheeler

Blanchard

2019

Front. Psychol.

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Throughout the world, female students are less likely than males to take advanced physics courses. This mixed-methods study uses a concurrent, nested design to study an online homework intervention designed to address choice and achievement. A choice of three different contexts (biological, sports, and traditional) were offered to students for each physics problem, intending to stimulate females’ interest and enhance achievement. Informed by aspects of Artino’s social-cognitive model of academic motivation and emotion, we investigated: Which context of physics problems do males and females select?; What explanations do students give for their choices?; Are there differences in the achievement of males and females?; and Is there a relationship between student achievement and the context selected? Fifty-two high school physics students from five US states participated. Data included pre- and post-Force Concept Inventory scores, homework context choices and achievement, and rationales for choices. Findings indicate that females were most likely to select biology contexts; males, traditional. All students made more attempts on video questions over word questions, although females did not score as well. For all questions, students generally persisted until they answered them correctly, with females taking fewer attempts on problems. Context choice was mostly driven by interest, for males, and perceptions of difficulty level for females; however, rationales were indistinguishable by gender. On their first homework question attempt, females scored significantly better than the males. Initially, males had significantly higher FCI scores; post homework intervention, females increased their mean scores significantly on the FCI, erasing the initial gender gap, with no growth nor decline in males’ scores. Females with FCI growth were equally as likely to choose biology contexts as traditional contexts; males were more likely to choose biology contexts. Findings from this study suggest that modest changes to homework problems that provide choice and make the physics problems more contextually interesting—even without changes in classroom instruction—could increase interest and motivation in students and increase achievement for both male and female students. Recommendations will be discussed.

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“…In fact, for racial and ethnic minority students, many of whom come from cultural and family backgrounds that emphasize strong family and community ties, a well-developed individual interest might continue to be characterized by environmental features that are traditionally associated with situational interest. In fact, research has revealed that for undergraduate Hispanic women, interest and persistence in STEM was most closely correlated with family and school experiences, as well as support from their families (Talley & Ortiz, 2017). We also know that whom students are able to connect with is important as well.…”

Section: Development Of Science Interests Depend On Social Connectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

There are two I’s in motivation: Interpersonal dimensions of science motivation among racially diverse adolescent youth

Kim¹,

Anderson²,

DeRosia³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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With the increased growth of career opportunities in STEM fields, educators and policymakers have sought to better understand the nature and development of students’ self-efficacy for science, interest in science, and future plans to pursue science pathways. However, our understanding of these motivational constructs has largely been based on studies of predominantly White samples, neglecting the perspectives and experiences of students from historically marginalized groups underrepresented in STEM academic and career pathways. In the present study, we used a mixed methods approach to examine science motivation in six high school students of color who participated in a brief, near peer mentoring program with undergraduate mentors of color. Our quantitative survey findings, as well as inductive coding of semi-structured interviews, revealed that science self-efficacy, interest in science, and future plans in science center around the importance of forming and maintaining interpersonal connections with others. These data point to the utility of a sociocultural perspective in expanding our understanding of motivational processes in a way that is more inclusive of the experiences of racial and ethnic minority youth.

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Women’s interest development and motivations to persist as college students in STEM: a mixed methods analysis of views and voices from a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Cited by 40 publications

References 47 publications

The Status of Women in STEM in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature 2007–2017

The Status of Women in STEM in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature 2007–2017

Contextual Choices in Online Physics Problems: Promising Insights Into Closing the Gender Gap

There are two I’s in motivation: Interpersonal dimensions of science motivation among racially diverse adolescent youth

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