SCIENCE CHOICE AT SCHOOL: GENDER AND THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF FACTORS STUDENTS CONSIDER WHEN SELECTING SUBJECTS
- Publisher:
- Dublin City University
- Publication Type:
- Conference Proceeding
- Citation:
- Electronic Proceedings of the ESERA 2017 Conference. Research, Practice and Collaboration in Science Education, Part 12, 2018, Part 12 pp. 1570 - 1579 (9)
- Issue Date:
- 2018
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Science study at school has been linked to the provision of a scientifically capable workforce and a scientifically literate society. Concern has been expressed by educators, academics and policymakers that too few students are choosing post-compulsory science at school. Gender-based preferences for some science subjects has been cited as an important factor affecting choice of science at school. A Best-Worst Scaling survey was used to measure the relative importance of 21 factors that male and female students consider when choosing and rejecting subjects. Results from 333 Year 10 (age 14–17) students suggest that male and female students choose and reject subjects in a similar manner but there are differences in the degree of importance students place on some factors. Girls considered their interest, enjoyment, past ability and type of classwork as being relatively more important than boys did when choosing subjects. Girls considered their past ability and difficulty of a subject as more important than boys did when rejecting subjects. This research indicates that overall girls and boys rank the factors for choosing and rejecting subjects in a similar manner but there are differences in the importance they place on individual factors.
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