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Background: Digital media are pervasive in the lives of young people and provide opportunities for them to learn about STEM. Multiple theories argue that the STEM media environment may shape how youth see a STEM career in their future. Yet, little is known about how pre-college digital media consumption may be related to students' STEM career interest at the beginning of college. The wide variety of STEM media also raises the question of potentially different effects and pathways by media type. In this study, we collected a nationally representative sample of more than 15,000 students in their first year in U.S. colleges and universities. We asked about their career interests at the beginning of college and also asked them to retrospectively report their STEM media consumption during high school. Results: We found that watching STEM-related TV and online videos, as well as playing STEM-related video games during high school, were positively associated with students' STEM career interests at the beginning of college. However, we also found that STEM media consumption did not impact directly on STEM career interest, but acted through two intermediaries: STEM identity (I and others see me as a STEM person) and three personal career outcome expectations: a high interest in self-development (enhancement and use of talents), and low interests in material status (money, fame, power) and in interpersonal relationships (helping, and working with, other people). Conclusions: This study finds that STEM media have a significant effect in fostering STEM career interest, with most of the effect coming from STEM TV, STEM video viewing, and STEM video games. The effect is mediated mainly through students' identity and, to a lesser extent, through personal values, such as self-development, material, and interpersonal relationship values. This study suggests that media communication should be mindful of how different platforms may deliver nuanced and varied messages of what STEM careers may afford and who can succeed in STEM.

Although the secondary-tertiary transition has been investigated in mathematics education research with different focuses and theoretical approaches, it remains a major issue for students in the transition. With success in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) major at stake, we investigated a novel approach to support the transition from secondary precalculus or calculus to tertiary calculus. Using the Four Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) model and empirical data from the United States (US) nationally representative FICSMath project, we mapped instructional experiences of students in the transition to theoretical components of the 4C/ID model. From exploratory factor analysis (n=6,140), we found six factors that mapped to the 4C/ID model components and created the new Secondary Precalculus Calculus (SPC) 4C/ID model. In this model, the Learning Task Component represents tasks to engage learners in meaningful problem solving; the Support Component grounds instruction in reasoning and understanding; the Procedure Component integrates group work and graphing calculators to connect concepts to procedures; and the Part-Task Component represents instruction to develop automaticity. The SPC 4C/ID model presents a unique support for precalculus and calculus teachers in the quest of teaching for learning and transfer of learning across the transition.

Strong spatial skills are foundational in predicting students' performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Decades of research have considered the relationship between thinking spatially and how scientists reason and solve problems. However, few studies have examined the factors that influence improvement in students' spatial thinking during their school science curricula. The present study investigates the "ThinkSpace" curricula--two middle school astronomy units designed to support students' ability to apply the spatial skill of perspective-taking (PT) while learning to explain lunar phases (3 days) and the seasons (8 days). U.S. students in 6th and 8th grades (N = 877) across four districts participated in the study, completing assessments before and after the "ThinkSpace" curricula, along with an additional group of students in 6th and 7th grades (N = 172) who participated as a spatial control group. Data collection included multiple-choice content assessments, PT skill assessments, and interviews (from a sub-sample of 96 students), before and after instruction. After participating in "ThinkSpace" curricula, students demonstrated improved spatial thinking within the domain of astronomy, as measured by improved written content assessments, increased application of PT during conceptual interviews, and a general measurement of PT skill. Higher initial PT skill and higher gain in PT skill predicted greater improvement in students' astronomy understanding, even when accounting for their initial content knowledge. Although "ThinkSpace" students in all demographic groups improved PT skill post-instruction, 8th graders (who were in districts with lower SES), and females were predicted to have smaller gains in their PT skill than the 6th graders (who were in districts with higher SES) and male students. These findings suggest that middle school students' spatial thinking in science can be improved during their middle school science curricula, but questions remain concerning how to reduce spatial-learning gaps that are associated with gender and possibly SES.

While dissent is recognized as a necessary component of scientific knowledge production, in school settings, it is a double-edged sword that can disrupt and undermine social cohesion just as it can promote thinking and creativity. This pilot study explores patterns of dissent in a science education context. It uses a mixed-methods approach to analyze the discourse of five post-secondary student groups at a US university engaged in a collaborative, problem-based science activity. The authors track the ways in which dissent contributed to the development of group ideas, as well as the roles played by individuals. In particular, this study shows that a single student appeared to account for a disproportionate amount of each group's dissenting statements. The authors contend that dissent, while potentially detrimental to group cohesion, is vital for a group's intellectual advancement, and they investigate in detail how the manifestations of dissent are related to the idea progression of the different groups. Finally, implications for science pedagogy and student group work are discussed.

