Innovative methods for evaluating the science capital of young children
Innovative methods for evaluating the science capital of young children
复制标题
评估幼儿科学资本的创新方法
DOI：
10.1109/fie.2016.7757680
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发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Rebecca Strachan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Padwick;Opeyemi Dele;Carol Davenport;Rebecca Strachan
人们在干预措施上投入了大量精力，以增加学习科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 和/或进入 STEM 相关职业的年轻人的数量/多样性，但几乎没有证据表明其有效性。在英国，女性职业工程师的比例不到 10%。科学资本是一个新近出现的概念，旨在捕捉那些影响儿童选择科学相关职业的因素。科学资本较高的儿童比科学资本较低的儿童更有可能选择 STEM 职业，因此需要采取干预措施来增加科学资本。最初评估科学资本的研究主要针对中学生（11 至 18 岁）。本文采用混合方法提出了一种评估小学年龄儿童（7-11 岁）科学资本的研究方法。结果表明，无论性别、年龄和科学资本如何，儿童对科学家的“勤奋”、“聪明”和“创造力”有着相似的看法。然而，儿童的自我认同因性别、年龄和科学资本而异，这说明一些儿童的自我认同与科学家的自我认同之间存在巨大差距。旨在缩小这一差距的干预措施应该会增加他们考虑从事与科学相关的职业的可能性。
Considerable effort has been spent on interventions to increase the numbers/diversity of young people studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and/or entering STEM related careers with little evidence of their effectiveness. In the UK, less than 10% of professional engineers are female. Science capital is a recent concept for capturing those elements that influence children's choice of a science-related career. Children with higher science capital are more likely to choose a STEM career than those with lower science capital and therefore interventions to increase science capital are needed. Initially studies evaluating science capital have focused on secondary age children (aged 11 - 18 years). Here a research approach for evaluating science capital among primary age children (aged 7 - 11 years) is presented using a mixed methods approach. Results indicate that children share similar perceptions of scientists as `hardworking', `clever' and `creative' independent of gender, age and science capital. However, children's self-identify differed by gender, age and science capital, illustrating significant gaps for some children between their self-identity and that of a scientist. Interventions focusing on narrowing this gap should increase the likelihood of them considering a science-related career.