Mathematics Careers Research Articles

Under-Representation of Women in Science: From Educational, Feminist and Scientific Views

The article aims to explore the main reasons why women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects and careers. The article critically analyzes three approaches: educational, feminist, and scientific. This work highlights that the subject “gender and science” has been looked at for at least three decades and the results obtained have not changed significantly. This article concludes that the under-representation of women in STEM has a link with both biological and social-constructivism theory. The possible factors for the dearth of women in the sciences embrace both the influence of socio-cultural factors and the influence of genetics.

The MESA Study

This article examines the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program and investigates its impact on underrepresented student populations. MESA was started in California during the 1970s to provide pathways to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers for underrepresented students and represents an exemplar model of informal learning environments. Using a mixed-method research design of investigation, this exploratory study looks at the relationship between MESA activities and underrepresented students’ self-efficacy, interests, and perceptions related to engineering. Evidences for this study includes data from focus-group interviews conducted and results from quantitative data collected using the Engineering, Self-Efficacy, Interests, and Perceptions Survey (ESIPS) instrument. Results from this study suggest that participation in MESA’s activities has a positive influence on underrepresented students’ self-efficacy, interests, and perceptions related to engineering.

The effectiveness of a head-heart-hands model for natural and environmental science learning in urban schools

We describe an environmental and natural science program called Nurture thru Nature (NtN) that seeks to improve mathematics and science performance of students in disadvantaged communities, and to increase student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers. The program draws conceptual guidance from the Head-Heart-Hands model that informs the current educational movement to foster environmental understanding and sustainability. Employing an experimental design and data from seven cohorts of students, we find some promising, albeit preliminary, indications that the program can increase students’ science knowledge and grades in mathematics, science and language arts. We discuss the special adaptations that environmental and sustainability education programs need to incorporate if they are to be successful in today’s resource depleted urban schools.

Do parental attitudes toward and expectations for their children's education and future jobs matter for their children's school achievement?

The traditional discourse in the scholarship on cultural capital theory has focused on how exclusive participation in elite status culture by students from higher socioeconomic status families benefits their learning in schools, the effects of which are most evident in linguistic subject areas such as reading achievement. However, some scholars have argued that cultural capital is not restricted to elite status culture but could include parental familiarity with school evaluation standards and job market requirements, and that the effects could transcend languages to include performance domains with more objective evaluation that are susceptible to school influences (e.g. mathematics and science). The present study systematically examines this position using data involving 96,591 15‐year‐old students from 3602 schools in eight countries who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment 2012. Results of three‐level hierarchical linear modelling showed positive relationships between seven cultural capital variables and student mathematics achievement. The cultural variables comprised: home educational resources; parental educational attainment and occupational status; parental expectations of their children's educational attainment, future career in mathematics and school; and parental valuing of mathematics. In particular, the three parental expectations variables had substantively larger effect sizes on student achievement than the other cultural capital variables. The results demonstrated that parental familiarity with school evaluation standards and future job requirements, especially as measured by parental expectations, may constitute cultural capital that privileges student mathematics achievement in schools.

From classroom to career: the unique role of communal processes in predicting interest in STEM careers

The current studies investigated how interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers is predicted both by academic motivation as well as by beliefs that STEM careers allow the fulfillment of communal goals (i.e., communal affordances). This research also examines whether past course experiences of being exposed to communal information about STEM predicts increased beliefs that STEM careers afford communal goals. As anticipated, STEM communal affordances predicted increased STEM career interest, above and beyond the benefits of academic motivation/attitudes (e.g., positivity toward courses, intention to persist). Classroom exposure to communal opportunities in math and science predicted increased beliefs that STEM careers afford communal goals, and in turn predicted increased STEM career interest (Studies 2 and 3). Taken together, these studies suggest that focusing only on fostering STEM academic motivation may be insufficient to foster interest in STEM careers. Instead, focusing on both student academic motivation and student beliefs about whether STEM careers provide opportunities to pursue valued communal goals may provide a more holistic approach to fostering STEM career interest.

