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…

This study explores students' self-perceptions across science subjects (biology, chemistry, and physics) by gender and underrepresented minority group membership. The data are drawn from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project, which surveyed 7,505 students (enrolled in college English courses required for all majors)…

This study relates the performance of college students in introductory science courses to the amount of content covered in their high school science courses. The sample includes 8310 students in introductory biology, chemistry, or physics courses in 55 randomly chosen U.S. colleges and universities. Students who reported covering at least 1 major…

Tasks in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are unusually varied because they target phenomena occurring in diverse domains and call upon a wide range of abilities to perform them. The fact that STEM tasks cover such a broad spectrum of abilities makes these fields uncharacteristically inclusive: Individuals with disabilities…