The purpose of this study was to determine the value of the Non Cognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in predicting the academic achievement of first year female engineering students. Ancis and Sedlacek (1997) studied non-cognitive variables with a general population of undergraduate women. Their study validated the NCQ as a predictor of academic success for women students. The present study extends the work of Ancis and Sedlacek to examine female engineering students, a group for which no similar study has yet been published.Participants included 100 female first-year engineering students at a large, public Doctoral Research â Extensive institution located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. By race or ethnicity, the participants were White, Non-Hispanic (81%), Black Non-Hispanic (9%), Asian or Pacific Islander (4%), Hispanic or Latino (1%), Non-Resident Alien (1%), and Unknown Race or Ethnicity (6%). This study defined academic achievement as first semester Grade Point Average, which was used as the dependent variable. Participants completed the NCQ during summer orientation. NCQ scale scores and SAT Verbal and Math scores were used as independent variables in a step-wise regression analysis.The major finding of this study was that the NCQ scale scores did not add to the predictive value of the SAT scores in determining the first semester GPA of female engineering students. This was an unexpected finding in light of previous research that had documented the value of using non-cognitive variables, and specifically the NCQ, to predict the academic success of groups that are a minority in their educational settings.Because the major finding of this study is at odds with a large body of similar studies, the most important implications of this study relate to understanding this difference. Included in the discussion are questions about the methodology used in previous NCQ studies and about the influence of the single institution that has been the site of almost all previous NCQ research. / Master of Arts

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Current literature reveals that men and women do not participate in the science, engineering and technology (SET) sector on equal grounds – not qualitatively (access) or qualitatively (ease of participation). It is important that women have access to and actively participate in science; they make up more than half of the world’s population and gender equality enhances a country’s economic growth and competitiveness. Furthermore, the focus should extend further than advocating for equal access to SET to actively promoting increased participation by women. Women bring a distinctive quality to SET precisely because of their gender. They are able to increase overall SET participation numbers and positively contribute to the quality and agenda of science. This study used the pipeline theory and lifecycle approach as theoretical bases to investigate the causes for unequal participation and reviewed initiatives aimed at increasing and facilitating the participation of women in SET. Identified causes include unequal access, male-dominated nature of science, tensions of reconciling professional and private life, differences in recognition and reward, and lack of female representation in leadership. The primary methodology used was a documentary analysis study design, consisting primarily of desktop literature searches and categorization. An initiative summary framework was used to summarise and code 123 identified initiatives into an initiatives summary database. Findings were both positive and negative. The study found that women in many cases are on equal footage with their male counterparts and can manage a healthy work-life balance if provided with the necessary support but many women still describe a male-dominated work environment that is exclusionary. Findings indicate that, although decreasing, there is still gender bias in recognition and reward and that female scientists underutilise financial rewards. Women in SET do not receive equal pay for equal work and there is a distinct lack of female representation in SET leadership bodies such as academies of sciences, scientific boards and publication boards of academic journals. The most common modes of intervention are policy interventions, gender mainstreaming, advocacy and interest groups, and provision of training and support. The majority of initiatives are aimed at bringing about change at a national/policy level and are driven primarily by government and academia with academia playing an important middleman role - assisting and guiding government in the design and roll-out of policies on the one hand and meeting the human resource needs of industry on the other. Although government and academia have done well in driving initiatives that increase the participation of women in SET at both school and tertiary level, more needs to be done by industry to drive the facilitation of participation. There are very few initiatives addressing the retention of women in SET; this is linked to the lack of attention to returners as a specific target group. The study concludes that the majority of countries are succeeding in closing the participation gap in terms of access or horizontal gender equality, but that vertical segregation (focusing on recognition, reward and advancement), although acknowledged, remains a mostly unaddressed challenge. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Huidige literatuur dui daarop dat vroue en mans nie gelyke deelname geniet in die Wetenskap, Ingenieurswese en Tegnologie nie – nie kwantitatief (toegang) of kwalitatief (gemak van deelname) nie. Die belangrikheid van deelname word gesket teen die kennis dat vroue die helfte van die wêreld se bevolking verteenwoordig en dat lande wat geslagsgelykheid nastreef oor die algemeen hoër ekonomiese groei en mededingenheid toon. Die fokus in die debat gaan dus nie meer net oor die reg tot toegang nie maar ook oor aktiewe en gemaklike deelname wat vroue toelaat om juis hul unieke eienskappe na die wetenskap te bring. Die studie het die pyplynteorie en ‘n lewenssiklusbenadering as die teoretiese grondslag gebruik om die deelname van vroue in die terrein te bestudeer. Die navorsing het gepoog om die hoofoorsake vir die relatiewe ongelyke deelname van vroue in die Wetenskap, Ingenieurswese en Tegnologie te bepaal. Die hoofoorsake is geidentifiseer as ongelyke toegang, die manlik-gedomineerde aard van wetenskap, die spanning om professionele en persoonlike lewe te versoen, verskille in erkenning en beloning; en