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Eric.ed.gov – Do Professors Really Perpetuate the Gender Gap in Science? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in a French Higher Education Institution. CEE DP 138

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Stereotypes, role models played by teachers and social norms influence girls’ academic self-concept and push girls to choose humanities rather than science. Do recruiters reinforce this strong selection by discriminating more against girls in more scientific subjects? Using the entrance exam of a French higher education institution (the Ecole Normale Superieure) as a natural experiment, we show the opposite: discrimination goes in favor of females in more male-connoted subjects (e.g. math, philosophy) and in favor of males in more female-connoted subjects (e.g. literature, biology), inducing a rebalancing of sex ratios between students recruited for a research career in science and humanities majors. We identify discrimination by systematic differences in students’ scores between oral tests (non-blind toward gender) and anonymous written tests (blind toward gender). By making comparisons… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Math Student Teachers: How Well Prepared Are They?

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study was conducted to find out how well mathematics majors at the University of Northern Iowa were prepared in the foundations of effective teaching practices and how well they performed during the student teaching experience. Data were gathered from mathematics student teachers (N=22) who were observed, interviewed, and asked to keep daily journals. Results suggest that mathematics teacher education students: (1) be required to create practical problems for pupils for every mathematics course in grades 7-12; (2) be required to take a course that deals with writing across the curriculum so they can better incorporate English into their classroom instruction; (3) spend time working with and investigating the use of technology in classroom instruction; and (4) enroll in course work outside the department of mathematics that… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – America’s Answer

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The U.S. arm of technology giant Siemens Corp. recently reported it has 3,000 jobs open because of the dearth of skilled workers. More than half of those open jobs require science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. A recent study by ManpowerGroup found that a record 52 percent of U.S. employers have difficulty filling critical positions within their companies–up from 14 percent in 2010. Many of these jobs require a strong background in STEM, but American colleges are producing fewer math and science graduates. This has led to a skills mismatch in our country. The bottom line is that STEM workers are more likely to be employed and more likely to earn better pay. The unemployment rate for workers who only have a high school degree is… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Examining the STEM Climate for Queer Students with Disabilities

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Increasing participation and success in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields continues to be a national imperative, with particular attention paid to eliminating barriers for women and underrepresented students of color. Some attention has been paid to the underrepresentation of students with disabilities in STEM fields, while few researchers have focused on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students in STEM. Literature about both students with disabilities and LGBTQ students suggest challenges and barriers that may prevent these groups from successfully persisting in STEM majors. This qualitative study examined the campus experiences of five queer students with disabilities in STEM fields at a predominantly white research university. Findings reveal that participants encountered male-centered, heteronormative STEM spaces, physical and social inaccessibility on campus,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Characteristics of Secondary Students Who Have Intentions to Choose a STEM Major in College: Findings from a Three-Year Study

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study was grounded in the social cognitive career theoretical framework (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). The purpose of this four-year longitudinal study was to examine the factors that may have contributed to students’ motivation to develop STEM interest during secondary school years. The participants in our study were 9th-11th grade high school students from a large K-12 college preparatory charter school system, Harmony Public Schools (HPS) in Texas. We utilized descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses to carry out the study. The results revealed that three-year survey takers’ STEM major interest seemed to decrease steadily each year. Although there was a significant gender gap between males and females in STEM selection in 9th and 10th grade, this difference was not significant at the end of 11th… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Characterization of a Unique Undergraduate Multidisciplinary STEM K-5 Teacher Preparation Program

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The K-5 school years are crucial, setting the framework for all subjects as well as critical thinking skills. The single most important component in a classroom is the teacher. However, in a formative timeframe for elementary-school aged children, the number of K-5 teachers that are educated with a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math specialization (“STEM”) is substantially underrepresented. At The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) it was felt that the Department of Technological Studies was well positioned to provide a unique academic major by combining the T&E with the M&S components of STEM, resulting in a program breadth that matches the breadth of skills needed by a highly skilled K-5 teacher. Such a program was established at TCNJ and is formally referred to as the Math-Science-Technology or… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Recruitment of Early STEM Majors into Possible Secondary Science Teaching Careers: The Role of Science Education Summer Internships

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: A shortage of highly qualified math and science teachers pervades the U.S. public school system. Clearly, recruitment of talented STEM educators is critical. Previous literature offers many suggestions for how STEM teacher recruitment programs and participant selection should occur. This study investigates how early STEM majors who are not already considering teaching careers experienced a summer teaching recruitment internship and how it influenced their ideas about teaching and learning and interest in teaching high school as a possible future career. Using multiple qualitative data sources including interviews and daily internship reflections, a multi-case comparative case study was developed. The findings support that some interns substantially increased their interest in teaching careers, while other interns’ interest did not change or decreased. The impact of the recruitment internship was… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Role Model Effects of Female STEM Teachers and Doctors on Early 20th Century University Enrollment in California. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.10.16

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: What was the role of imperfect local information in the growth, gender gap, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) major selection of early 20th century American universities? In order to examine pre-1950 American higher education, this study constructs four rich panel datasets covering most students, high school teachers, and doctors in the state of California between 1893 and 1946 using recently-digitized administrative and commercial directories. Students attending large California universities came from more than 600 California towns by 1910, with substantial geographic heterogeneity in female participation and STEM major selection. About 43 percent of university students in 1900 were women, and the number of women attending these universities increased by more than 500 percent between 1900 and 1940. Meanwhile, the number of California towns with female… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – What Makes Special Education Teachers Special? Teacher Training and Achievement of Students with Disabilities. Working Paper 49

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper contributes importantly to the growing literature on the training of special education teachers and how it translates into classroom practice and student achievement. The authors examine the impact of pre-service preparation and in-service formal and informal training on the ability of teachers to promote academic achievement among students with disabilities. Using student-level longitudinal data from Florida over a five-year span the authors estimate “value-added” models of student achievement. There is little support for the efficacy of in-service professional development courses focusing on special education. However, teachers with advanced degrees are more effective in boosting the math achievement of students with disabilities than are those with only a baccalaureate degree. Also pre-service preparation in special education has statistically significant and quantitatively substantial effects on the ability… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – University Mathematics Students’ Study Habits and Use of Learning Materials

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In this article, we report from a group (N=98) of students from two campuses of one Finnish university, on their study habits, and to what extent they use different kinds of learning materials in university mathematics courses. Our results show that the older students are more communicative with their teachers, whereas the younger students ask for help more often from fellow students. The sociomathematical norms that constitute the local study culture have a significant impact on the study habits and on the use of learning materials. For example, the use of videos and studying lecture materials before the lectures were clearly more usual at one campus than at the other. We also found some significant differences between the groups that are based on the study programmes. The… Continue Reading