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356: The Influence of Different School Cultures on Adolescents’ Self-Efficacy and Motivation for Science Learning

Conceptual Framework: Self-efficacy, a key element of social cognitive theory, is associated with motivation, effort, persistence, engagement in activities, and academic achievements – both generally and for STEM disciplines. Students’ self-efficacy in science subjects tends to decline across grade levels between 6th to 8th grades, especially girls’. Self-efficacy may be influenced by school culture. In this study, this was examined in the light of achievement goal theory.
Objectives: This study aims to examine the differences between students’ science learning self-efficacy and their academic self-efficacy, how these develop during adolescence, and their dependency on different school cultures. Self-efficacy’s role in students’ motivation for science learning was also studied.
Methodology: Data was collected from 2499 5th to 9th grade students from 18 schools of three types (representing different educational cultures): National, Waldorf and democratic. Data collection included anonymous Likert-type questionnaires as well as interviews with students and teachers.
Results: Significant differences were found between the school types in students’ academic and science self-efficacy. The main differences are in the way those change throughout the years in each school-type. In all school types, science self-efficacy was lower than academic self-efficacy. Significant differences were also found between the school types in the way students perceive their school’s goal emphases. Results of multivariate-regression analyses show that school’s goal emphases are strong predictors of self-efficacy (both academic and for science learning), but their influence differs between school types. Additionally, science self-efficacy was a major predictor of 9th grade students’ choice to major in science in high-school. Significant differences between the genders were found in levels of science self-efficacy, influence of the different sources of self-efficacy, perception of school’s goal emphases and the extent to which self-efficacy predicts students’ intention to major in science.
Conclusion: Results suggest that self-efficacy develops differently in different educational cultures, partly as a result of differences in goal emphases. Self-efficacy, in turn, plays a role in students’ motivation and influences their choice to major in science. The results of this study offer insights into the issue of adolescents' decline in science self-efficacy, which is a possible cause of distancing from science learning.

Author(s):

Bat-Shahar Dorfman    
Weizmann Insitute of Science
Israel

David Fortus    
Weizmann Insitute of Science
Israel