Understanding the Role of Contextual Effects in STEM Pursuit and Persistence: A Synthesis Approach

在过去的三十年里，美国高中毕业生选择STEM专业的比例有所下降，其中成绩最好的学生下降幅度最大。与国际同龄人相比，美国年轻人的准备不足——美国15岁的学生在科学素养方面在26个发达国家中排名第16，在数学素养方面在26个发达国家中排名第19。在学生如何在正式环境中学习STEM方面有很多研究，但对青少年环境对STEM的影响知之甚少。青年环境是青年人生活中的社会群体，如邻里、社区、学校、教室或朋友。了解青年环境的作用对于确保所有学生都有机会学习STEM内容至关重要。该项目将综合有关青年背景的研究文献，并评估这些背景是否以及如何影响K-12 STEM成果和参与-对以后的教育和职业成就至关重要的预测因素。研究人员将进行两项大规模的荟萃分析——一项基于定量研究机构，另一项基于定性研究机构——以便得出结论，在现有研究的范围内，哪些背景因素与哪些STEM成果相关。在这样做的过程中，这个综合项目将告知教育工作者和政策制定者关于各种背景因素对众多STEM结果（例如，数学和科学成就，自我效能感，未来目标）的影响的累积证据。该项目将为青年环境对STEM成果的重要性提供新的证据，这将有助于政策制定者和教育工作者评估富有成效的教育环境。综合青年背景下的研究及其对STEM的影响，将解决以下四个研究问题：(1)背景因素如何影响STEM学习？(2)这些因素如何随特定类型的语境而变化？(3)在每种情况下，这些因素如何因性别和种族而异？(4)这些因素是否受到研究方法特征的影响？审查将包括1980年至2014年期间教育、经济学、社会学、心理学和一般科学数据库的电子检索。结果将根据青年背景领域进行缩小，并将对STEM结果的性别和种族/民族差异进行单独分析。全面审查的数据将通过一套共同的指导方针进行评估，这些指导方针将与调查结果一起公布，从而使审查的结论透明，并使详细信息易于获取。本综述将讨论每一项符合有效研究设计纳入要求的研究。采用这种方法，本研究将首次提供与STEM结果的背景因素相关的严格研究的交流中心

The percentage of U.S. high school graduates pursuing STEM majors has declined over the last three decades with the largest decline among the highest achieving students. American youth are ill-prepared relative to their international counterparts - U.S. 15 year olds rank 16 out of 26 developed countries in science literacy and 19 out of 26 developed counties in mathematical literacy. There is much research in the areas of how students learn STEM in formal settings, but there is little knowledge of the impact of youth contexts on STEM. Youth contexts are social groups in the lives of young people such as neighborhoods, communities, schools, classrooms or friends. Understanding the role of youth contexts is crucial to ensuring that all students have the opportunity to learn STEM content. This project will synthesize the research literature on youth context and assess whether and how a range of these contexts shape K-12 STEM outcomes and engagement - predictors critical for later educational and occupational attainment. The researchers will conduct two large-scale meta-analyses - one based on the quantitative research body and one based on the qualitative research body - in order to draw conclusions about which contextual factors relate to which STEM outcomes across the span of extant research. In doing so, this synthesis project will inform educators and policymakers about the cumulative evidence that exists on the impacts of a variety of contextual factors on a multitude of STEM outcomes (e.g., math and science achievement, self-efficacy, future goals). This project will provide new evidence regarding the significance of youth contexts on STEM outcomes that will assist policy makers and educators in evaluating productive educational environments. Syntheses of the research in youth contexts and their impact in STEM will address the following four research questions: (1) How do contextual factors impact STEM learning?; (2) How do these factors vary by the specific type of context?; (3) How do these factors vary by gender and race within each context?; and, (4) Are these factors influenced by the methodological features of the research? The review will include electronic searches of educational, economics, sociology, psychology, and general science databases covering the years 1980-2014. Results will be narrowed by youth context area, and separate analysis will be conducted on gender and race/ethnicity differences in STEM outcomes. The data for the full review will be evaluated by a common set of guidelines to be published along with the findings, enabling the conclusions of the review to be transparent and allowing for detailed information to be easily accessible. The review will discuss each study that meets the inclusion requirements for a valid research design. With this methodology, this study will be the first to provide a clearinghouse of rigorous research related to contextual factors of STEM outcomes