Breaking it Down: Engineering Student STEM Confidence at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Gender
Breaking it Down: Engineering Student STEM Confidence at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Gender
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分解：工科学生对种族/民族和性别交叉点的 STEM 信心
DOI：
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发表时间：
2014
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Julie Lorah
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Elizabeth Litzler;C. Samuelson;Julie Lorah
人们普遍认为，工程学需要很强的数学和科学天赋；因此，学生对自己在这些领域和工程学能力的判断可能会影响他们对工程学的信心。关于科学、数学和工程课程的自信心(STEM自信心)在种族/民族和性别的交叉点上如何变化，我们知之甚少。为了填补这一空白，这项研究调查了多个群体在本科工程专业的STEM信心。结果表明，尽管一些代表性不足的群体总体上STEM信心较低，但在控制了个人、环境和行为因素后，这一发现不再适用于所有群体。具体地说，在控制了这些相关指标后，非洲裔和西班牙裔男性报告的平均STEM信心比白人男性更高。此外，在控制了这些措施后，白人女性继续报告平均STEM信心低于白人男性，而其他群体与白人男性没有区别。此外，学生感知的许多因素，包括学生对教授的看法、与同龄人的比较、对该领域的获得性的看法以及对所选专业的可取性，都与学生的STEM信心呈正相关。两种模型对种族/民族和性别群体重要性的变化模式表明，个人、环境和行为因素与不同群体的STEM自信水平有不同的关系。本研究有助于理解STEM信心的性别差异不受种族和民族背景的影响。社会认知理论为研究学生的学业自信提供了一个有价值的框架，并将促进未来的自信心研究。
It is generally accepted that engineering requires a strong aptitude for mathematics and science; therefore, students’ judgments regarding their competence in these areas as well as engineering likely influence their confidence in engineering. Little is known about how self-confidence in science, mathematics, and engineering courses (STEM confidence) varies at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender. To fill this gap, this study examined the STEM confidence of multiple groups in undergraduate engineering programs. Results indicated that although some underrepresented groups may have lower STEM confidence overall, this finding no longer applies to all groups after controlling for personal, environmental, and behavioral factors. Specifically, African-American and Hispanic men report higher average STEM confidence than White men after controlling for these associated measures. In addition, White women continue to report lower average STEM confidence than White men after controlling for these measures, while other groups do not differ from White men. Further, many elements of student perception, including student views of professors, comparisons to peers, perceptions of the field as rewarding, and desirability of chosen major are positively associated with student STEM confidence. The changing patterns of significance for race/ethnicity and gender groups between the two models indicate that personal, environmental, and behavioral factors have different relationships with STEM confidence levels for different groups. This study contributes an understanding that gender differences in STEM confidence are not indifferent to racial and ethnic context. Social-cognitive theory provides a valuable framework for studying student academic confidence and would improve future self-confidence research.