School students' attitudes and aspirations in science - (Symposium) SBBq Brazil

Abstract

Low participation rates in science are a matter of international concern and existing evidence suggests that children’s science aspirations are largely formed within the critical 10-14 age period. This presentation explores how families can shape young children’s science aspirations, using Bourdieu’s concept of habitusto map family resources and practices. This paper draws on two research projects: ASPIRES and Interests andRecruitment in Science (IRIS). Findings from the ASPIRES project draw on qualitative data from 160 semi-structured interviews (92 school children age 10 and 78 parents), collected as part of an ongoing 5-year longitudinal study in theUK. Findings are contextualised with reference to a survey of over 9,000 elementary school children in England (age 10) collected as part of the wider study. A typology of eight key family ‘habituses’ is developed, ranging from families in which science is strongly embedded, through to ambivalentcontexts and those in which science is weakly or peripherally embedded. It discusses the implications of each for promoting, or deterring, children’s science aspirations. The IRIS project was aimed to develop knowledge andrecommendations informed by evidence on how young people, and womenin particular, may be attracted to, and retained in, STEM higher education. Specifically, the project addresses the following questions: 1. What are the priorities, values and experiences on which young people base their educational choice? 2. What are the success factors for interventions aimed at recruiting more young people (women in particular) to higher STEM education? and 3. How do STEM students who drop out/opt out before graduation, explain their choice? The main instrument is a questionnaire (IRIS Q) that was completed by almost 6,000 first-year STEM students in the five IRIS consortium countries in 2010. A range of smaller-scale, qualitative and quantitative modules contributed to the overall results of IRIS during 2011.