Preferencia por contenidos científicos de física o de biología en Educación Primariaun análisis clúster

  1. Radu Bogdan Toma 1
  2. Jesús Ángel Meneses Villagrá 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Burgos
    info

    Universidad de Burgos

    Burgos, España

    ROR https://ror.org/049da5t36

Journal:
Revista Eureka sobre enseñanza y divulgación de las ciencias

ISSN: 1697-011X

Year of publication: 2019

Volume: 16

Issue: 1

Pages: 1104

Type: Article

More publications in: Revista Eureka sobre enseñanza y divulgación de las ciencias

Abstract

Statistics on enrolment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) show a large under-representation of women in most of these disciplines. This study analyses the preferences of elementary education girls and boys (n = 733) for the content of physics and biology using a quantitative analysis method based on clustering techniques (K-Means) and by analyzing the differences in their attitudes toward school science according to their preferences. The results reveal the existence of a sexually biased attitudinal profile, characterized by a high preference for the content of the biological sciences and a low preference for learning physics among girls, and opposite results in the case of boys. In addition, in comparison with boys, girls showed less interest in physics science content than boys, were majority in the attitudinal profiles characterized by a low overall interest in science content and minority in the profiles characterized by a high interest in both disciplines. These results seem to show that the preference for scientific disciplines in physics or biology are beginning to form from elementary levels of the educational system, which could lead to the subsequent gender segregation existing in STEM disciplines. The educational and research implications of these findings are discussed

Funding information

Este estudio fue financiado por la edición 2017-2021 del programa de contratos de investigación predoctorales de la Universidad de Burgos y parcialmente financiado por el proyecto MINECO-AEI EDU 2017-89405-R

Funders

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