This study examines the relationship between students' pre-college experience with computers and their later success in introductory computer science classes in college. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of 10,197 students enrolled in computer science at 118 colleges and universities in the United States. We found that students taking introductory college computer science classes who had programmed on their own prior to college had a more positive attitude toward computer science, lower odds of dropping out, and earned higher grades, compared with students who had learned to program in a pre-college class, but had never programmed on own, or those who had never learned programming before college. Moreover, nearly half of the effect on final grades was mediated by a positive attitude toward computing.

Background: The United States continues to invest considerable resources into developing the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) talent. Efforts to shore up interest in pursuing STEM careers span decades and have increasingly focused on boosting interest among diverse student populations. Policymakers have called for engaging students in a greater STEM ecology of support that extends beyond the traditional classroom environment to increase student STEM career interest. Yet, few robust studies exist exploring the efficacy of many programmatic efforts and initiatives outside the regular curriculum intended to foster STEM interest. To maximize STEM education investments, promote wise policies, and help achieve the aim of creating STEM learning ecosystems that benefit diverse student populations and meet the nation's STEM goals, it is crucial to examine the effectiveness of these kinds of STEM education initiatives in promoting STEM career aspirations. Purpose: The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the impact of one popular, yet understudied, STEM education initiative on students' STEM career aspirations--participation in a university- or college-run STEM club or program activity (CPA) during high school. Specifically, we studied whether participation in a college-run STEM CPA at a postsecondary institution during high school was related to college-going students' STEM career aspirations, and we examined whether that relationship differed depending on student characteristics and prior STEM interests. Research Design: We conducted a quasi-experimental investigation to explore the impact of participation in university- or college-run STEM CPAs on college-going students' STEM career aspirations. We administered a retrospective cohort survey to students at 27 colleges and universities nationwide resulting in a sample of 15,847 respondents. An inverse probability of treatment weighted logistic regression model with a robust set of controls was computed to estimate the odds of expressing STEM career aspirations among those who participated in college-run STEM CPAs compared with the odds expressed among students who did not participate. Our weighting accounted for self-selection effects. Results: Quasi-experimental modeling results indicated that participation in university- or college-run STEM CPAs had a significant impact on the odds that college-going students would express STEM career aspirations relative to students who did not participate. The odds of expressing interest in a STEM career among participants in STEM CPAs were 1.49 times those of the control group. Robustness checks confirmed our results. The result held true for students whether or not they expressed interest in STEM careers prior to participation in STEM CPAs, and it held true across a diverse range of student characteristics (e.g., race, parental education, gender, standardized test scores, and family/school encouragement). Conclusions: Results suggest that university- and college-run STEM CPAs play an important role in the STEM education ecology, serving the national goal of expanding the pool of college-going students who aspire to STEM careers. Moreover, results showed that participation in university- and college-run STEM CPAs during high school is equally effective across diverse student characteristics. Policymakers, educators, and those charged with making investment decisions in STEM education should seriously consider university- and college-run STEM CPAs as a promising vehicle to promote diverse students' STEM career aspirations in the broader STEM learning ecosystem and as an important complement to other STEM learning environments.

Both in physics education and in science education more generally concerns exist that formal K-12 education structures limit and, in some cases, diminish students' interest and agency in these fields. Many stakeholders have turned to informal learning experiences as a means to inspire young people to pursue continual learning in these fields in ways that foster creativity and self-determination. While research exists on the effect of these informal science experiences on students' science identities and broader science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) identities, little is known about how specific informal science education experiences relate to students' "physics identity"--a construct strongly associated with physics career choice. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the effect of several informal science experiences on students' physics identity. Drawing on data from a national survey administered to students in required English courses at 27 colleges and universities across the US (N=15 847), we used multiple regression to test the relationship between informal science experiences in various topical areas at two educational levels (K-8 and 9-12) and students' physics identity, while controlling for science background and demographics. The results reveal positive effects for stereotypic informal experiences in physical science (e.g., tinkering, competitions) as well as for talking science with friends or family. In addition, there were negative relationships between biology-related experiences (at both levels) and physics identity. Group comparisons further revealed that female students were more likely to report participating in biology-related activities and less likely to report participating in tinkering, STEM competitions, and talking science with friends or family. Students who identified themselves as Black or Hispanic were also less likely than those of other racial or ethnic groups to report tinkering and talking science with friends or family. We use this evidence to build the case that informal learning experiences in physics should move beyond stereotypic activities, increase accessibility, facilitate discourse with family or friends, and focus on interdisciplinary experiences that better engage young participants with a wide range of interests that are connected to physics.

