scholarly journals Motivation to Learn Science as a Mediator between Attitude towards STEM and the Development of STEM Career Aspiration among Secondary School Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1A) ◽  
pp. 138-146
Author(s):  
Fazilah Razali ◽  
Umi Kalthom Abd Manaf ◽  
Othman Talib ◽  
Siti Aishah Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Career Aspiration ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
School Students ◽  
Stem Career

scholarly journals STEM-aspiraties en studiekeuze in het secundair onderwijs in Vlaanderen: de intersectie van gender en etniciteit

2021 ◽  
pp. 117-140
Author(s):  
Lore Van Praag ◽  
Roslyn Arlin Mickelson ◽  
Peter A.J. Stevens ◽  
Mieke Van Houtte
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Stem Careers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
School Students ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Engineering Mathematics ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Stem Career

This article explores why some Flemish secondary school students’ study choices are content-wise not in line with their career aspirations and, to some extent, follow gender and ethnic patterns. We use 83 semi-structured interviews, conducted with students in academic and technical tracks in three Flemish secondary schools. Compared to female pupils, male pupils are more likely to enrol in lower status tracks whose curricular substance prepares them for a STEM career (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Ethnic majority female pupils seem to adjust their study choices better to their aspirations, or the other way round. However, especially when changing track or field of study, ethnic majority female pupils are more likely to adapt their aspirations consistent with gender norms. While ethnic minority female pupils are more likely than ethnic majority female pupils to have STEM aspirations, their goals do not always seem to correspond with the study choices they have made. Additionally, perceived discrimination and family aspirations further impact both study choices and aspirations of ethnic minority pupils. Gendered study recommendations and choices, favouring male pupils in STEM careers, especially make that female pupils make study choices that are in terms of curriculum not always in line with their aspirations.

scholarly journals Reliability and Validity of a Chinese Version of the STEM Attitude Scale for Primary and Secondary School Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12661
Author(s):  
Yanjun Zhang ◽  
Qianqian Xu ◽  
Jinghua Lao ◽  
Yan Shen
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Chinese Version ◽  
School Students ◽  
Stem Attitudes ◽  
Stem Career ◽  
Primary And Secondary School

In recent years, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education has received widespread attention from all over the world, and there are not many studies on STEM attitudes in China. One of the reasons is the lack of measurement tools that have been tested for reliability and validity. The Chinese version STEM attitudes scale for primary and secondary schools is a multidimensional scale that measures the STEM attitudes of primary and secondary school students. It consists of three subscales: STEM interest, 21st-century skills confidence, and STEM career interest. In order to test the reliability and validity of the scale application, as well as understand and improve the STEM attitudes of primary and secondary school students, the research team surveyed and collected 566 responses from primary and secondary school students in Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong, Liaoning, and other places. After exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and a reliability and validity test, the scale finally retained 48 items. The scale supports a hypothetical five-factor model with good reliability and validity and can be used to assess STEM attitudes in Chinese primary and secondary schools. This research also shows that students’ STEM interests and STEM career interests showed clear variation among different genders, grades, and parental education levels.

scholarly journals DOES ABSENCE MAKE THE HEART GROW FONDER? – STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES OF CURRICULUM, ABSENTEEISM AND THEIR PURSUIT OF THE GOOD LIFE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon J. Edwards ◽  
Evie Parmar
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Good Life ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Student Attendance ◽  
School Students ◽  
Student Absenteeism

In 2015, major revisions were made to the breadth and content of the English national curriculum to ensure the country’s economic success in an emerging technological marketplace. Increasingly punitive sanctions were introduced to safeguard student attendance and subsequent attainment.  Yet student GCSE attainment has remained static since that time and attendance has decreased. The article considers these coinciding trends by presenting a study that explored 40 secondary-school students’ perspectives of their low attendance. Findings evidence their motivation to learn but also their growing disillusionment with curriculum content that is not easily accessible or seen to support a good life, which in turn has impacted their motivation to attend school. Conclusions call for collaborations to be developed between school leaders and students to help make explicit the pathways to a good life that the curriculum claims to support. Collaborations that may also address student absenteeism.

Assessing motivation to learn chemistry: adaptation and validation of Science Motivation Questionnaire II with Greek secondary school students

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katerina Salta ◽  
Dionysios Koulougliotis
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Upper Secondary School ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Lower Secondary School ◽  
School Students ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Science Motivation

In educational research, the availability of a validated version of an original instrument in a different language offers the possibility for valid measurements obtained within the specific educational context and in addition it provides the opportunity for valid cross-cultural comparisons. The present study aimed to adapt the Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ II) for application to a different cultural context (Greece), a different age group (secondary school students) and with a focus on chemistry learning. Subsequently, the Greek version of Chemistry Motivation Questionnaire II (Greek CMQ II) was used in order to investigate Greek secondary school students' motivation to learn chemistry for the first time. The sample consisted of 330 secondary school students (163 boys–167 girls), of which 146 were in lower secondary school (14–15 years old) and 184 were in upper secondary school (16–17 years old). Confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for the validity of Greek CMQ II, as well as for configural, metric and scalar invariance, thus allowing meaningful comparisons between groups. The five motivation components of the original instrument namely grade motivation, career motivation, intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and self-determination were confirmed. Gender-based comparisons showed that girls had higher self-determination relative to the boys irrespective of the age group. In addition, girls in lower secondary school had higher career and intrinsic motivation relative to the boys of the same age group. Age-based comparisons showed that lower secondary school students had higher grade motivation relative to upper secondary school students.

scholarly journals Motivation to Learning Mathematics and Gender as Correlates of Senior Secondary School Students’ Performance in Mathematics

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 318
Author(s):  
Adeneye O. A. Awofala ◽  
Abisola O. Lawani ◽  
Olayinka A. Adeyemi
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
School Students ◽  
Senior Secondary School ◽  
Learning Mathematics ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Senior Secondary Schools ◽  
Senior Secondary

This study investigated senior secondary school students’ motivation to learning mathematics and gender as correlates of performance in mathematics. The sample consisted of 315 students from two government senior secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria using the quantitative research method within the blueprint of the descriptive survey research design. Data collected were analysed using percentages, means, standard deviation, independent samples t-test, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) and standard and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Findings from the study revealed that there was a very high level of motivation to learn mathematics among senior secondary schools’ students in Nigeria. There was a significant influence of gender on students’ performance in mathematics but not on motivation to learn mathematics. It was also revealed that self-efficacy, gender and intrinsic motivation were the major significant predictors of performance in mathematics among the sample studied. Based on these findings, future studies in Nigeria should attempt to investigate the psychometric properties of the motivation to learn mathematics scale.

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