Enhance access to advanced science coursework in secondary and postsecondary school to raise students' chances of entering PEMC fields¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article's findings suggest enhancing access to advanced science coursework in secondary and postsecondary school has positive effects on students' — notably girls' — chances of entering PEMC fields in college. It observes that while considerable efforts have increased mathematics rigor in U.S. secondary schools, "less attention has been paid to science." University-level efforts cited include bias-reducing and social belonging interventions and reducing barriers to enrolling in gateway courses to engineering and computing majors.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Upper level math and science courses are often optional in school, so access and recruitment must be actively arranged

Constraints¶

• Advanced science course completion is an observational predictor in the ELS models, not a manipulated intervention in this study

Target Learners¶

• secondary and postsecondary students, notably girls

Target Learning Goals¶

• completion of advanced science courses and entry into PEMC undergraduate majors

Claims¶

• Men have a 3.60 times higher risk than women of majoring in PEMC sciences and a 0.74 times lower risk of majoring in health fields, with predicted PEMC probabilities of 14.9% for men versus 4.7% for women [+W]
• Girls' likelihood of majoring in PEMC is 3.1 times greater at the highest versus lowest value of 12th grade perceived mathematics ability under challenge (5.6% vs. 1.8%) [+W]
• A one standard deviation increase in 10th grade perceived mathematics ability under challenge corresponds to a 1.62 times higher risk of staying in the natural sciences rather than never entering these fields in college [+W]
• Tenth grade perceived mathematics ability under challenge is the most influential predictor of advanced high school science course completion, and girls have 24.0% lower odds than boys of completing the most advanced science courses [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Perez-Felkner L, Nix S and Thomas K (2017) Gendered Pathways: How Mathematics Ability Beliefs Shape Secondary and Postsecondary Course and Degree Field Choices. Front. Psychol. 8:386. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00386