die gebrek aan vroulike verteenwoordiging in leierskap. Verder wou die studie bepaal watter inisiatiewe in gebruik is vir die uitbreiding en vergemakliking van vroue se deelname in die veld. Die hoof metodologie was ‘n dokumentêre analise studie ontwerp. ‘n Inisiatief opsommingsraamwerk is gebruik om die 123 geïdentifiseerde inisiatiewe op te som en te kodeer en is saamgevat in 'n inisiatiewe opsommingdatabasis. Bevindinge was beide positief en negatief. Die studie het bevind dat vroue in baie gevalle gelyke toegang geniet en 'n gesonde balans tussen hul persoonlike en professionele lewe kan bestuur indien die nodige ondersteuning gebied word. Baie vroue beskryf egter nog steeds 'n manlik-gedomineerde werksomgewing. Hoewel die neiging dalend is, is daar nog steeds geslagsvooroordele in erkenning en beloning en vroulike wetenskaplikes maak nie genoegsaam gebruik van finansiële belonings wat wel tot hul beskikking is nie. Vroue ontvang ook nie gelyke betaling vir gelyke werk nie. Daar is 'n duidelike gebrek aan vroulike verteenwoordiging in leierskap soos aangedui in die samestelling van akademies van die wetenskap en die bestuursrade van wetenskaplike rade en publikasie rade van wetenskaplike vaktydskrifte. Die mees algemene vorme van intervensies is beleidsintervensies, geslagshoofstroming, voorspraak en belangegroepe, en die verskaffing van opleiding en ondersteuning. Die meerherheid van inisiatiewe is daarop gemik om verandering teweeg te bring op nationale en beleidsvlak en word hoofsaaklik gedryf deur die staat en die akademie. Die akademie speel dan ook ‘n belangrike middelman rol deurdat hul aan die een kant die regering bystaan in die implementering van beleid en aan die anderkant ook die menslike hulpbron behoeftes van industrie moet voed. Daar is ‘n leemte by die meerderheid van inisiatiewe in die aanspreek van die behoeftes van vroue wat wil terugkeer na die veld na ‘n periode van afwesigheid en aan die retensie van vroulike wetenskaplikes. Die studie kom dus tot die gevolgtrekking dat die meerderheid van lande en inisiatiewe daarin slaag om meer gelyke deelname in terme van toegang of horisontale geslaggelykheid te bewerk, maar dat vertikale segregasie (met ‘n fokus op erkenning, belong en bevordering), nog heelwat aandag moet geniet.

This quasi-experimental study, utilizing quantitative and qualitative descriptive methods, examined the sex-egalitarian attitudes of secondary mathematics teachers from the Ft. Worth Independent School District. A video tape, Women in the Workplace, was used as a training intervention to test the effectiveness of professional development training in altering the mathematics teachers' sex-egalitarian attitudes towards female employment. Information on the video presented seven jobs that provide opportunities for female students in the science, engineering, and technology fields that are considered nontraditional jobs for females. Subjects completed 19 Employment Role domain questions on the King and King (1993) Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale. A one-way ANOVA was applied to the data to test for a significant difference in the means of the control group, who did not see the video, and the experimental group that viewed the video. Findings concluded that there was no significant difference in the sex equalitarian mean scores of the control group and the experimental group. The research indicated that it takes an intensive and prolonged training period to produce a significant change in people's attitudes. This study supports the research on length of training needed to change sex egalitarian attitudes of classroom teachers. There were data collected on four demographic areas that included gender, age, ethnicity, and years of teaching experience. A two-way ANOVA was applied to four demographic variables to test for interaction and main effect. A significant difference was found between the sex-egalitarian attitudes of male and female mathematics teachers' responses. There were no significant differences found in the sex egalitarian attitudes of secondary mathematics teachers when categorized by levels of age, ethnicity, and years of teaching experience. The information in this study should interest and benefit teachers, parents, students, administrators, and industry leaders.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that are associated with encourage the persistence of undergraduate women majoring in Engineering and Math (EM) at Florida Atlantic University, University of Central Florida, and University of South Florida. The persistence factors were examined through an analysis of university data and the use of a survey for enrolled senior standing students who declared their first major in engineering or math. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized to collect and analyze data from the three sites. Factor analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the quantitative data. The quantitative data retrieved from the survey instrument revealed that participants who were self motivated, felt they had a safe learning environment, and were engaged by the university were more likely to persist in engineering and math. Additionally, the survey revealed that race and ethnicity does not predict persistence of undergraduate women maj oring in engineering and math. Qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed that the most important factor that helps female students persist in engineering and math major was self-confidence and determination. They also indicated that discrimination and stereotyping were the most difficult factors for female students to overcome. To enable more women to be successful in the pursuit of a engineering or math degree, participants made an overwhelming reference to intervention as student engagement. / Student engagement consists of the following: outreach programs, support programs, study groups, homework sessions, women clubs, engineering or math clubs, math and sciences activities, math and science tours, engineering and math societies, educational programs focusing on engineering and math, online courses, women organizations in STEM, positive role models, female teachers, women mentors, exposure to engineering and math, and expanding the career outlooks of young women. They suggested that student engagement must start early and must be continuous throughout every level of the educational pathway and professional life. Recommendations are provided for policymakers and university administrators to continue supporting women majoring in EM and to increase awareness and access that encourage persistence of women in the pursuit of EM career goals. / by Jessica Pena-Lopez. