Motivational Gender Inequity in High School Science Classrooms

• In Event: New Empirical Insights on What Energizes Learners: A Session on Emotions and Engagement

Abstract

Background. Engaging girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes remains a critical challenge for educators. Women continue to be underrepresented in STEM college majors and careers, particularly in physics, engineering, and computing (NSF, 2012) and increasing their participation is paramount to meeting increasing demands for STEM professionals (National Academic of Sciences, 2007a, 2007b). Undoubtedly, students’ academic experiences in high school are among the strongest predictors of pursuing a STEM college major and career plans (Tai, Liu, Maltese, & Fan, 2006). Traditionally, gender disparities have been credited to differences in high school academic preparation and attitudes toward STEM fields. However, evidence has not consistently supported such explanations (Reigle-Crumb & King, 2010) and attempts to increase diversity in STEM fields have had limited success (e.g., Bidwell, 2015). In an effort to better understand gender disparities in STEM, the current study focused on students’ daily engagement in science class. In particular, given extensive research documenting the benefits of perceiving teachers to use practices that are supportive of psychological needs (Jang, Kim, & Reeve, 2012), the current study examined whether female students’ perceptions of the need support they receive from teachers in high school science courses and their subsequent need satisfaction may differ from their male counterparts and contribute differential levels of engagement in STEM classes.

Method. A brief longitudinal diary study was conducted with 208 urban and suburban high school science students (55% female, 60% ethnic minority) from 41 classes in 8 schools. Students provided reports of their engagement (behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic), experiences of need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and perceptions of teachers’ need supportive practices after every science class for a six-week instructional unit (2,176 total reports).

Results and discussion. Results from multilevel analyses revealed four key sets of findings. First, girls’ daily engagement in science class was lower than boys (beta = -.07). Second, specifically within non-biology courses, girls’ perceived less daily support for their psychological needs in teachers’ practice (beta = -.15; e.g.; choice, rationales, incorporation of student interests, consideration for negative affect, question opportunities, and feedback) and reported lower daily psychological need satisfaction (beta = -.17). Third, girls’ lower daily and cumulative experiences of need support from teachers and need satisfaction in class explained the discrepancy in engagement between girls and boys in non-biological science classes (daily and student level indirect paths for need support: beta = -.11 and -.18; for need satisfaction: beta = -.21 and -.24). Finally, results suggested that teachers’ need support may facilitate engagement among those girls who most need support: daily perceived need support predicted a greater increase in daily engagement among lower compared to higher achieving girls (1 SD below mean achievement: beta = .23; 1 SD above mean achievement: beta = .16). The effect of need support did not depend on boys’ prior achievement. Results highlight the importance of girls’ daily perceptions of their teachers’ need supportive practices and experiences of need satisfaction in explaining gender discrepancies in STEM engagement.

Authors

• Erika Alisha Patall, University of Southern California

• Rebecca Rose Steingut, na

• Jen L. Freeman, The University of Texas - Austin

• Keenan A. Pituch, The University of Texas - Austin

• Ariana Vasquez