Shortages of science and mathematics teachers are a serious concern in the United States. Despite the implementation of intervention strategies to address this problem at the high school level, little empirical research had been conducted to inform and strengthen these initiatives. This retrospective cohort study used multinomial logistic regression models to predict students' science and mathematics teaching career intentions at the end of high school. These intentions were most strongly associated with having had an interest in science and mathematics teaching already at the beginning of high school. Other significant predictors included middle school interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers, high mathematics preparation, and a desire to work with, and help, others. Whereas students interested in science and mathematics teaching shared many motivational features with students interested in other teaching careers, their mathematics knowledge was significantly higher. This research counters blanket stereotypes about teacher ineptitude, while supporting a more positive view of teachers' motivation to teach. Future interventions targeting high school students should focus on mentorship opportunities and purposeful teaching experiences that mirror the roles science and mathematics teachers play in school life. Such interventions highlight both the potential positive impacts teaching has on students and provide further subject matter exploration. Examples of such programs can range from formalized teaching assistant positions in science and mathematics classrooms to full university partnerships in which colleges of education and science, as well as local school boards/districts, work together to spark interest in science and mathematics teaching among high school students.

It is well known that women are underrepresented in science. technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) and that their interest declines more steeply over the schooling years. As such, this study uses a STEM identity theoretical framework to examine the effects of early STEM experiences, focusing particularly on experiences that may be more formative for female students. Given that early experiences are a form of capital, the study is also guided by nuanced perspectives on STEM capital and STEM identity capital. The data used were drawn from surveys administered to 15,725 college students. Blocked regression models were utilized and the results indicated a significant effect on STEM identity for students who reported encouragement in STEM from elementary school teachers, using STEM toys/kits, watching STEM-related TV programs or movies, playing STEM computer/video games, and observing or studying stars and other astronomical objects. Negative experiences included baking/cooking/kitchen chemistry and writing about STEM. To examine which of these experiences had long-lasting impact in the face of intervening experiences in middle/high school, controls were provided for middle/high school STEM interest. This indicated early experiences that translated to STEM identity capital in the future. Only observing stars became nonsignificant, while the other early experiences likely contributed to STEM identity capital. The findings highlight early experiences that can be formative for STEM identity years later (i.e., STEM identity capital) despite intervening years of changing STEM interest. As such, the results provide both practical and theoretical insight into understanding the development and maintenance of STEM identity.

We expand on prior qualitative research about mathematics identity development using data from a large national US survey of 10,437 students in 336 college calculus classes. Multinomial logistic regression models find that a stronger mathematics identity predicts higher student interest in pursuing certain STEM careers when compared with non-STEM careers, particularly those in physical and computer sciences, engineering, and mathematics, or in science or mathematics teaching. Multiple linear regression models identify that certain instructional practices employed by high school mathematics teachers predict higher levels of students' mathematics identity. These include a high amount of interaction within the classroom, a focus on mathematics connections, and activities involving conceptual learning. Surprisingly, the role of the textbook, ways of organizing students (individual, small group, whole class), forms of assessment, and use of calculators or computers did not significantly predict students' mathematics identity.

This article uses U.S. survey data (N = 15,847) to characterize the evolution of student interest in an astronomy career in the period between middle school and the beginning of college. We find that middle school students have a relatively high interest in astronomy, which sharply declines with every phase of their education. However, many of the students who leave astronomy--particularly male students--feed heavily into other STEM disciplines. Through statistical modeling, we find that students who spend extracurricular time observing stars, tinkering with mechanical or electrical devices, or reading/watching science or science fiction are significantly more likely than students who do not engage in these activities to hold an interest in pursuing an astronomy career at the end of high school. We also find that females who observe stars during extracurricular time show a greater improvement in their odds of pursuing astronomy than males do. Furthermore, we find that these out-of-school-time activities are better predictors of astronomy interest than commonly studied academic predictors. We discuss the implications of these findings on future extracurricular programming for students.

