Supporting STEM Attitudes for Students With Learning Disabilities Through Computer Science Career and Technical Education Participation

• In Event: Secondary Career and Technical Education: Success and Impacts

Abstract

Students with learning disabilities (SWLDs) are severely underrepresented in STEM fields at levels ranging from high school to college to career. Providing more applied, experiential learning opportunities may help these students develop the STEM attitudes to persist and succeed in across the STEM pipeline. Computer science CTE (CS-CTE) may be one avenue by which SWLDs are able to foster these attitudes while learning valuable skills for success in both college and career. Using a national, longitudinal dataset, we found that SWLDs who participated in CS-CTE in high school were more likely to see greater utility in STEM fields, while non-SWLD CS-CTE students were more likely to exhibit higher levels of STEM identity and STEM self-efficacy. Policy implications are discussed.

Authors

• Jay Plasman, The Ohio State University

• Michael A. Gottfried, University of Pennsylvania

• Shaun Michael Dougherty, Vanderbilt University

• Jenifer Freeman