Understanding African American Students' Experiences in STEM Education: An Ecological Systems Approach

Promoting racial and ethnic minority students' interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers remains a primary workforce goal. To advance this goal, this study examined, through an ecological lens, 18 African American high school seniors' perceptions of their experiences related to their aspirations for STEM careers. All students were enrolled in STEM programs. Using a phenomenological approach to analyze the outcomes of focus group interviews, the authors identified themes at the ontogenic, microsystem, and macrosystem levels. Environmental factors, such as counseling, family expectations, and available resources, played a substantial role in influencing the students' interests, experiences, and perceptions in their pursuits of STEM careers. Implications highlight the importance of counselors in encouraging students of diverse backgrounds to pursue STEM courses and for policy makers to provide resources that support students' STEM goals. Future research is needed to examine the longitudinal effects of high school STEM programs on diverse populations.

High schoolers' interest in STEM is contagious

Education When asked what is influential in pointing students toward science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, many would name science teachers and parents as obvious candidates. Hazari et al. offer evidence for another important group: classmates in high school science courses. They hypothesized that students who perceive that their classmates are highly interested in the course material are themselves more likely to enter STEM careers, and this hypothesis was supported by information collected from a national survey. The effect remained strong after controlling for differences between students such as prior interest in STEM careers, family support for pursuing such a career, and academic achievement, and after controlling for differences in teaching quality. Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.1700046 (2017).

Student-Perceived Mothers' and Fathers' Beliefs, Mathematics and English Motivations, and Career Choices.

According to Eccles and Jacobs' (1986) parent socialization model, parents' gendered ability and value beliefs influence girls' and boys' interpretations of those beliefs, and hence students' domain-specific valuing of tasks and competence beliefs and subsequent career plans. Studies have rarely analyzed how both student-perceived mothers' and fathers' beliefs affect girls' and boys' task values, success expectancies, and career plans across domains. This study analyzed survey data of 459 students (262 boys) assessed through Grades 9, 10, and 11 from three coeducational secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Longitudinal structural equationmodels revealed gendered value transmission pathways for girls in mathematics. Although mathematics test scores did not vary statistically significantly, girls reported statistically significantly lower mothers' ability beliefs for them in mathematics than boys at Time 1, which led to their statistically significantly lower mathematics intrinsic value at Time 2 and mathematics-related career plans at Time 3. Such gendered pathways did not occur in English. Matched same-gender effects and gendered pathways in parent socialization processes were evident; perceived mothers' value beliefs were more strongly related to girls' than boys' importance values in English. Student-perceived fathers' ability beliefs positively predicted boys', not girls', importance value in mathematics. Implications for educational practice emphasize the need to target girls' and boys' interest when aiming to enhance their mathematical career motivations.

Using peer mentoring to reduce mathematical anxiety

Research has shown mathematical anxiety impacts on mathematical confidence and attainment, leading to avoidance of mathematics and mathematical careers. This research investigated if an intervention with peer mentors could help reduce students’ mathematical anxiety. It took place at a Secondary School (11–18 years) in the South West of England, which has been rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. Five female students (aged 11–15 years) identified by their teachers as mathematically anxious were paired with peer mentors (female, aged 16–17 years) to receive four one-hour intervention sessions over six weeks. The purpose was for the mentors to provide encouragement and demonstrate skills to cope with being ‘stuck’, thus building the students’ mathematical resilience and reducing their mathematical anxiety. The students’ mathematical anxiety and attitudes were measured with a questionnaire before the intervention and again after all four sessions. The qualitative data collected from the questionnaires was reported alongside data provided by semi-structured interviews, which was coded and analysed for common themes. Three out of four participants reported reduced mathematical anxiety and all four students demonstrated a positive attitude to the intervention. However, the findings were inconsistent regarding improved mathematical resilience and its effect on reducing mathematical anxiety.

Introducing High School Students to Careers in Osteopathic Medicine.