In this study the authors set out to better understand the relationship between teacher knowledge of science and student learning. The authors administered identical multiple-choice assessment items both to teachers of middle school physical science and to their students throughout the school year. The authors found that teachers who have strong content knowledge and can identify students' most common misconceptions in science are more likely to increase their students' science knowledge than teachers who do not.

Massive open online course (MOOC) studies have shown that precourse skills (such as precomputational thinking) and course engagement measures (such as making multiple submission attempts with assignments when the initial submission is incorrect) predict students' grade performance, yet little is known about whether these factors predict students' course retention. In applying survival analysis to a sample of more than 20,000 participants from one popular computer science MOOC, we found that students' precomputational thinking skills and their perseverance in assignment submission strongly predict their persistence in the MOOC. Moreover, we discovered that precomputational thinking skills, programming experience, and gender, which were previously considered to be constant predictors of students' retention, have effects that attenuate over the course milestones. This finding suggests that MOOC educators should take a growth perspective towards students' persistence: As students overcome the initial hurdles, their resilience grows stronger.

Computer science (CS) has been identified as one of the fastest-growing professions, with demand for CS professionals far outpacing the supply of CS graduates. The necessity for a trained CS workforce has compelled industry and academia to evaluate strategies for broadening participation in CS. The current literature in CS education emphasizes the importance of social relationships and supports for individuals from underrepresented groups. Unfortunately, this literature has largely been limited to either the exploration of issues of women or that of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. These limited views generalize characteristics of specific underrepresented groups without considering intersections between these groups. This quantitative study (n = 3,206) addressed that shortcoming by leveraging inferential statistical methods to examine (i) the similarities and differences between the social CS-related experiences of Black women, Black men, and non-Black women in the United States; (ii) the relationship between these experiences and CS career choices; and (iii) the activities during which significant social experiences might occur. The results indicate that Black women's social experiences are often different from the experiences of both Black men and non-Black women. In particular, both Black men and non-Black women had more CS friends than Black women, whereas having these friends was more significant for the CS career choice for Black women. Introductions to CS in school, before college, were negatively related to career choice for all groups, whereas home support was positive for both Black women and men. This work suggests that considering intersectionality is important to understanding the needs of different individuals, as well as the importance of social supports for persistence in CS.

The number of computer science (CS) courses has been dramatically expanding in U.S. high schools (HS). In comparison with well-established courses in mathematics and science, little is known about how the decisions made by HS CS teachers regarding how and what to teach impact student performance later in introductory college CS courses. Drawing on a large sample of 2,871 introductory college CS students at 115 U.S. institutions who had taken a CS course in HS, we examined the topic coverage and prevailing instructional methods in the HS course and investigated how these experiences influenced student performance in college CS. Controlling for differences in student background, we find two predictors of higher grades in college CS: greater frequency of coding-related activities in HS (programming, debugging, studying algorithms) and lower frequency of "non-coding" computer use (e.g., data analysis, computer security). Interaction models revealed a more complex story. Coding-related activity more heavily benefited students who did not have coding help available at home. In the 28% of college CS courses in which instructors employed innovative pedagogies, students with higher ACT or SAT mathematics scores had a greater advantage than in traditionally taught courses. Finally, in the innovative college courses, students whose HS CS exams had typically included testing on vocabulary did worse than students whose exams had not included such tests.

One of the foundational assumptions in education is that greater teacher knowledge contributes to greater gains in student knowledge, but empirical evidence in support of this assumption is scarce. Using a U.S. sample of 79 biology teachers and their 2749 high school students, we investigate whether teachers' subject matter knowledge (SMK) and knowledge of students' misconceptions (KOSM) in high school life science are associated with students' posttest performance on multiple-choice test items designed to reveal student misconceptions, after controlling for their pretest scores. We found that students were more likely to answer an item on the posttest correctly if their teachers could answer the question correctly, themselves (SMK). Teachers' ability to predict students' most common wrong answer (KOSM) for an item predicted even better student performance. Items for which a particular wrong answer rose above others in popularity saw an even greater benefit for teacher KOSM.

