Gender and Ethnic Differences in STEM Related Achievement Beliefs Among White and Latinx Elementary Students

Elizabeth Curtis Author

07/28/2021 Added

13 Plays

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This study exams gender and ethnic differences in STEM related achievement beliefs among white and Latinx elementary students. It primarily looks at children's perceptions of personal competency and importance of engineering and engineering-related activities and skills.

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[00:00:01.290]Hi, my name is Elizabeth Curtis.
[00:00:03.240]I will be presenting on gender and ethnic differences
[00:00:05.860]in STEM-related achievement beliefs
[00:00:07.670]among white and Latinx elementary students.
[00:00:14.240]Despite the number of women increasing
[00:00:16.040]within some STEM fields throughout the years,
[00:00:17.940]they're still underrepresented
[00:00:19.180]within the field of engineering,
[00:00:20.740]particularly minority women,
[00:00:22.590]only 21.5% of undergraduate degrees in engineering
[00:00:25.880]were earned by women,
[00:00:26.790]and 20.5% of undergraduate degrees in engineering
[00:00:29.590]were earned by Latinx students,
[00:00:31.060]regardless of gender in 2017.
[00:00:33.470]Engineering is a field that creates tools and designs
[00:00:36.100]that contribute greatly to society,
[00:00:37.740]and diversifying this field can ensure those tools
[00:00:41.070]are applicable to a broader population.
[00:00:43.310]However, there are several barriers that prevent
[00:00:45.970]both ethnic minorities and women
[00:00:47.610]from pursuing careers in engineering,
[00:00:49.520]including ethnic and gender stereotypes.
[00:00:54.150]The gender-brilliance stereotype has historically targeted
[00:00:56.740]children's stereotypes surrounding intelligence.
[00:00:59.100]An example of this is a stereotype
[00:01:01.020]that boys are better at math than girls,
[00:01:03.200]which can perpetuate the stereotype
[00:01:04.700]that men are more intelligent than women,
[00:01:06.200]despite previous literature saying
[00:01:07.690]this isn't necessarily true.
[00:01:09.660]The study extends this literature by integrating ideas,
[00:01:12.560]hypothesized from the gender brilliance stereotype
[00:01:15.040]with work from Eccles and Wigfield
[00:01:16.800]on achievement-related beliefs.
[00:01:18.580]Through the integration of these two frameworks,
[00:01:21.160]the pattern in youth-related beliefs
[00:01:22.980]about their competence and importance
[00:01:24.830]in relation to activities and skills
[00:01:27.140]thought to be essential to engineering
[00:01:28.650]can be better understood.
[00:01:31.170]The figure on the right shows specific elements
[00:01:33.380]from the Eccles in Wigfield theory that are being integrated
[00:01:36.360]with the gender-brilliance stereotype.
[00:01:38.540]So, for example, going back to the math stereotype,
[00:01:41.440]if a girl self concept is low when it comes to math,
[00:01:44.430]it means she doesn't view herself
[00:01:45.690]as someone who is competent in math.
[00:01:47.730]Her previous achievements, or lack there of,
[00:01:49.850]and performances concerning math
[00:01:51.340]could be viewed in a negative fashion.
[00:01:53.430]This could impact your expectation of success.
[00:01:55.650]And she would only view that experience
[00:01:57.180]as proving that she's not good at math.
[00:01:59.070]Her interests could also be affected by this
[00:02:01.080]resulting in her perceiving math
[00:02:02.460]as less important than other subjects.
[00:02:04.180]These categories all interact and influence one another,
[00:02:07.350]which then feeds into the gender-brilliance stereotype.
[00:02:12.600]The aim of this project was to understand
[00:02:14.630]children's perceptions of personal competency
[00:02:17.030]and importance of engineering
[00:02:19.130]and engineering-related activities and skills.
[00:02:22.350]To achieve this, we created two research questions,
[00:02:25.360]question one examined at what age
[00:02:27.440]the largest difference was seen for children's competency
[00:02:30.340]and importance beliefs towards
[00:02:32.150]engineering related activities for male and female children.
[00:02:35.650]The second question looked at a children's
[00:02:37.480]beliefs of competence and importance of
[00:02:39.620]engineering related activities vary due to
[00:02:41.660]ethnic differences in gender,
[00:02:43.277]and gender role constraints in white female children
[00:02:45.880]and Latinx female children.
[00:02:49.610]This study was conducted using data
[00:02:51.580]from combined data sets of pilot one, study one,
[00:02:54.300]and study two from the equity and engineering project.
[00:02:57.090]Specifically, this study looked at the data
[00:02:58.960]collected using the children's achievement beliefs
