Neurocognitive Strategies in Science Education and the Role of Socioeconomic Status

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research in Progress Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: STEM Education: Informal Learning Contexts, Parental Perceptions, and Student Outcomes (Table 15)

Abstract

In the United States, students from low socioeconomic status (SES) perform significantly worse on measures of achievement compared to their high-SES peers, especially in STEM domains. While studies show a relation between SES and academic outcomes, our knowledge about the mechanisms through which SES affects academic outcomes is limited. Research in science education has shown that visuospatial reasoning plays a role in learning. Past research has demonstrated that childhood SES is related to visuospatial skills and investigation into these skills presents a key target to help improve students' STEM outcomes. Neural evidence supports the idea that childhood SES shapes how we use our brain for academic tasks which suggests that students could be using different cognitive strategies for tasks. Research is needed to determine if this could help to explain the SES disparity. The current study aims to determine the role of SES in visuospatial thinking and the impact on academic outcomes in high school students (N = 210). The study examines the role of SES with respect to science GPA, spatial skills, and the neural correlates of these relations using functional data during evaluation of a spatial task (mental rotation). Preliminary analysis demonstrates a significant relation between SES and visuospatial ability, SES and science GPA and a partial mediating role of visuospatial ability between the SES and academic achievement. Neural data analysis is ongoing. Results of this study will be informative to future interventions aimed at reducing the SES opportunity gap in science education.

Author

• Jazelle Pilato, American University
  Presenting Author