Participants' engagement in massive online open courses (MOOCs) is highly irregular and self-directed. It is well known in the field of television media that substantial parts of the audience tend to drop out at major episodic, or seasonal, closures, which makes creating cliff-hangers a crucial strategy to retain viewers (Bakker, 1993; Cazani, 2016; Thompson, 2003). Could there be an analogous pattern in MOOCs--with an elevated probability of dropout at major chapter transitions? Applying disjoint survival analysis on a sample of 12,913 students in a popular astronomy MOOC that built participants' cultural capital (hobbyist pursuits), we found a significant increase in dropout rates at chapter closures. Moreover, the latter the chapter closure was positioned in the course sequence, the higher the dropout rate became. We found this pattern replicated in a sample of 20,134 students in a popular computer science MOOC that introduced participants to programming.

Students' attitudes toward mathematics and the strength of their mathematics preparation typically go hand in hand such that their specific effects are difficult to disentangle. Employing the method of propensity weighting of a continuous variable, we built hierarchical linear models in which mathematics attitudes and preparation are uncorrelated. Data used came from a national survey of U.S. college students taking introductory calculus (N = 5,676). A 1-standard-deviation increase in mathematics preparation predicted a 4.72-point higher college calculus grade, whereas a 1-standard-deviation increase in mathematics attitudes resulted in a 3.15-point gain. Thus, the effect of mathematics preparation was about 1.5 times that of mathematics attitudes. The two variables did not interact, nor was there any interaction between gender and these variables.

This national study of 1858 teachers participating in professional development(PD) summer programs in the United States encompasses a wide range of science subjects and grades. It was conducted to identify program features associated with increases in two types of teacher knowledge that are goals for most professional development programs: teacher subject matter knowledge and knowledge of student misconceptions. The frequency of occurrence of 25 common program features was estimated by participants in 231 different PD programs and used to model teacher gains on assessments keyed to the national science standards by grade-band and science subject, while controlling for teacher background. Surprisingly, gains in subject matter knowledge were small when aggregated across all programs (d = 0.06), with no gains observed in knowledge of student misconceptions, on average. Only a single program feature, focusing on foundational science concepts, was positively associated with gains in both types of teacher knowledge measured. Many popular program features were not associated with increases in teacher knowledge, including: developing original curricula / activities, learning the newest scientific thinking on a topic, conducting scientific research, observing and critiquing classroom instruction, nor designing assessments.

To encourage the formation of science identity among girls, many scholars and practitioners have suggested to assign same-gender science teachers to students so that the teachers can serve as gender role models. However, direct evidence of any long-term effect of gender-matching is scarce. In a nationally representative survey of college students from the United States, we investigated if gender-matching between students and their first high school science teachers was associated with students' stronger identity in those science subjects in college. In physics, we found no gender-matching effect. In chemistry, there was a gender-matching effect only for women students. In biology, there were gender-matching effects for students of both genders. In addition, we found that students in general had a lower science identity if they reported a negative influence of opposite gender domination (IOGD) on their career choices. However, for female students who were at the negative end of the IOGD scale, female biology teachers raised the level of biology identity to the grand average. Our findings suggested that the gender role model effect was strongest when the gender role models resonated with the overall disciplinary gender representation at the school or societal levels.

There has been a growing need felt by practitioners, researchers, and evaluators to obtain a common measure of science engagement that can be used in different out-of-school time (OST) science learning settings. We report on the development and validation of a novel 10-item self-report instrument designed to measure, communicate, and ultimately help promote science engagement among youth: the Common Instrument (CI). When administered to 7,521 elementary and middle school students participating in OST science programming, CI items were found to have good psychometric properties -- showing strong item discrimination and a range of difficulties, little difference in item functioning by grade-level, gender, or race/ethnicity, good unidimensionality, stability over time, and a small standard error of measurement over a large variety of science engagements. Given its properties, the CI is a reasonable way to collect data on science engagement in a wide range of OST science programs. Common measures, like the CI, that are reliable and valid provide a common language that enables programs to describe their strengths and challenges and make decisions about adapting and improving their approaches. Common measures are also essential for collective impact initiatives that need brief, easy-to-administer instruments to assess progress and impact of their change-making processes.

