Peer influences on adolescents' self-concept, achievement, and future aspirations in science and mathematics: Does student gender and race matter?

同伴对青少年的自我概念、成就和未来科学和数学抱负的影响：学生性别和种族重要吗？

• 批准号: 1348789
• 负责人: Nilanjana Dasgupta
• 金额: $ 150万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2021-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1348789&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Peer; influences; adolescents; self; concept

In the past thirty years a national debate has been brewing about the scarcity of women and racial/ethnic minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and its grave implications for the American workforce in the 21st century. From middle school through college, girls and women have performed less well on standardized tests in science and mathematics than their male peers and express less confidence and aspirations in these fields. Similar findings emerge for Black and Latino students in terms of STEM self-concept and aspirations. Recently, the gender gap in science and math performance has been closing but the gap in STEM self-concept and aspirations remains large. What drives these gender and race disparities in STEM? Many girls and students of color lose interest in STEM before college partly because the stereotype of the successful student in STEM is male, White or Asian, and nerdy. Girls are particularly affected by STEM stereotypes because of their incompatibility with gender role expectations. The proposed research in this grant focuses on solutions to the leaky pipeline by investigating peer influences and classroom dynamics that protect adolescent girls from STEM stereotypes using the Stereotype Inoculation Model. This present work concentrates on contact with other girl peers in science and math classrooms as "social vaccines" who inoculate adolescent girls' mind against negative stereotypes. Four objectives guide this work: (1) To examine whether learning STEM with all-girl peers vs. mixed-sex peers in middle school enhances girls' engagement in STEM. (2) To assess whether the presence of all-girl peers has similar effects on Black and Hispanic girls (who face gender and racial stereotypes in STEM) compared to White girls (who face gender but not racial stereotypes). (3) To identify features of classroom peer dynamics that predict girls' STEM outcomes and test whether they occur differentially in all-female vs. mixed-sex classes. (4) To test if peer dynamics identified as beneficial produce the same positive outcomes for girls when put in action in mixed-sex classes. This research will be conducted by Nilanjana Dasgupta, Principal Investigator at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in partnership with Catherine Riegle-Crumb, Co-Investigator at the University of Texas at Austin, and a diverse team of middle schools spread across the nation.Two studies are proposed. Study 1 provides an in-depth analysis of peer dynamics in math and science classrooms in middle school and tests the extent to which they predict student outcomes in STEM. Using a longitudinal quasi-experimental design this study will compare girls in single-sex classes in science and math with girls and boys in coed classes and follow their progress across one year in middle school. Hierarchical regression and propensity score analysis will be the primary data analytic technique. The goal is to identify peer dynamics in class, measure whether they occur differentially in all-girls classes vs. mixed-sex classes, and test the extent to which they predict girls' STEM outcomes. Once the most beneficial peer dynamics are identified, Study 2 will test whether these, when put in action in mixed-sex classrooms, produce the same benefits for girls in coed classes using a large nationally representative sample of American 8th graders from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, 2007 (TIMSS). TIMSS 2007 contains sufficient classroom-level information to estimate within-class peer dynamics and to test their relation to student outcomes. Hierarchical linear modeling will be the data analytic technique. Our goal is to look for converging and complementary evidence using multiple methods across two studies making it a powerful package.The contribution of the proposed research is to identify specific types of peer influences and classroom dynamics in math and science classes that get girls hooked on STEM, increase their confidence, and motivate them to aspire higher. Another contribution is to examine whether these peer dynamics work similarly or differently for African American and Latina girls compared to their White peers. An important intended outcome is to translate the research findings into a set of concrete classroom practices, interventions, and learning methods that will be disseminated broadly to K-12 teachers, principals, education policy professionals, and other stakeholders in order to enhance STEM teaching practices and attract, retain, and advance more girls and students of color in STEM. Many of the classroom practices, interventions, and learning methods that emerge from this project are likely to generalize beyond K-12 classrooms to benefit women in college STEM classes. Thus, the dissemination plan for the proposed research will include STEM faculty, students, department chairs and deans in higher education institutions as well, to impact recruitment and retention of diverse groups of women in college. Another intended outcome of this research is to integrate knowledge across multiple disciplines (psychology, education, sociology) and generate new insights in the science of broadening participation by examining interactions among institutional (or macro) factors, classroom (or meso) factors, and individual (or micro) factors that influence adolescents? STEM aspirations.