An aging population and expansion of health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have led to a predicted deficit of primary care physicians by 2025. In response, medical schools must develop new strategies to identify students early in their educational pathways to encourage exploration of careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, especially medicine. Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences developed 2 internship programs, Oklahoma Science Training and Research Students (OKStars) and Native OKStars, to introduce high school students to osteopathic medicine. Native OKStars was designed to encourage Native American students, who are underrepresented in STEM fields, to pursue osteopathic medicine. These programs provided students with a 6-week immersion in biomedical research, along with weekly discussion groups with mentors. Participant questionnaire responses suggested that these programs were effective in introducing them to careers in osteopathic medicine as well as other STEM fields.

Multidisciplinary Perspectives on a Video Case of Children Designing and Coding for Robotics

Spatial reasoning plays a vital role in choice of and success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, yet the topic is scarce in grade school curricula. We conjecture t...

A day of immersive physiology experiments increases knowledge and excitement towards physiology and scientific careers in Native American students.

Underserved minority groups are disproportionately absent from the pursuit of careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. One such underserved population, Native Americans, are particularly underrepresented in STEM fields. Although recent advocacy and outreach designed toward increasing minority involvement in health care-related occupations have been mostly successful, little is known about the efficacy of outreach programs in increasing minority enthusiasm toward careers in traditional scientific professions. Furthermore, very little is known about outreach among Native American schools toward increasing involvement in STEM. We collaborated with tribal middle and high schools in South Dakota and Nebraska through a National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Award to hold a day-long physiology, activity-based event to increase both understanding of physiology and enthusiasm to scientific careers. We recruited volunteer biomedical scientists and trainees from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and University of South Dakota. To evaluate the effectiveness of the day of activities, 224 of the ~275-300 participating students completed both a pre- and postevent evaluation assessment. We observed increases in both students self-perceived knowledge of physiology and enthusiasm toward scientific career opportunities after the day of outreach activities. We conclude that activity-based learning opportunities in underserved populations are effective in increasing both knowledge of science and interest in scientific careers.

Multimodal Perception of Histological Images for Persons Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

Lack of suitable substitute assistive technology is a roadblock for students and scientists who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) from advancing in careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. It is challenging for persons who are BVI to interpret real-time visual scientific data which is commonly generated during lab experimentation, such as performing light microscopy, spectrometry, and observing chemical reactions. To address this problem, a real-time multimodal image perception system was developed to allow standard laboratory blood smear images to be perceived by BVI individuals by employing a combination of auditory, haptic, and vibrotactile feedback. These sensory feedback modalities were used to convey visual information through alternative perceptual channels, thus creating a palette of multimodal, sensory information. Two sets of image features of interest (primary and peripheral features) were applied to characterize images. A Bayesian network was applied to construct causal relations between these two groups of features. In order to match primary features with sensor modalities, two methods were conceived. Experimental results confirmed that this real-time approach produced higher accuracy in recognizing and analyzing objects within images compared to conventional tactile images.

Seventy-Five Years of the Putnam Mathematical Competition

We review the 75-year history of the world's foremost college-level mathematics competition. Evidence is provided to support the assertion that exceptional performance in premier secondary-school-level and college-level mathematics competitions correlates well with an exceptional research career in mathematics.

Greenpower: Racing to a STEM Finish

The Greenpower program inspires the pursuit of careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by challenging student teams to design, build, and race a single-seat electric car.

Who Chooses STEM Careers? Using A Relative Cognitive Strength and Interest Model to Predict Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Career aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are formulated in adolescence, making the high school years a critical time period for identifying the cognitive and motivational factors that increase the likelihood of future STEM employment. While past research has mainly focused on absolute cognitive ability levels in math and verbal domains, the current study tested whether relative cognitive strengths and interests in math, science, and verbal domains in high school were more accurate predictors of STEM career decisions. Data were drawn from a national longitudinal study in the United States (N = 1762; 48 % female; the first wave during ninth grade and the last wave at age 33). Results revealed that in the high-verbal/high-math/high-science ability group, individuals with higher science task values and lower orientation toward altruism were more likely to select STEM occupations. In the low-verbal/moderate-math/moderate-science ability group, individuals with higher math ability and higher math task values were more likely to select STEM occupations. The findings suggest that youth with asymmetrical cognitive ability profiles are more likely to select careers that utilize their cognitive strengths rather than their weaknesses, while symmetrical cognitive ability profiles may grant youth more flexibility in their options, allowing their interests and values to guide their career decisions.