Campus visits are widely used outreach strategies, yet there are few empirical studies examining their impacts. This retrospective cohort study of 27 colleges and universities considers data from 15,847 college students to examine the effect of campus visits on STEM career aspirations. Results reveal that campus visits that included meetings with STEM professors significantly increased the odds of students expressing STEM career aspirations. Implications for policymakers, educators, and academic and student affairs are discussed.

Background/Context: The United States is facing a shortage of domestically prepared STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals, yet many high school graduates find they are not sufficiently prepared for college-level work in STEM subjects. Dual enrollment STEM courses count for both high school and college credit, expose students to the demands of a college course, and may be used to augment existing high school course offerings and graduate students who are better prepared to continue, and are interested in continuing, their education in STEM. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study investigated changes in students' reported interest in STEM careers after taking a dual enrollment STEM course. We address the following questions: (1) Are high school students who take one or more STEM dual enrollment courses more likely than their peers to report an interest in STEM careers by the end of high school? (2) Is dual enrollment STEM course-taking more effective than Advanced Placement STEM course-taking in increasing student interest in STEM careers by the end of high school? Research Design: A quasi-experimental research design was used in this work, with propensity weights employed to account for group self-selection effects post hoc. Data were collected through a national survey of college students (N = 14,114) who provided information about their K-12 experiences. Findings/Results: After controlling for demographic, academic, and background characteristics, particularly prior interest in a STEM career, the odds of a STEM career intention were 1.3 times (p < 0.05) greater for those taking a dual enrollment course compared with peers who did not. Students who took both dual enrollment and AP STEM courses had 2.1 times the odds of their nonparticipating peers to report an interest in STEM careers. Results show that the STEM dual enrollment intervention is equally effective for students of all demographic backgrounds. Conclusions/Recommendations: This study is the first to examine the link between dual enrollment and career interest, revealing an additional avenue through which students may be encouraged to pursue STEM careers. Dual enrollment is a promising intervention to increase STEM career interest among all high school students, including students of different genders, races, socioeconomic status (as measured by highest parental education level), and academic achievement (as measured by math SAT score). The policy implications for this work are that dual enrollment programs should be vigorously implemented and promoted in an effort to increase the number of students, especially students from underrepresented groups, who graduate from high school with an interest in a STEM career.

While there is no dearth of high school students who are interested in becoming physicians, racial/ethnic disparities still exist in the medical profession. This retrospective cohort study examined the influences on students' desire, at the end of high school, for a medical career, and, in particular, how these influences differed by race/ethnicity. Multiple logistic regression models were used to predict students' medical career intentions at the end of high school. Interest in a medical career at the beginning of high school strongly predicted interest in a medical career at the end of high school. Authors found almost no racial/ethnic differences in interest in medicine, after controlling for other predictors. The exception was elevated medical career interest amongst Asians. Furthermore, Black and Hispanic students who wanted to become physicians tended to have high intrinsic motivations, but low science performance. Limited proficiency in science may impede Black and Hispanic students' further progress through the medical pipeline.

Several avenues are open to students who wish to study advanced science or mathematics in high school, which include Advanced Placement courses and teacher-designed courses unaffiliated with organized programs. We employ a retrospective cohort study of 4,691 nationally representative college students at 34 randomly selected, colleges and universities to examine the relationship between taking advanced high school courses and students' interest in pursuing a STEM career, while controlling for prior interests and experiences. We are able to distinguish between those students choosing to take an additional year in a science or math subject from those taking Advanced Placement (AP), which is most commonly taken as a second year course, but is increasingly taken as a first year course. We find that the number of years of a science or math subject taken in high school is associated with significant increases in STEM career interest, with results differing by subject. Taking AP courses in science or calculus appear to have no significant impact on STEM career interest over that of other advanced, non-AP courses. Taking calculus, a second year of chemistry, or one or two years of physics all predict large increases in STEM career interest. Additional years in biology and other subjects show no such relationship.

In this paper, we examine the relationship between participants' childhood science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related experiences, their STEM identity (i.e., seeing oneself as a STEM person), and their college career intentions. Whereas some evidence supports the importance of childhood (i.e., K-4) informal STEM education experiences, like participating in science camps, existing research does not adequately address their relationship to STEM career intention later in life. Grounding our work in identity research, we tested the predictive power of STEM identity on career intention (N = 15,847). We found that for every one-point higher on our STEM identity scale, participants' odds of choosing a STEM career in college increased by 85%. We then tested whether a variety of childhood informal experiences predicted participants' STEM identity. While controlling for home environment, gender, and other relevant factors, only talking with friends and family about science, and consuming science and science-fiction media (i.e., books and television) were predictive of STEM identity in college.

