scholarly journals Having female role models correlates with PhD students’ attitudes toward their own academic success

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255095
Author(s):  
Shauna N. Gillooly ◽  
Heidi Hardt ◽  
Amy Erica Smith
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Female Role ◽  
Female Authors ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Academic Self Efficacy

Research indicates that increasing diversity in doctoral programs can positively affect students’ academic success. However, little research examines students’ responses to female scholars’ representation. The two studies presented here examine how students’ exposure to female academic role models shapes students’ attitudes toward their own academic success (i.e. self-efficacy). Such attitudes are critical because they predict student retention rates. In our first study, we randomly exposed 297 Ph.D. students in one academic discipline to either a gender-diverse (i.e. 30% female authors) or non-diverse syllabus in research methods (i.e. 10% female authors). We examined the effect of the intervention on students’ perceived likelihood of succeeding in the hypothetical course. Contrary to expectations derived from the literature, we found that increasing women’s representation in syllabi did not affect female students’ self-efficacy. Rather, male students expressed lower self-efficacy when evaluating the more gender-diverse syllabus. We also found that students’ attitudes toward diversity in academia predicted their reactions more strongly than did their own gender: gender-diverse syllabi reduced self-efficacy among those students unsupportive of diversity. In our second study, we analyzed non-interventional survey questions to examine the relationship between female role models and long-term academic self-efficacy. Analysis was observational and thus did not assess causality. We found that students with more role models have higher academic self-efficacy, irrespective of student and role model gender. Nonetheless, results also suggested that some students actively seek female role models: namely, female students, and particularly those valuing diversity. Our results ultimately suggest that exposure to female role models relates in surprising ways to Ph.D. students’ self-efficacy. Having more female role models correlates with greater expectations of academic success among certain groups of students, but with diminished expectations of academic success among other groups.

scholarly journals Understanding procrastination: A case of a study skills course

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Hailikari ◽  
N. Katajavuori ◽  
H. Asikainen
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Study Skills ◽  
Psychological Flexibility ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Study Skills Course ◽  
Being There ◽  
Academic Self Efficacy

AbstractProcrastination is consistently viewed as problematic to academic success and students’ general well-being. There are prevailing questions regarding the underlying and maintaining mechanisms of procrastination which are yet to be learnt. The aim of the present study was to combine different ways to explain procrastination and explore how students’ time and effort management skills, psychological flexibility and academic self-efficacy are connected to procrastination as they have been commonly addressed separately in previous studies. The data were collected from 135 students who participated in a voluntary time management and well-being course in autumn 2019. The results showed that students’ ability to organize their time and effort has the strongest association with procrastination out of the variables included in the study. Psychological flexibility also has a strong individual role in explaining procrastination along with time and effort management skills. Surprisingly, academic self-efficacy did not have a direct association with procrastination. Interestingly, our findings further suggest that time and effort management and psychological flexibility are closely related and appear to go hand in hand and, thus, both need to be considered when the aim is to reduce procrastination. The implications of the findings are further discussed.

scholarly journals Graduate students’ opinions about entrepreneurship as an employment opportunity

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Josip Juračak ◽  
Marko Tica
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
The Self ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes

One of the most unwanted and unavoidable consequences of the economic recession is the high rate of unemployment. Graduate students in Croatia are faced with lack of employment possibilities, and for some of them the self-employment looks like a good solution. In this paper, we investigate attitudes and intentions of graduate students at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture regarding to selfemployment. Most of the surveyed students are in the age between 21 and 25 years, and they have already got some kind of knowledge about entrepreneurship during the formal education. In addition, majority of them have the experience of part-time jobs. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model was used to find out to which extent students’ attitudes and experience influence their expressed self-employment intentions. The results revealed that Zagreb students’ scores are close but somewhat lower than the same scores found in the comparable study from Australia. This goes for the investigated variables: (1) previous entrepreneurial experience (PEE), perceived desirability of selfemployment (PDSE), perceived entrepreneurial self-efficacy (PESE) and self-employment intentions (SEI). It was found that the score on the PEE is significantly related to scores on the PDSE (p=0.000), and PESE (p=0.000), which means that the experience positively influence respondents’ attitudes on self-employment and self-efficacy. There is also a statistically significant difference in the on the SEI with respect to the PDSE (ANOVA F=9.804, p=0.000): respondents that consider self-employment more desirable expressed higher intention to perform it. The PDSE was found as the most influencing model variable in regards to the self-employment intention. The results points out the importance of previous experience, role models and positive attitudes towards self-employment in the process of the entrepreneurship development in young, educated population.