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Female students continue to lag behind their male counterparts in STEM degree attainment despite performing as well as boys in mathematics and science in high school. Female students who expressed interest in mathematics and science may opt out of majoring in STEM once in college. Given that women may not be perceived as mathematics doers, this perception may affect their decision to pursue STEM careers. In many instances, it is the parents’ encouragement that helps their children to be persistent in mathematics and science. It is important to understand how parents’ involvement in the lives of high-achieving female college students contribute to them persisting and belonging in the STEM domain. In this narrative study, I explored parental influence on mathematics performance, self-efficacy and the factors that may contribute to high-achieving female college students’ interest and persistence in the STEM domain. The participants are eight high-achieving female students from an urban community college who are matriculated STEM majors. This study used Eccles et al.’s (1994) Expectancy-Value Theoretical Model of Achievement Choices and Phelan, Davidson & Yu’s (1998) Multiple Worlds Model to explore parent involvement and the factors that contribute to high-achieving college female’ persistence in STEM. Narratives of the female students’ mathematics experiences were constructed from data collected through multiple sources: student interviews, a parent interview, mathematics autobiographies, and questionnaires. Findings indicate that parents and other family members played an integral role in the students’ mathematics performance, mathematics self-efficacy and persistence in STEM. Furthermore, the depth of parental involvement of several of the participants was consistent throughout their college years.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. "The Newton Summer Academy is a program intervention funded by the National Science Foundation. It was developed at the University of Missouri-Columbia by a team of scientists, instruction and curriculum personnel, and educators."--Leaf 8. "The present study sought to investigate the saliency of social cognitive factors in the career decision-making processes of bright, adolescent females. In addition, the present study aimed to gain empirical information about the effectiveness of the Newton Summer Academy, a National Science Foundation intervention program."--Leaf [12]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-162). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. "The Newton Summer Academy is a program intervention funded by the National Science Foundation. It was developed at the University of Missouri-Columbia by a team of scientists, instruction and curriculum personnel, and educators."--Leaf 8. "The present study sought to investigate the saliency of social cognitive factors in the career decision-making processes of bright, adolescent females. In addition, the present study aimed to gain empirical information about the effectiveness of the Newton Summer Academy, a National Science Foundation intervention program."--Leaf [12]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-162). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Mississippi State University. Department of Curriculum and Instruction. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Women and men are equal by law in Bangladesh, but the societal reality shows a different picture. By illuminating the obstacles women face when entering and choosing an engineering and science program and what enables women to overcome obstacles, this thesis aims to answer why there are fewer women than men at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).     This thesis was a field study conducted at BUET. Questionnaires was handed out to get a broader perspective of women’s experiences within science and engineering while the interviews aimed to get an in-depth perspective of women’s own experiences being in science and engineering. The empirical data has been analysed using the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), the domestic responsibilities model and previous research about social norms within science and engineering and female networks. The thesis concludes that there are two main explanatory factors why there are fewer women than men studying science and engineering at BUET. Those factors are the social construct that science and engineering programs are more appropriate for men and that families do not have a beneficial Socioeconomic Status (SES) to allow women to study. The main factor enabling women to study and pursue an engineering and science program is family support.

Balancing the needs of family with career ambitions is often challenging for women who pursue science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers, particularly in academia. In these male-dominated workplaces, few incentives exist for women who decide to manage both work and family. In this basic qualitative research study, a modified approach combining in-depth interviewing with life-history interviewing was used to examine the work-life balance experiences of 12 tenured and tenure-track women engineering faculty who have children. The research question addressed participants' perceptions of engineering academia and experiences regarding family formation, child-raising, and the tenure process. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method. The conceptual lens consisted of identity formation, feminine ethic of care, procedural knowing, and social learning. Four themes or key findings surfaced from this study: Participants experienced gender stereotyping in engineering academia, participants recognized overlap between the tenure and biological clocks, participants expressed a default arrangement in assuming the burden of childcare, and participants revealed that work-life balance is a false concept. The most significant finding was that the notion of work-life balance was inconsistent with participants' experiences with managing childcare and career; they described their experiences to be more about work-life integration. Implications for positive social change include improving gender diversity and the representation of women in engineering academia. Senior leaders and administrators at institutions of higher education may use study findings, for instance, to undertake program reform to recruit more women into engineering academia.