Data_Sheet_1_Filling a gap: initial evidence for reliable and valid measures of students’ self-concept, self-efficacy, and interest in science with elementary students traditionally underrepresented in STEM.pdf

American students continue to perform poorly on national and international assessments of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) competencies, and achievement gaps spanning racial/ethnic and socioeconomic lines emerge early and widen over time. Scholars and practitioners agree that expanding access to high-quality STEM education has the potential to improve students’ performance and reduce inequalities. Research has elucidated the critical role that students’ self-perceptions play in driving academic achievement, which has spurred the development of many educational programs and initiatives aimed at increasing students’ confidence, self-efficacy, and interest. However, our capacity to determine what programs and initiatives are effective and for whom is limited by our lack of psychometrically sound measures that assess science-related self-perceptions and interests of elementary students from diverse populations. To address this gap, we developed and tested measures of Science Self-Efficacy, Science Self-Concept, Interest in Science Activities, and Attitudes toward STEM careers in a sample of third-grade students (8–9 years) traditionally underrepresented in STEM careers (94% of our sample identified as either African American or Hispanic). We present initial evidence, from a preliminary pilot study, for the reliability and validity of these measures and reveal the multi-dimensional nature of students’ self-perceptions and interests in science. We discuss how such measurement tools will inform our understanding of the nature of young students’ science self-perceptions, how the utilization of such tools can inform educational practice, and highlight the critical importance of conducting measurement development research with diverse populations.

美国学生在国家及国际的科学、技术、工程与数学（STEM）能力评估中持续表现不佳，且跨种族/民族和社会经济界限的成就差距在早期便显现，并随时间而扩大。学者与从业者普遍认同，扩大对高质量STEM教育的获取机会具有提升学生表现和减少不平等之潜力。研究已阐明学生在学术成就驱动中自我认知所扮演的关键角色，这促使众多旨在增强学生自信、自我效能感和兴趣的教育项目和计划应运而生。然而，由于缺乏对来自多元群体的小学生（科学相关自我认知和兴趣）进行心理测量评估的可靠方法，我们确定哪些项目和计划有效的能力受到限制。为填补这一空白，我们在一个传统上在STEM职业中代表性不足的三年级学生样本（8-9岁）中开发了并测试了科学自我效能感、科学自我概念、对科学活动的兴趣以及STEM职业态度的测量工具。我们从初步的试点研究中提供了这些测量工具可靠性和有效性的初步证据，揭示了学生在科学自我认知和兴趣的多维特性。我们讨论了此类测量工具如何增进我们对年轻学生科学自我认知本质的理解，如何利用这些工具指导教育实践，并强调了在多元群体中进行测量发展研究的至关重要性。