Increasing the number of students choosing a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) career is a national educational priority. One way thought to increase interest in STEM is with advanced STEM courses in high school, especially Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Using data from 15,847 college undergraduates, we investigated the relationship between participation in AP mathematics courses (AP Calculus and AP Statistics) and student career interest in STEM. After controlling for covariates, the strongest effect (d = 0.13) showed that students who took AP Calculus had a modestly higher career interest in engineering and mathematics/computer science. However, the relationship between most AP mathematics courses and most STEM career outcomes was negligible. Most differences in outcomes between AP and non-AP students are likely due to preexisting differences between the two groups.

Background and Context: The relationship between novices' first programming language and their future achievement has drawn increasing interest owing to recent efforts to expand K-12 computing education. This article contributes to this topic by analyzing data from a retrospective study of more than 10,000 undergraduates enrolled in introductory computer science courses at 118 U.S. institutions of higher education. Objective: We explored the relationship between students' first programming languages and both their final grades in an introductory computer science course and their attitudes about programming. Method: Multiple matching techniques compared those whose first language was graphical (e.g., Scratch), textual (e.g., Java), or absent prior to college. Findings: Having any prior programming experience had positive effects on both attitudes about programming and grades in introductory computer science courses. Importantly, students whose first language was graphical had higher grades than did students whose first language was textual, when the languages were introduced in or before early adolescent years. Implications: Learning any computer language is better than learning none. If programming is to be taught to students before early adolescence, it is advised to start with a graphical language. Future work should investigate the transition between different types of programming languages.

The high school grade point average (GPA) is often adjusted to account for nominal indicators of course rigor, such as "honors" or "advanced placement." Adjusted GPAs--also known as weighted GPAs--are frequently used for computing students' rank in class and in the college admission process. Despite the high stakes attached to GPA, weighting policies vary considerably across states and high schools. Previous methods of estimating weighting parameters have used regression models with college course performance as the dependent variable. We discuss and demonstrate the suitability of the graded response model for estimating GPA weighting parameters and evaluating traditional weighting schemes. In our sample, which was limited to self-reported performance in high school mathematics courses, we found that commonly used policies award more than twice the bonus points necessary to create parity for standard and advanced courses.

While it is commonly recognized that laboratory experiments and demonstrations have made a considerable contribution to our understanding of fluid dynamics, few U.S. universities that offer courses in meteorology and/or oceanography provide opportunities for students to observe fluid experiments in the classroom. This article explores the evaluation results of a three-year, NSF-funded project in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and five universities nationally, to provide laboratory demonstrations, equipment, and curriculum materials for use in the teaching of atmospheres, oceans, and climate. The aim of the project was to offer instructors a repertoire of rotating tank experiments and a curriculum in fluid dynamics to better assist students in learning how to move between phenomena in the real world and basic principles of rotating fluid dynamics, which play a central role in determining the climate of the planet. The evaluation highlights the overwhelmingly positive responses from instructors and students who used the experiments, citing that the "Weather in a Tank" curriculum offered a less passive and more engaged and interactive teaching and learning environment. Results of three years of pre- and posttesting on measures of content related to atmospheres, oceans, and climate sciences with over 900 students in treatment and comparison conditions, revealed that the treatment groups consistently made greater gains at the posttest than the comparison groups, especially those students in introductory level courses and lab courses.

Insufficient student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers has been identified as a pressing issue by educators and education policy makers. This retrospective cohort study examined one promising approach to reach and inspire students early on: college- and university- run high school STEM summer programs. Data were collected from 27 colleges and universities participating in the National Science Foundation's STEM Talent Expansion Program. We examined the impact of high school STEM summer program participation on end of high school career aspirations among a sample of 845 program participants and 15,002 controls. The study employed logistic regression modeling with propensity weighting to address differences in group characteristics to model the impact of programs. Results showed that students who participated in a program had 1.4 times the odds of wanting to pursue a STEM career, controlling for background characteristics. A closer look at program design revealed that students experiencing the real-world relevance of STEM had 1.8 times the odds of aspiring to STEM careers at the end of high school compared with controls. Findings suggest that scaling up STEM summer programs and carefully designing programs to show the real-life relevance of STEM may be an effective strategy to curtail pipeline attrition and to inspire more students to pursue STEM careers.