scholarly journals Attitudes and Self-Efficacy: Perspectives on Science Subjects for Junior High School Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Dwi Wiwik Ernawati ◽  
Asrial Asrial ◽  
Dwi Agus Kurniawan ◽  
Wahyu Adi Pratama ◽  
Rahmat Perdana
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Correlation Test ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Data Collection Technique

This study aims to analyze the differences and also the relationship between attitudes and self-efficacy of students in science lessons. This research is important because in science lessons the teacher must know the attitudes and self-efficacy of students because they affect the learning process. This type of research is quantitative with comparative type. The number of respondents used as a sample is 74 students. The data collection technique used simple random sampling. The results of the study using the T test were that there were significant differences in the attitudes and self-efficacy of students in science lessons, both female students and male students. The results of the correlation test between students' attitudes and self-efficacy towards science subjects in grade 8A showed that the two variables (attitude and self-efficacy) were related. And the results of the correlation test in class 8B showed that the two variables (attitude and self-efficacy) were related. The urgency of this research is that teachers can find out the differences in attitudes and self-efficacy between male and female students. The novelty of this research compared to previous research is that it uses Attitude and self-efficacy variables, with different indicators from previous research.

Self-Regulation and Ability Predictors of Academic Success During College: A Predictive Validity Study

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Kitsantas ◽  
Adam Winsler ◽  
Faye Huie
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
Upper Level

Knowledge about self-regulation and motivation processes enables students to maximize their college career paths and allows universities to implement better intervention programs to encourage struggling students to persist and complete their educational studies. College administrators and instructors should focus on developing interventions to instill a healthy sense of self-efficacy in students and teach them how to manage their time effectively. Interventions in the form of learning how to learn courses and/or workshops should be designed specifically for first-year students to provide them with helpful adjustment strategies such as setting strategic goals, planning effectively throughout the first year of undergraduate study, and seeking help when needed. Furthermore, instructors of introductory-level classes should provide first-year students with successful peer role models to enhance their self-efficacy beliefs in completing their course requirements. For example, they can make available samples of past projects to their current students, which may allow them to observe successful peers and encourage them to believe that they can succeed. Equipping students with self-regulatory strategies and positive motivational beliefs earlier on in their studies will prepare and sustain their motivation for more demanding, upper level courses as they progress through their academic career.

scholarly journals A multiple case study of female students' academic self-efficacy while participating in a middle school robotics program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Carey Davis
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Great Success ◽  
Gender Schema ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
School Students ◽  
Academic Self Efficacy

An instructional focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is a current popular educational due to the widespread need for skilled workers in these growing fields. Compounding this labor shortage is the fact that female students and workers are underrepresented in STEM subjects. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of female middle school students participating in school-based robotics programs to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between gender beliefs and academic self-efficacy related to STEM subjects. The results of this study were organized into the theme of experience, influence, coaching, impact, and student descriptors. Contributing factors in the decision to either remain in robotics or leave the program were noted in the category of influence. For the most part, coaching strategies aligned with the idea of the coach as facilitator and schools varied in how they attracted new students. Impact was divided into the coded impact areas of skills, long term, careers, and post-secondary impacts. The theme of student descriptors applied any time coaches and students described students or themselves in specific characteristics, traits, or behaviors. The majority of observations regarding specific gender-related behavior fell into this theme. The data gained in this study contributed information to the field of study in the areas of significance to the field of study, recommendations for schools, and suggestions for further research. The results indicated that individual gender schema is well-established by the middle school years, and it is a transformative moment in life when one must choose what to do with that knowledge. Based on the findings of this study, school districts should fully support robotics programs, focus on mentorship, and expand opportunity while eliminating obstacles for students. First, research should be conducted to determine where gender schema comes into play at the elementary level. Second, research should be conducted to determine what factors students use choosing between robotics and other activities in middle school. Third, schools that are experiencing great success at producing students who enter STEM careers should be studied.

scholarly journals Catch 22 — improving visibility of women in science and engineering for both recruitment and retention

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (04) ◽  
pp. C05
Author(s):  
Laura Fogg-Rogers ◽  
Laura Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Women In Science ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Female Role ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Scientists And Engineers ◽  
Catch 22 ◽  
Female Scientists

There is a significant under-representation of women in STEM which is damaging societal progress for democratic, utilitarian, and equity reasons. However, changing stereotypes in STEM requires a solution denied by the problem — more visible female role models. Science communicators are critical to curate the conditions to bypass this Catch 22. We propose that enhancing self-efficacy for female scientists and engineers to mentor others will generate more supportive workplaces. Similarly, enhancing self-efficacy for public engagement improves the visibility of diverse female role models for young girls. These social connections will ultimately improve the science capital of girls and other minorities in STEM.

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