Dissertation
Stem career interest in secondary school and its relationship to student achievement and college readiness
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2020
DOI: 10.17077/etd.005523
Abstract
STEM has been considered as an important area to improve economic status and quality of life in America. However, there has been increasing concern about the imbalance between the rising demands in STEM related workforce and the actual number of STEM qualified graduates who can fulfill this need. STEM attrition and gender gap in the representation of female in STEM career has been a common concern for researchers. Research on STEM attrition and gender gap has been focused mostly on college students but not at secondary education where it is actually a crucial stage where students would develop interest in STEM and later on hopefully would make the decision to enter STEM major and have a STEM career. Therefore, this study aimed at understanding student interest in STEM career and how it relates to their achievement. This study looked at student STEM career interest longitudinally by gender from grade 7 to grade 11 by estimating the likelihood of being Very Interested, Somewhat Interested, or Not Interested. Grouping the students based on their consistency of their STEM career interest were established and then an analysis of each group achievement and growth was analyzed for Mathematics and Science through latent growth model accounting for school effect. Lastly, an analysis on variables that are significant to predict student readiness for STEM courses in college was done.
Student STEM career interest of at least Somewhat Interested shows that the likelihood of males to answer at that level of interest is higher than females but the gender differences along the way from grade 7 to 11 is about the same. Looking at the likelihood of student to respond Very Interested shows also a gender gap where males have a higher likelihood of answering Very Interested. However, there is a significant decline in the likelihood of males to be Very Interested whereas for females the likelihood is about constant. Groupings of the students based on their consistency resulted in four groups that are: consistently Very Interested, consistently Somewhat Interested, consistently Not Interested, and inconsistent in their level of interest. Comparing their initial achievement level and growth shows that consistently Very Interested group has the highest starting achievement for both Mathematics and Science but growth level does not differ based on the grouping. Gender also has little to no effect on predicting either the starting value or growth. Lastly, it was found that the most effective predictor of student STEM college readiness is their initial achievement level at grade 7 and their growth level.
This study provides valuable information on the characteristics of students STEM career interest in middle and high school. Information that is not just valuable for students, but also for educators and policy makers in order to improve STEM interest of students in middle and high school and also keep student be constantly interested in STEM. Having student that have STEM interest and be STEM college ready would be critical to have them to choose a STEM major and stay in the program.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Stem career interest in secondary school and its relationship to student achievement and college readiness
- Creators
- Laurentius Ardian Susadya
- Contributors
- Catherine Welch (Advisor)Stephen Dunbar (Advisor)Benjamin DeVane (Committee Member)Dae Hong (Committee Member)Brandon LeBeau (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Date degree season
- Summer 2020
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.005523
- Number of pages
- xiii, 112 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2020 Laurentius Ardian Susadya
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- color illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-112).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
STEM has been considered as an important area to improve economic status and quality of life in America. However, there has been concern about STEM attrition and gender gap in the representation of female in STEM career. Research on STEM attrition and gender gap has been focused mostly on college students but not at secondary education where it is a crucial stage where students would develop interest in STEM and hopefully would make the decision to enter STEM major and have a STEM career. This study aimed at understanding student interest in STEM career and how it relates to their achievement.
The analysis first looked at student STEM career interest longitudinally by gender from grade 7 to grade 11 and found that there is gender differences in STEM career interest along the way from grade 7 to 11. This study grouped the students based on their consistency resulted in four groups and found that group that is consistently Very Interested has the highest starting achievement for both Mathematics and Science but growth level does not differ based on the grouping. Gender also has little to no effect on predicting either the starting value or growth. Lastly, it was found that the most effective predictor of student STEM college readiness is their initial achievement level at grade 7 and their growth level.
This study provides valuable information on the characteristics of students STEM career interest in middle and high school. Especially for educators and policy makers in order to improve STEM interest of students in middle and high school and also keep student be constantly interested in STEM. Having student that have STEM interest and be STEM college ready would be critical to have them to choose a STEM major and stay in the program.
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Record Identifier
- 9983987998202771
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