Opportunities to participate in science learning and student engagement

A mixed methods approach to examining person and context factors

Bibliographic Data

ID21348065
AuthorsChristine Lee Bae (0000-0002-3492-7598, Virginia Commonwealth University), Mark H C Lai (0000-0002-9196-7406, University of Southern California)
Year2020
Volume112
Issue6
Pages1128-1153
Publication date2020-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Educational Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0663 • E-ISSN: 1939-2176
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/edu0000410
OpenAlexW2972495920
LanguageEN
Citations received22

As student engagement in science learning continues to garner significant attention from educational researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, the importance of understanding person and context-related factors that impact student engagement is increasingly recognized. In this mixed methods study, middle school students’ (N = 1,848) engagement was examined in relation to opportunities to participate in science learning (OtP in science) from 29 schools in the United States. Drawing on the ecological systems and opportunity-propensity frameworks, multilevel structural equation modeling was applied to test the relationship between OtP in science and student engagement, accounting for student (gender, grade, ethnicity) and school (socioeconomic status) factors. Results showed that at the student level, OtP in science was a statistically significant predictor of engagement, and this relationship varied by school. In addition, school SES predicted school-average OtP in science, and there was a statistically significant cross-level interaction for school SES, in that the relationship between OtP in science and engagement was stronger for schools with higher SES. In the qualitative phase, 6 student focus group interviews were analyzed to develop explanatory accounts for the quantitative results. Collaborative hands-on activities, peer-to-peer discourse, and positive teacher and student relationships were identified as social processes that facilitated students’ propensity to engage in the science learning opportunities. Factors related to school SES that explain the link between OtP in science and student engagement are also described. Taken together, our findings provide a more complete picture of how students’ engagement in science relates to person and context-related factors and hold theoretical and practical implications for the study of engagement in diverse classrooms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Academic achievement · Context (archaeology) · Ethnic group · Mathematics education · Multilevel model · Multimethodology · Pedagogy · Science education · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Student engagement · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Development and Social Support

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