Poster #22 - Interest, Mindsets and Engagement: Longitudinal Relations in Science Orientations for Adolescents in Informal Science Programs

• In Event: Poster Session 04

Abstract

Overall school engagement is an important factor for academic achievement (Upadyaya & Salmela-Aro, 2013) and has been associated with academic interest and growth mindset (Bostwick et al., 2017; Renninger & Bachrach, 2015; Yeager et al., 2019). Furthermore, science engagement specifically has been influential for academic motivation and achievement as well (Lee et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2016), however less is known about the different factors that influence science engagement for adolescents participating in informal youth science programs as educators.
The current study aimed to examine the longitudinal associations between such adolescents’ science engagement (Wang et al., 2016), science interest (Wang & Eccles, 2013), and science growth mindset (Dweck, 2017), as well as gender differences and differences in these constructs between timepoints. This study involved adolescent participants (N = 439, Mage = 15.06, SD = 1.82 years, 66.8% female) from the UK and the US, recruited from informal science learning sites where they participated in youth educator programs. Adolescents participating in youth programs in informal science learning sites were specifically evaluated because these sites offer opportunities for adolescents to participate in science which could promote their engagement within their science classes. The participants completed surveys at the beginning of their youth educator program, after one year, and after two years. It was hypothesized that science interest, growth mindset, and engagement would decline over time and that engagement, interest, and growth mindset would be positively related to each other at each time point. It was also expected that boys would have higher science interest, growth mindset, and engagement than girls.
Results from a repeated measures ANOVA indicated that participants had higher levels of science engagement and interest at baseline compared to year 1 or year 2. A cross-lagged path analysis (see Figure 1) was used to analyze hypotheses. In line with existing work, science interest and engagement declined; however, participants’ science growth mindset at baseline was positively related to interest, growth mindset and engagement at year 1, and science interest at year 1 was positively related to interest, growth mindset and engagement at year 2. Lastly, boys had higher growth mindset at year 1 and higher science interest at year 2 compared to girls.
This study provides new insight into the relations between science interest, growth mindset, and engagement, specifically for adolescents working as youth educators in informal science learning sites. The current study provides evidence to suggest that promoting interest and mindsets may be especially promising avenues for interventions to encourage adolescents’ science engagement in school.

Authors

• Angelina Joy, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Channing Jamielle Mathews, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Fidelia Law, University Of Exeter

• Mengya Zhao, University of Exeter

• Luke McGuire, University Of Exeter

• Adam J. Hoffman, Cornell University

• Frances Balkwill, Queen Mary University of London

• Karen Burns, Virginia Aquarium

• Laurence Butler, ThinkTank Science Museum

• Marc Drews, EdVenture Children’s Museum

• Grace Fields, Liberty University

• Hannah Smith, Florence Nightingale Museum

• Mark Winterbottom, University of Cambridge

• Adam Rutland, University Of Exeter

• Adam Hartstone-Rose, North Carolina State University

• Kelly Lynn S Mulvey, North Carolina State University