[00:03:01.750]in engineering related activities and skills measure,
[00:03:04.620]particularly the competence and important scales.
[00:03:08.110]The scales are both like our scales with numeric values
[00:03:10.660]of zero through three attached to statements.
[00:03:13.760]An example of a question on the competency scale
[00:03:16.470]is how good are you at solving problems?
[00:03:18.810]Then the following statements underneath
[00:03:20.500]allowed children to rate themselves
[00:03:24.050]depending on where their beliefs lied.
[00:03:26.490]Similarly, the same question asked on the important scales
[00:03:29.370]worded as how important is it
[00:03:31.150]for you to be good at problem solving?
[00:03:33.260]The sample consisted of 1,209 children
[00:03:36.550]whose ages ranged from four through 12.
[00:03:40.590]We conducted a four by two multi-variant ANOVA
[00:03:43.480]for research question one.
[00:03:45.300]Then within the sample of girls, we conducted an ANOVA
[00:03:48.290]using ethnicity is the independent variable.
[00:03:55.850]There was not a significant interaction
[00:03:57.720]between age and gender concerning competency.
[00:04:00.010]However, there were separate effects for age,
[00:04:02.220]which is shown in the above graph, and gender.
[00:04:04.940]The bar graph shows the marginal means
[00:04:07.170]for the post hoc tests,
[00:04:08.210]comparing the different age groups against each other.
[00:04:10.520]For this graph, the reference group is ages 10 through 12,
[00:04:13.220]which is the red bar.
[00:04:14.530]We found significance within items 8, 10, 12, and 15.
[00:04:20.450]When looking at perceived importance,
[00:04:22.270]there was a significant interaction
[00:04:23.900]between age and gender for items five and nine,
[00:04:26.440]along with that average for STEM.
[00:04:29.530]The largest difference for perceived importance
[00:04:31.720]for male children was between group one and group two
[00:04:35.320]for items five and nine, while the average was different.
[00:04:38.740]Meanwhile, the largest difference for female children
[00:04:41.040]was between group two and three
[00:04:42.460]for items five and nine as well.
[00:04:46.700]For research question two,
[00:04:48.000]there was no significant difference found
[00:04:49.920]between white and Latinx female students
[00:04:51.750]regarding importance,
[00:04:53.020]but there was a difference for perceived competency.
[00:04:55.840]White female students had higher perceived competency
[00:04:58.370]regarding problem solving and engineering.
[00:05:00.660]Meanwhile, Latinx female students
[00:05:02.230]had higher perceived competency
[00:05:03.650]regarding taking things apart
[00:05:05.110]and putting them back together.
[00:05:09.190]Different patterns were seen
[00:05:10.850]throughout various item constructs.
[00:05:13.180]For example, age group one,
[00:05:14.810]which was the youngest reported having
[00:05:16.290]the highest competency when it came to taking things apart
[00:05:18.880]and putting them back together,
[00:05:20.440]this could be due to their curriculum,
[00:05:22.100]potentially including more hands-on items to learn with,
[00:05:24.680]along with being more likely to play with things
[00:05:26.910]such as LEGOs or blocks at home.
[00:05:29.760]Meanwhile, age group four
[00:05:31.210]reported that they felt more competent in engineering
[00:05:34.180]than their younger counterparts.
[00:05:37.050]This could partially be because by that age,
[00:05:39.260]they've been exposed many times to the concept of a career
[00:05:41.760]and are likely to have a better grasp on engineering
[00:05:44.040]and what it means to be an engineer than the other groups.
[00:05:46.840]It is important to understand what barriers
[00:05:48.700]ethnic minorities and women may face
[00:05:51.160]that stop them from pursuing a career in engineering.
[00:05:54.830]Previous literature primarily looked at older age groups,
[00:05:57.390]such as high schoolers and college students.
[00:05:59.040]However, the cognitions and experiences
[00:06:01.040]that influence beliefs are likely occurring much earlier.
[00:06:04.230]If these beliefs are emerging young,
[00:06:05.770]then as educators, we can positively influence those beliefs
[00:06:08.640]to reshape what children might think
[00:06:10.170]and break down stereotype barriers
[00:06:11.640]that may inhibit their learning.
[00:06:16.330]This research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
[00:06:19.320]I'd like to thank NSF,
[00:06:21.080]the University of Nebraska Lincoln MHDI program,
[00:06:23.880]and that Equity in Engineering team for their support.
[00:06:26.010]Thank you.

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Gender and Ethnic Differences in STEM Related Achievement Beliefs Among White and Latinx Elementary Students

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