Gender gaps in STEM fields have been studied for a long time, and the primary focus has been on the relationship among social support (parents and teachers), STEM beliefs (STEM interest belief, self-efficacy belief, and value belief), and STEM career expectations. Framed in Expectancy-Value Models, this article aimed to explore how social support…

This article presents an empirical study on an initial learning progression of energy, a concept of central importance to the understanding of science. Learning progressions have been suggested as one vehicle to support the systematic and successful teaching of core science concepts. Ideally, a learning progression will provide teachers with a…

This study reports on our steps toward achieving a conceptually coherent and empirically validated learning progression for carbon cycling in socio-ecological systems. It describes an iterative process of designing and analyzing assessment and interview data from students in upper elementary through high school. The product of our development…

The aims of this study were to examine self-efficacy and other motivation variables among high school science students (n = 502); to determine the degree to which each of the four hypothesized sources of self-efficacy makes an independent contribution to students' science self-efficacy beliefs; to examine possible differences between life,…