Gabrielle D’Lima NSF # 0624724 PI: Marie F. Shoffner Math Self-Efficacy, Interest, and Perceived Support: Differences by Gender and Race Gabrielle D’Lima NSF # 0624724 PI: Marie F. Shoffner

Role in Research Summer Undergraduate Research Program Internship with the Risk Prevention in Education Sciences at Curry School, University of Virginia Activities 25 Hours weekly lab time Workshops & GRE tutorials Meetings with faculty Beliefs, Behavior, & Belonging Project: STEM Interests funded by the National Science Foundation with Marie Shoffner as primary investigator Focus Group scribe for teacher and parent focus groups Coding team member for qualitative analysis Student researcher analyzing quantitative data Activities: I had the opportunity to participate in workshops concerning grad. application essays, ciriculum vitae, lunch meetings with a variety of faculty researchers, and GRE tutorials.

Rationale Science and math careers pursued by small numbers of students (Fox, 2004) Underrepresented by females, members of minority groups and people with disabilities (NSF, 2000) Few published studies looking at children’s career development in STEM Most career studies done with high school students or adults (Lent et al., 2000) Pg 42 of the book

Construct Definitions (Meece, Gleinke, & Burg, 2006; Shoffner, 2008) Math Self-Efficacy The belief an individual has about his/her ability to plan and execute steps to do well on certain tasks or goals in the academic area of math Support What do I perceive as the potential support from my teacher(s) [parents/peers] for my goals, plans, dreams, and interests? Math Interest: The degree to which a student expresses an enjoyment in math and plans to incorporate it into future experiences like career and life experiences. MSE “I have the ability to earn an A or B in math this year.” TCHRSUPP “My math teacher pushes me to succeed in math.” Psupp: “My parents want me to do my very best in math.” PeerSUP: “My friends agree with my goals to do well in math.” Interest “I plan to use math in my future career.”

Previous Findings Parental involvement has been shown to improve student’s math performance. (Mathews, Carpenter, Lindquist & Silver, 1984 as cited in Der-Karabetian, 2004) Positive effects of parental involvement can be affected by factors such as grade level, gender, and ethnicity. (Jimerson, Egeland & Teo,1999, Friedman, 1994, Mathews et al, 1984 as cited in Der-Karabetian, 2004) Mathematics performance is affected by factors such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, environmental factors, and family involvement. (Keith et al., 1993; Tissot, 1997 as cited in Der-Karabetian, 2004) Greater emotional support in 5th grade classrooms predicted enhanced math achievement in fifth grade. (Pianta et al., 2008)

Previous Findings A student’s engagement in an interest-related activity is associated with positive affect, persistence, and favorable learning outcomes. (Csikszentmihalyi & Schiefele, 1993 as cited in Trautwein et al., 2006). Perceived support from parents and teachers had a positive but weak relationship with the math self-efficacy measures. (Cooper et al., 1991) Perceived parent support (r = .31) and teacher support (r = .22) demonstrated stronger relationships with child self-efficacy in math than perceived support of classmates (r = .05). (Bouchey & Harter, 2005) Students have high levels of perceived support from parents and teachers. European American students scored significantly higher than African American students on teacher/parent involvement. Der-Karabetian, 2004

Research Questions Are there relationships among math self-efficacy, interest and perceived support? Are there differences between boys and girls on math self-efficacy, math interest and perceived support? Are there differences between races on math self-efficacy, math interest and perceived support? 4 Does perceived support explain variance in interest?

Study Participants Elementary, Middle and High School students from Southeast public schools. Gender (N = 181) 100 Females (55%) 81 Males (45%) Race (N = 183) 72 African Americans (39%) 82 European Americans (45%) Grade (N = 183) 77 Fifth Grade (42%) 44 Seventh Grade (23%) 64 Ninth Grade (35%) 29 Students in other category; will not be used in this analysis.

Mixed Methods Study Quantitative Qualitative Instrumentation A packet of measures assessing belonging and engagement, outcome expectations, math self-efficacy, interest, teacher, family, and peer involvement distributed to students and their parents and teachers. Qualitative Focus groups Teachers, parents, and students Instrumentation assessing belonging and engagement, outcome expectations, mse, int, teacher/family/peer involvement was distributed to 5th,7th,9th grade students enrolled in public school, and their parents and teachers. Focus groups were then conducted with teachers, parents and students. The current study looked exclusively at all students’ quantitative and qualitative data.

Correlation Results Are there relationships among math self-efficacy, interest and perceived support? All constructs are highly related.

Gender Differences in Math Self-Efficacy, Interest and Perceived Support Girls reported higher teacher support, maternal support, and peer support. Differences between boys and girls in math self-efficacy, and math interest are non-significant. There were no significant differences in perceived paternal support by gender (p = .24).

Racial Differences in Math Self-Efficacy, Interest and Perceived Support? African American students reported higher perceived teacher support and maternal support, but lower perceived paternal support compared to European American students. There are no differences in math self-efficacy, interest, and perceived peer support between African Americans and European Americans. (NOT HERE/JUST SAY)

Does perceived support explain variance in interest? Perceived Teacher Support explained 16% of the variance in math interest. Perceived Mother Support explained an additional 3% of the variance in math interest.

Qualitative Themes Math Difficulty Competition Among Classmates “Everyone expects us that everyone will do bad in math, because math is math, so like when people do good in math, it's like well, they're smart.” “You expect math to be your hardest subject.” Competition Among Classmates “I just don’t like showing people my grades.” “If they beat me they gloat a lot.” Sources of Achievement “I don’t think it (race) has anything to do with it.” “It's just where you live and what - what your surroundings and everything.” -Students as early as fifth grade seem to think that math is difficult and that it is normal to not do well. -Competition seems to be a major theme between peers and fosters pressure to achieve higher grades than peers. Competition may decrease student’s math self-efficacy and explain why peer support is the lowest of perceived support sources.

Cindy Miller, Co-mentor Acknowledgements Marie Shoffner, Mentor Cindy Miller, Co-mentor

Questions or Comments?

References Bouchey, H. A., & Harter, S. (2005). Reflected appraisals, academic self-perceptions, and math/science performance during early adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 673-686. Cooper, S. E., & Robinson, D. A. (1991). Measurement and Evaluation. Counseling and Development, 24, 4-11. Der-Karabetian, A. (2004) Perceived family process factors and mathematics performance among Latino, African and European American middle school students. Educational Research Quarterly, 28, 38-47. Fox, M. A. (2004). Pan-Organizational summit on the U. S. science and engineering workforce. Washington, D. C.: National Academic Press. Fredericks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74, 59-109. Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45, 79-122. Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (2000).  Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis.  Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47, 36-49. Meece, J. L., Glienke, B. B., & Burg, S. (2006). Gender and motivation. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 351-373. National Science Foundation (2000).  (NSF 00-327). Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering.  Arlington, VA: Author. Pianta, R. C., Belsky, J., Vandergrift, N., Houts, R., & Morrison, F. J. (2008). Classroom effects on children’s achievement trajectories in elementary school. American Educational Research Journal, 45, 365-397. Shoffner, M. F. “Does belonging matter? Math and computing interest and achievement in early adolescence.” National Career Development Association Global Conference. Washington, District of Columbia. 11 July 2008. Trautwein, U., Ludtke, O., Marsh, H. W., et al. (2006) Tracking, grading, and student motivation: Using group composition and status to predict self-concept and interest in ninth-grade mathematics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 783-806. PUT in LENT et al. AND ENGAGEMENT ARTICLES