在过去的30年里，一场关于科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域女性和少数民族的稀缺性及其对21世纪美国劳动力的严重影响的全国性辩论正在酝酿之中。从中学到大学，女孩和妇女在科学和数学标准化考试中的成绩不如同龄男子，在这些领域表现出的信心和抱负也较少。黑人和拉丁裔学生在STEM自我概念和愿望方面也有类似的发现。最近，科学和数学成绩的性别差距已经缩小，但STEM自我概念和愿望的差距仍然很大。是什么推动了STEM中的性别和种族差异？许多女孩和有色人种的学生在上大学之前就对STEM失去了兴趣，部分原因是人们对STEM领域成功学生的刻板印象是男性、白色或亚洲人，而且是书呆子。女孩特别受到STEM陈规定型观念的影响，因为这些陈规定型观念与性别角色期望不相容。这项研究的重点是通过调查同龄人的影响和课堂动态来解决泄漏管道的问题，这些影响和课堂动态使用刻板印象接种模型来保护青春期女孩免受STEM刻板印象的影响。 目前的工作重点是在科学和数学课堂上与其他女孩同龄人接触，作为“社会疫苗”，使少女的思想免受消极的陈规定型观念的影响。这项工作有四个目标：（1）研究在中学与全女生同龄人和男女混合的同龄人一起学习STEM是否会提高女生对STEM的参与。(2)评估是否所有女孩同龄人的存在对黑人和西班牙裔女孩（在STEM中面临性别和种族陈规定型观念）与白色女孩（面临性别而不是种族陈规定型观念）有类似的影响。(3)确定预测女孩STEM成果的课堂同伴动态的特征，并测试它们是否在全女性与混合性别班级中发生差异。(4)测试在男女混合班级中，被确定为有益的同伴互动是否对女孩产生同样的积极结果。这项研究将由马萨诸塞州大学阿默斯特分校的首席研究员Nilanjana Dasgupta与德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的联合研究员Catherine Riegle-Crumb以及遍布全国的中学的多元化团队合作进行。研究1提供了在中学数学和科学课堂同伴动态的深入分析，并测试他们在多大程度上预测学生在干成果。本研究采用纵向准实验设计，将科学和数学单性别班的女孩与男女同校班的女孩和男孩进行比较，并跟踪他们在中学一年的进步。分层回归和倾向评分分析将是主要的数据分析技术。目标是确定班级中的同伴动态，衡量它们是否在全女生班级与混合性别班级中存在差异，并测试它们在多大程度上预测女孩的STEM成果。一旦确定了最有益的同龄人动态，研究2将测试这些是否，当在男女混合的教室里付诸行动时，使用2007年国际数学和科学研究趋势（TIMSS）中具有全国代表性的美国8年级学生的大样本，为男女同校班级的女孩带来同样的好处。TIMSS 2007包含了足够的课堂信息来估计班级内的同伴动态，并测试他们与学生成绩的关系。分层线性模型将是数据分析技术。我们的目标是在两项研究中使用多种方法寻找融合和互补的证据，使其成为一个强大的包。拟议研究的贡献是确定数学和科学课程中特定类型的同伴影响和课堂动态，这些影响和动态让女孩迷上了STEM，增加了她们的信心，并激励她们追求更高。另一个贡献是研究这些同龄人的动态工作是否类似或不同的非洲裔美国人和拉丁裔女孩相比，他们的白色同龄人。一个重要的预期成果是将研究结果转化为一套具体的课堂实践，干预措施和学习方法，这些方法将广泛传播给K-12教师，校长，教育政策专业人员和其他利益相关者，以加强STEM教学实践，吸引，保留和促进更多的有色人种女孩和学生。从这个项目中产生的许多课堂实践，干预措施和学习方法可能会推广到K-12课堂之外，使大学STEM课程中的女性受益。因此，拟议研究的传播计划将包括STEM教师，学生，系主任和高等教育机构的院长，以影响大学中不同女性群体的招聘和保留。本研究的另一个预期成果是整合跨学科（心理学，教育学，社会学）的知识，并通过研究影响青少年的机构（或宏观）因素，课堂（或中观）因素和个人（或微观）因素之间的相互作用，在扩大参与的科学中产生新的见解？STEM抱负。