High school is interesting, because it is the first time
that students have the chance to start picking their own classes. They have the change to determine the
difficulty of the classes they want to take and they have some flexibility in
the number of classes that they take in different subject areas.
This flexibility is particularly important when it comes to
math and science classes. It is
generally agreed that the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Education, and
Math) are important for the economy.
Students trained in these subjects go on to earn high salaries and to
contribute to the growth of new businesses.
Yet, many students decide not to pursue difficult science
and math classes in high school. These
early choices have a lasting influence, because when these students go to
college, they continue to stay away from science and math.
What can be done to get students to take more science and
math?
One possibility would be to try to convince students that
science and math are fun. Certainly,
there are many people who find a lot of intrinsic enjoyment in solving math
problems and in pursuing new knowledge through science. And according to psychologist Jacquelynne
Eccles, students will gravitate toward classes that they enjoy.
The problem is that it can be difficult to convince a
student who has not enjoyed math and science classes in the past that math and
science are actually fun. And anyone who
has tried to push a teenager to do something that he or she does not want to do
knows how difficult that can be.
However, Eccles also suggests that students will take
classes that they consider valuable, even if they do not think that the classes
will be enjoyable at the time. That is,
students realize that there are some classes that are just no fun, but that
they need to take because of the importance of those classes for their future.
If we helped students to see the value in math and science
classes, would that lead them to take more math and science?
That question was addressed in a study by Judith
Harackiewicz, Christopher Rozek, Chris Hulleman, and Janet Hyde published in
the August, 2012 issue of Psychological
Science. They conducted their
experiment as part of a longitudinal study of children in Wisconsin.
Starting when these students were in the 10th
grade, parents were sent brochures that described the value of math and science
classes. The brochures also directed
parents to websites that had more information on the value of math and science. Parents were encouraged to talk to their
children about math and science classes.
The researchers then analyzed the high school transcripts of
these students for their last two years of high school. The classes taken by these students were
compared to the classes taken by a control group whose parents did not receive
any information about math and science.
The researchers also gathered information from parents and children
about the number of conversations they had about math and science during high
school. Finally, the researchers had
access to lots of demographic information about the families, because they were
part of this long-term study.
So what happened?
One important predictor of the number of math and science
classes that students took was their parents’ level of education. The more education the parents had, the more
math and science classes the students took.
On average, though, students whose parents received
information about the value of math and science took one more semester of math
and science in high school than those whose parents did not receive this
information. In particular, these
students tended to take more elective and advanced classes.
Finally, the students whose parents received information
about the value of math and science reported having more conversations about
math and science classes with their parents than the students whose parents did
not receive this information.
Putting this all together, then, high school students may
not love math and science. But, they can
see the value in these classes. When
parents talk to their children about the importance of math and science, it
really does have an impact on the classes they take. And presumably, a student who is
well-prepared in math and science in high school will continue that education
in college.