“Failure Is a Major Component of Learning Anything”: The Role of Failure in the Development of STEM Professionals

The term failure typically evokes negative connotations in educational settings and is likely to be accompanied by negative emotional states, low sense of confidence, and lack of persistence. These negative emotional and behavioral states may factor into an individual not pursuing a degree or career in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). This is of particular concern considering the low number of women and underrepresented minorities pursing and working in a STEM field. Utilizing interview data with professionals across STEM, we sought to understand the role failure played in the persistence of individuals who enter and pursue paths toward STEM-related careers. Findings highlighted how participants’ experiences with failure (1) shaped their outlooks or views of failure, (2) shaped their trajectories within STEM, and (3) provided them with additional skills or qualities. A few differences based on participants’ sex, field, and highest degree also manifested in our analysis. We expect the results from this study to add research-based results to the current conversation around whether experiences with failure should be part of formal and informal educational settings and standards-based practices.

Interactive physics apparatus: influence on interest of secondary school students in pursuing a career path in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

In this article, we present results of our endeavours as physics educators to facilitate and support pedagogical change and development in the educational system of a developing country, the Philippines. We have discovered that the interaction of junior high school (years 7–10) students with physics apparatus can influence students’ interest in pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This assertion stems from self-reports of students who gave their views immediately after their exposure to interactive apparatus in their own school, outside of their usual lessons. Participants claimed that their interest in following a STEM career path was ‘greatly increased’ due to their exposure to these apparatus. This was true even for students who were intending to take a non-STEM career path. Thus, we recommend that, in settings that have constraints involving access to practical equipment, ways to introduce school level interactive physics apparatus to secondary school students be conducted in order to attract more students towards STEM courses. Possibly, policies encouraging this type of exposure should also be formulated.

Mathematics—a Critical Filter for STEM-Related Career Choices? A Longitudinal Examination among Australian and U.S. Adolescents

Although women have made progress in entering scientific careers in biology, they remain underrepresented in mathematically intensive fields such as physics. We investigated whether gender differences in mathematics motivation and socialisers’ perceptions impacted choices for diverse STEM careers of varying mathematical intensity. Drawing on expectancy-value theory, we tested structural equation models in which adolescents’ preferred careers related to each of physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics were predicted by prior mathematical performance, motivations, and mothers’ perceptions. We explored potential differences in gendered processes of influence using multigroup models. Samples were 331 Australian adolescents followed from 9th to 11th grade in 1998 and 277 U.S. adolescents from 9th to 12th grade in 2009–10. In both samples female adolescents preferred biological careers more than males did; male adolescents preferred physics-related careers and also mathematical careers in the Australian sample. Mothers’ perceptions were important to female and male adolescents’ mathematics motivations; gendered motivations were more evident in the Australian sample. Mathematics interest played the strongest role in male adolescents’ preferred careers, whereas actual or perceived mathematical achievements were most important for females, demonstrating the impacts of mathematical motivations on preferences for diverse STEM careers.

Erratum to: Middle School Engagement with Mathematics Software and Later Interest and Self-Efficacy for STEM Careers

Research suggests that trajectories toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) emerge early and are influenced by multiple factors. This paper presents a longitudinal study, which uses data from 76 high school students to explore how a student’s vocational self-efficacy and interest are related to his or her middle school behavioral and affective engagement. Measures of vocational self-efficacy and interest are drawn from STEM-related scales in CAPAExplore, while measures of middle school performance and engagement in mathematics are drawn from several previously validated automated indicators extracted from logs of student interaction with ASSISTments, an online learning platform. Results indicate that vocational self-efficacy correlates negatively with confusion, but positively with engaged concentration and carelessness. Interest, which also correlates negatively with confusion, correlates positively with correctness and carelessness. Other disengaged behaviors, such as gaming the system, were not correlated with vocational self-efficacy or interest, despite previous studies indicating that they are associated with future college attendance. We discuss implications for these findings, which have the potential to assist educators or counselors in developing strategies to sustain students’ interest in STEM-related careers.