Are Efficacy Beliefs Enough? An Investigation of High School Girls' Potential Science Course Paths

• In Event: Gender and the STEM Fields

Abstract

Nationally, the female gender is underrepresented in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields (National Science Foundation, 2014). New Jersey (N.J.) students, compared nationally, are achieving in science (National Center of Educational Statistics, 2013), yet underrepresentation of girls in physical sciences persists (College Board, 2014). This study is one of an ongoing research series that investigates how gender informs high school girls’ perceptions of potential science course paths. This paper presents the study’s theoretical framework, methods, findings, and implications. Supporting this year’s conference theme, “Public Scholarship to Educate Diverse Democracies”, it concludes with a description of how this study’s findings may be used to open dialogue, public scholarship, between scientific organizations and K-12 educators to promote gender equality in STEM.

Authors

• Jill Patterson, William Paterson University

• Ane Turner Johnson, Rowan University