Socioeconomic gaps in science achievement
Socioeconomic gaps in science achievement
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DOI：
10.1186/s40594-018-0132-5
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发表时间：
2018-10-10
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
Schunn, Christian
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Betancur, Laura;Votruba-Drzal, Elizabeth;Schunn, Christian
背景：与对阅读和数学成绩方面的社会经济差距的广泛研究相比，人们很少关注科学技能方面的社会经济差距，特别是在学校教育的最初几年。这种对晚年的重视可能会产生问题，因为在早年就出现了巨大的社会经济差距，因此记录科学成就差距的大小并开始揭示导致这些差距的一系列因素至关重要。此外，了解社会经济地位的哪些组成部分与儿童的科学技能联系更紧密也至关重要，这样才能更有效地利用资源来解决不平等问题。本研究使用来自 1998-99 学前班幼儿纵向研究 (N = 9250) 的全国代表性数据，考察了与父母收入和父母教育相关的中小学科学成绩差异，并将其相互影响以及一系列混杂因素分开。此外，它还考虑了儿童、家庭和学校的特征是否是社会经济差异出现的途径。结果：结果显示，与家庭收入和父母教育相关的科学成就存在适度差距。父母教育和家庭收入影响科学成绩的主要途径是数学和阅读成绩。对于父母教育差距，通过获得家庭环境内外的非正式科学学习机会也可以产生较小的间接影响。结论：首先，本研究强调了考虑社会经济地位的多种衡量标准（而不是综合衡量标准）的重要性。其次，它表明科学成就方面的社会经济差距很早就出现了，旨在解决这些差距的计划和政策可能需要针对小学早期和学龄前儿童。第三，我们的研究结果表明，同时解决科学教学与阅读和/或数学教学的基本教学方法对于提高整体科学成果可能特别重要。
Background: In contrast to the extensive research on socioeconomic gaps in reading and math achievement, little attention has been given to socioeconomic disparities in science skills, particularly during the early years of schooling. This emphasis on later years may be problematic because large socioeconomic disparities emerge in the early years, thus it is crucial to document the size of disparities in science achievement and begin unpacking the range of factors that contribute to these disparities. Additionally, it is crucial to know which components of socioeconomic status are more strongly linked to children's science skills so that resources can be more effectively targeted to address disparities. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (N = 9250), this study examines disparities in science achievement across elementary and middle school related to parental income and parental education separating their effects from each other and from a range of confounding factors. Additionally, it considers whether characteristics of children, families, and schools are pathways through which socioeconomic disparities emerge.Results: Results show moderate gaps in science achievement related to both household income and parental education. The primary pathways through which parental education and family income influenced science achievement was through mathematics and reading achievement. For parental education gaps, smaller indirect effects also operated through access to informal science learning opportunities both inside and outside of the home environment.Conclusion: First, this study highlights the importance of considering the contributions of multiple measures of socioeconomic status, instead of a composite. Second, it shows that socioeconomic disparities in science achievement emerge early and that programs and policies aimed at addressing these gaps may need to target children during the early elementary and preschool years. Third, our findings suggest that elementary instructional approaches that simultaneously address science instruction with reading and/or mathematics instruction will likely be especially important for improving overall science outcomes.