Attitudes About High School Physics in Relationship to Gender & Ethnicity: A Mixed Method Analysis

Location

Room 210

Proposal Track

Research Project

Session Format

Symposium

Preferred Time

Friday morning

Abstract

There is an achievement gap and lack of participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by minority females. The number of minority females majoring in STEM related fields and earning advanced degrees in these fields has not significantly increased over the past 40 years. Prior research has evaluated the relationship between self-identity concept and factors that promote academic achievement as well the motivation to study different subject areas. This study examined the interaction between gender and ethnicity in terms of physics attitudes in the context of real world connections, personal interest, sense making/effort, problem solving confidence, and problem solving sophistication. The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) was given to 131 students enrolled in high school physics classes. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was run on the data to compare gender, ethnicity, and a gender*ethnicity interaction. Additionally an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was run on data for each subgroup comparison. To triangulate the data, five black females were interviewed and the data was coded for themes. The data analysis provided a great deal of information regarding issues within the STEM classroom.

Keywords

Identity, Gender, Ethnicity, STEM, Participation

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Oct 16th, 10:30 AM Oct 16th, 11:45 AM

Attitudes About High School Physics in Relationship to Gender & Ethnicity: A Mixed Method Analysis

Room 210

There is an achievement gap and lack of participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by minority females. The number of minority females majoring in STEM related fields and earning advanced degrees in these fields has not significantly increased over the past 40 years. Prior research has evaluated the relationship between self-identity concept and factors that promote academic achievement as well the motivation to study different subject areas. This study examined the interaction between gender and ethnicity in terms of physics attitudes in the context of real world connections, personal interest, sense making/effort, problem solving confidence, and problem solving sophistication. The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) was given to 131 students enrolled in high school physics classes. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was run on the data to compare gender, ethnicity, and a gender*ethnicity interaction. Additionally an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was run on data for each subgroup comparison. To triangulate the data, five black females were interviewed and the data was coded for themes. The data analysis provided a great deal of information regarding issues within the STEM classroom.