Young Men in High School and Beyond: A Summary of Findings from the Youth in Transition Project, 1966-1974

The lack of diversity among patent holders in the United States (1-3) is a topic that is being discussed by federal policymakers. Available data suggests that prolific patent holders and leading technology innovators are 88.3% male and nearly 94.3% Asian, Pacific Islander, or White, and half of the diversity that does exist is among those who are foreign born (3). The data shows that there is a need for greater diversity among patent holders. Few studies, however, are available to guide the work of educators creating learning opportunities to help young people from diverse backgrounds learn to invent. Educators must navigate issues that have complex sociocultural and historical dimensions (4), which shape the ideas of those surrounding them regarding who can invent, with whom, under what conditions, and for what purposes. In this paper, we report the results of an ongoing multimethod study of an invention education pro- gram that has worked with teachers and students in Grades 6 through 12 for the past 16 years. Findings stem from an analysis of end-of-year experience surveys and interview transcripts of six students (three young men and three young women) who participated in high school InvenTeams®. The data were used to investigate three topics: 1) ways high school students who have participated on an InvenTeam conceptualize the term "failure" and what it means to "learn from failure," 2) what supported and constrained the work of the three young women during their InvenTeams experience and the implications for policy makers concerned about the gender gap in patenting, and 3) ways the young men and young women took up (or didn't take up) the identity of "inventor" after working on a team that developed a working prototype of an invention during the previous school year.

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Change of perceptions of the image of the future among youth

Психолог ◽

10.25136/2409-8701.2020.4.32736 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 45-59

Author(s):

Natalia Petrovna Shilova ◽

Pavel Petrovich Brudanov

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Vocational Education ◽

Educational Institution ◽

Young Men ◽

Self Control ◽

Self Determination ◽

Psychological State ◽

Men And Women ◽

Emotional Relationships ◽

The Future

This article describes the results of research carried out among youth for determining the perceptions of the image of the future. The image of the future is a dynamic psychological state that sets a vector of life and self-organization of individuals, and serves as the basis for projecting the development of personality and resources, essential for realization of its life path. Leaning on the analysis of existing perceptions of the image of the future suitable for youth, it was established that it relates to the perception of life as a dependent on the subject of activity, which correlates with independence, self-control, acceptance of social roles and emotional self-esteem. The author assumes that there are three key strategies in description of the image of the future for young men and women: planning, description of emotional relationships, and self-determination. The research involved total of 1,538 respondents (610 male and 928 female, aged 14-28. The classical methodology developed by I. S. Kon “Me in 5 Years” served as the main method for this study. Images of the future for young men and women contain both, different and similar strategies. Young women receiving vocational education see their future through planning, and the ones studying in high school and universities – through self-determination. Young men who study in high school and universities see their future through emotional relationships, and students of vocational education – through self-determination. This implies that namely the level of educational institution (school, university, vocational education) allows forming certain gender differences in the image of the future.

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