The gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) professions results from several factors that deter females from pursuing careers in STEM. Girls' low interest in science and lack of feeling both belonging and efficacy in science, which emerge as early as middle school, are believed to be part of the problem. This study reports…

Over the past 20 years, the field of computer science has experienced a growth in student interest. Despite this increase in participation rates, longstanding gender gaps persist in computer science. Recent research has examined a wide variety of individual factors (e.g., self-efficacy, sense of belonging, etc.) that impact student interest and…

Disease ecology classes were conducted at two residential middle school summer camps held at a university--a camp for local youth who paid tuition and a free camp for youth from statewide underserved communities including Native, low-income, and rural. Disease ecology is defined as the ecological study of host-pathogen interactions within the…

Effective recruitment initiatives for underrepresented student populations interested in pursuing degrees in agricultural-related sciences have the potential to diversify colleges of agriculture while also increasing enrollment. In the current study, we used a qualitative case study approach to examine the effectiveness of the recruitment…

The purpose of this report is to present summative findings from a five-year EIR early-phase project that implemented and evaluated the ENpowered program. PRG conducted a rigorous impact and implementation evaluation of the ENpowered program's effect on middle school student outcomes. The impact study utilized a quasi-experimental design to…

This pilot study explored the linguistic attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs of undergraduate majors in speech-language pathology (SLP) and the role an interest in linguistics played in their choice of the SLP major. Fifteen undergraduate students declared as SLP majors participated in this mixed-methods study. Participants responded to a survey and…

The main goals of this paper are to exemplify and further elaborate on the theoretical connections between cognitive load and self-regulated learning. In an effort to achieve this, we integrate the concepts of self-control and self-management within the effort monitoring and regulation (EMR) framework laid out by de Bruin et al. (Educational…

Interest is a key motivational variable in higher mathematics education, yet there is a lack of theory-based interventions that are designed to increase interest. On the basis of the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation, we investigated how reflecting on the utility value of mathematics affects interest. The current research was aimed…

This longitudinal study (N = 540, grades 7 and 8) was conducted over 2 years (four measurement points) with a perceptual construct questionnaire and access to students' report cards. The changes in interest, self-concept, and the intention to pursue studies and a career in science and technology were explored as well as the reciprocal causal links…

These studies examined self-reported interest, how level of interest is related to reported certainty of interest, and whether certainty helps to clarify the relationship between interest and behavior. This research borrows from research on attitudes showing that attitude certainty helps to clarify the relationship between attitudes and behavior.…

When engaging with a textbook, students are inclined to highlight key content. Although students believe that highlighting and subsequent review of the highlights will further their educational goals, the psychological literature provides little evidence of benefits. Nonetheless, a student's choice of text for highlighting may serve as a window…

The decision to continue with science in school has a critical impact on the supply of the scientific skills necessary for a prosperous modern society. Low participation rates in post-compulsory school science have been a persistent problem and the decision process employed by students in choosing science is poorly understood. In this study, 10…

This article contributes to the larger literature on meaning construction and misunderstanding by developing a typology of listening habits and a corresponding scale to measure individual differences in typical ways of listening. Our typology includes four habits of listening grounded in two underlying aspects of meaning, content and relational,…

Like other STEM fields, computer science (CS) lacks representation of minorities, such as Black and Hispanic individuals, both in the number of bachelor's degrees obtained and the number of individuals in the CS workforce. Out-of-school CS programs are often designed with the intent to inspire young people to pursue careers in CS. Much of this…

Interest-driven creator (IDC) theory is a design theory that intends to inform the design of future education in Asia. It consists of three anchored concepts, namely, interest, creation, and habit. This paper presents the third anchored concept habit as well as the habit loop. IDC theory assumes that learners, when driven by interest, can be…