Godec, Spela;
Archer, Louise;
Moote, Julie;
Watson, Emma;
DeWitt, Jennifer;
Henderson, Morag;
Francis, Becky;
(2024)
A Missing Piece of the Puzzle? Exploring Whether Science Capital and STEM Identity are Associated with STEM Study at University.
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
10.1007/s10763-023-10438-y.
(In press).
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Abstract
Internationally, there are concerns that more needs to be done to address the inequalities in participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects at the degree level. In response, research focused on better understanding what influences young people’s STEM participation has focused on a range of factors. This paper contributes to the existing research with an analysis of how “science capital” and “STEM identity” relate to STEM participation. We draw on data from 3310 young people aged 21–22 who had undertaken an undergraduate degree, 523 of whom studied a STEM subject. We found that science capital and STEM identity were statistically significantly related to studying a STEM degree (with science capital being weakly and STEM identity strongly associated with STEM study at university). Adopting a Bourdieusian lens, we discuss what our findings mean for higher education and what more could be done to support students, especially those who are currently under-represented in STEM, such as through better recognising and developing their science capital and supporting their sense of belonging in STEM.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Missing Piece of the Puzzle? Exploring Whether Science Capital and STEM Identity are Associated with STEM Study at University |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10763-023-10438-y |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10763-023-10438-y |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Bourdieu; Identity; Logistic regression; Science capital; STEM participation |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Science and Technology Studies |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185285 |
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