Quantitative analysis of the Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) Survey data indicates that high school mathematics teachers' abilities to teach for conceptual understanding is a significant and positive predictor of student performance in single- variable college calculus. To explore these findings further, we gathered and analyzed interview data gained from a representative sample of high school precalculus teachers from across the U.S., identified by their students as requiring high levels of conceptual understanding (n = 13). Seventeen themes were identified and then combined into five overarching phenomenological themes. These overarching themes suggest that teachers who teach for high conceptual understanding (a) support relational understanding during problem solving, (b) require students to learn how to study to build on prior knowledge and learn from mistakes, (c) use mathematical language and ask critical questions to support learning, (d) focus on content knowledge necessary to make connections, and (e) use technology to support learning concepts but limit calculator use. Comparison of these results to quantitative findings further illuminate that intentional development of disciplinary knowledge, cognition, and language are noteworthy points of intersection for teachers and researchers alike.

Pre-college student participation in science fairs, robotics competitions, computing contests and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) competitions increases every year in the United States. This is despite the fact that little is known about the relationship between STEM competition participation and career interest in STEM. Through logistic regressions, this study addresses three main research questions: Controlling for student background variables and prior STEM career interest, does participating in a STEM competition increase the likelihood of STEM career interest at the end of high school? Does the field of competition (robotics, engineering, science fair, information technology) a student participates in influence the sub-discipline of STEM career interest? And, what is the relationship between the number of competitions participated in and the probability of interest in a STEM career? The study uses data from the 'Outreach Programs and Science Career Intentions' survey (N = 15,847), a large-scale sample of university students enrolled in mandatory English courses. Our data reveal three results of interest. First, students who participate in STEM competitions are more likely to express interest in a STEM-related career at the end of high school than are students who do not participate, even when students' prior career interest in STEM is controlled for. Second, the relationship between competition participation and interest in a STEM career appears to be domain specific. Third, the impact of competition participation on pursuit of a STEM career is three times stronger when students compete in more than one competition. These findings suggest that competitions are an effective way to foster career interest in specific STEM careers.

This study addresses a longstanding question among high school mathematics teachers and college mathematics professors: Which is the best preparation for college calculus-- (a) a high level of mastery of mathematics considered preparatory for calculus (algebra, geometry, precalculus) or (b) taking calculus itself in high school? We used a data set of 6,207 students of 216 professors at 133 randomly selected U.S. colleges and universities, and hierarchical models controlled for differences in demography and background. Mastery of the mathematics considered preparatory for calculus was found to have more than double the impact of taking a high school calculus course on students' later performance in college calculus, on average. However, students with weaker mathematics preparation gained the most from taking high school calculus.

Interview data from secondary and postsecondary science instructors explored their in-depth views on preparing students for college science. Professors expressed a high level of consensus concerning two factors: general student skills and mathematics preparation. Teachers, who expressed lower levels of consensus, did agree on the importance of mathematics, but also highlighted a variety of factors that promote active pedagogy in the classroom as well as the importance of technology, textbooks, other materials, and assessments. Given this divergence, the authors explored the research supporting the value of these factors as well as highlighted possible strategies for narrowing the gap. (Contains 5 figures and 3 tables.)

This study investigated the interaction between students' academic background (high school grades, standardized exams, and enrollment in advanced high school courses) and how much autonomy they reported having in high school science through labs and projects. The objective was to see if students who reported experiencing more or less self-directed projects and labs performed differently in college science when prior academic background was taken into account. To provide a more solid foundation for the conclusions, the same analysis was performed on three different data sets in biology, chemistry, and physics. The authors found that autonomous learning activities in high school science interact with high school mathematics grades to produce a significant association with college science grades. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

Survey data from 8,594 students in 55 randomly chosen colleges and universities finds that those having passed an AP science exam earn somewhat higher college science grades, but not enough to assume prior mastery. Moreover, half of this performance difference appears to be related to demographics and high school coursework and not to students' AP coursework. (Contains 4 figures, 4 tables and 26 footnotes.)