Predicting STEM educational achievement and career pathways from spatial ability and non-cognitive factors

由于STEM与积极的个人成果和更大的国家繁荣有关，许多政府已宣布增加STEM参与为优先事项。虽然已经有大量的研究阐明了更广泛的教育成就的个体差异的病因，但对预测STEM成就和具体的职业选择的关注较少。为此，最近的研究表明，非认知因素（如态度和情绪）的变化与数学成绩的变化有关，而空间能力（与STEM成绩相关的一般认知能力的一个领域）似乎与一般认知能力在表型和基因上都是不同的。基于这些知识，该项目将利用一套新颖而全面的空间能力测试以及非认知因素的测量来预测STEM学生在发展背景下的成就和职业选择。通过增加我们对环境和遗传影响STEM结果个体差异的方式的理解，这项研究可能会为公共政策提供有关增加STEM参与和减少差异的信息。

Increasing STEM engagement has been declared a priorityby many governments due to its association with positiveindividual outcomes and greater national prosperity. Whilethere has been an abundance of research elucidating theaetiology of individual differences in educationalachievement more broadly, there has been less focus onpredicting STEM achievement and career choicesspecifically. To that end, recent work has shown thatvariation in non-cognitive factors such as attitudes andemotions are related to variation in maths achievement,while spatial ability (a domain of general cognitive abilityrelated to STEM achievement) appears to bedistinguishable from general cognitive ability, bothphenotypically and genetically. Building on this knowledge,this project will utilize a novel and comprehensive batteryof spatial ability tests alongside measures of non-cognitivefactors to predict STEM achievement and career choice in adevelopmental context. By increasing our understanding ofthe way the environment and genetics influence individualdifferences in STEM outcomes, this research can potentiallyinform public policy with regards to increasing STEMengagement and reducing disparities.