However, STEM fields differ vastly in terms of women’s representation. For example, in the US women now earn 37% of undergraduate STEM degrees (National Science Foundation, 2014), and in Belgium currently 41% of the incoming students at university STEM majors are women (STEM monitor, 2020). Women’s representation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Western countries has increased over the years. The findings suggest that for interest in pursuing specific STEM-fields it is not just about the level of anticipated belonging within that STEM-field, but just as much about the level of anticipated belonging in comparison to another STEM-field. Examining these comparisons-both within and across profiles-showed how girls felt pushed away from certain STEM-fields and pulled toward others. Latent Profile Analysis resulted in 3 profiles, showing different belonging comparison patterns across STEM-fields. A sample of 343 high school girls in STEM-focused university tracks completed a survey on their anticipated belonging and interest in pursuing different STEM majors. Consistent with this, we examined participants’ comparisons of anticipated belonging across STEM-fields. However, previous research has shown that a focus on achievement in STEM is not enough, anticipated belonging in a STEM-field plays a pivotal role in interest in pursuing that field. We draw upon dimensional comparison theory, which argues that educational motivation involves intra-individual comparisons of achievement across school subjects. To understand this variability, we examine how girls in the process of making higher education choices compare different STEM-fields to each other. However, these fields differ vastly in female representation: women tend to be most strongly underrepresented in technological and computer science university majors and to a lesser extent in mathematics and chemistry, while they are less underrepresented in biological sciences. In trying to understand women’s underrepresentation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), most existing research focuses on one STEM-field or collapses across all STEM-fields.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |