Adolescents' Perceived Opportunities for Creative Thinking, Creative Thinking Competency Belief and Career Interest in STEM
Joint Consideration of Situated Expectancy‐Value Beliefs and Gender
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10219301 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Guan Saw (0000-0002-9328-2830, Claremont Graduate University Claremont California USA, corresponding author), Shengjie Lin (0000-0002-1352-321X, The University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico USA), Lindsey T Kunisaki (0000-0002-3622-7747, Claremont Graduate University Claremont California USA), Ryan Culbertson (0000-0003-3662-2365, Texas Tech University Lubbock Texas USA), Kimberly Megyesi‐Brem (0009-0007-4521-102X, Claremont Graduate University Claremont California USA) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 62 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 1701-1720 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4308 • E-ISSN: 1098-2736 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/tea.22032 |
| OpenAlex | W4407117124 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 142 |
Gender differences in creative thinking competency, career interest, and situated expectancy‐value beliefs in STEM, have been widely studied separately. This study brings these lines of research together by examining gender differences in the association between adolescents' perceived opportunities for creative thinking, creative thinking competency belief, and career interest in STEM, as well as the mediating role of STEM situated expectancy‐value beliefs. Results from structural equation models (SEMs) with 737 middle/high school students attending the Prefreshman Engineering Program (PREP) in the Southwestern United States showed that perceived opportunities for creative thinking in STEM education settings were positively associated with creative thinking competency belief and career interest in STEM, after controlling for pre‐measures and background characteristics. Multigroup SEM analyses indicated that there were no significant gender differences in the relationship between perceived opportunities for creative thinking in STEM and the two examined STEM outcomes in our student sample. A set of mediation analyses demonstrated that STEM expectancy belief, intrinsic value, and utility value serve as key mediators linking perceived opportunities for creative thinking in STEM to student STEM outcomes. However, only the indirect effect of perceived opportunities for creative thinking in STEM on creative thinking competency belief through STEM expectancy belief was significant for both girls and boys. The mediating effects of STEM intrinsic value on both outcomes and the mediating effect of STEM utility value on STEM career interest were only significant for boys and not girls. Taken together, the findings of this study advance our understanding of the benefits of opportunities for creative thinking in STEM for middle/high school students and the underlying mechanisms by which creative‐supporting contexts have influence on students STEM outcomes differently for girls and boys
Critical thinking · Expectancy theory · Pedagogy · Situated · Structural equation modeling · Value (mathematics) · Career Development and Diversity · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness · Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |