Published 6 issues per year
ISSN Print: 1072-8325
ISSN Online: 1940-431X
Indexed in
ANALYZING STUDENTS’ PLANS TO ENROLL IN ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP) CHEMISTRY AND CHEMISTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL IN A PREDOMINANTLY HISPANIC REGION
ABSTRACT
What factors influence minority high-school students to proceed from pre-advanced placement (Pre-AP) to advanced placement (AP) chemistry and beyond that to university coursework? This paper uses modern expectancy-value theory to analyze the planning of high school students in a predominantly Hispanic region, the Rio Grande Valley. In this study, 108 Pre-AP chemistry students reported on their enrollment plans near the start and near the end of their Pre-AP courses. The majority of the students had reasons related to task-value components, particularly the utility value component. In addition, large proportions of students changed their chemistry enrollment plans between the start and the end of their Pre-AP chemistry courses. Furthermore, students' decisions to enroll in AP chemistry and university-level chemistry were influenced by their experiences in the Pre-AP courses; their perspectives on the value of further chemistry study developed as they progressed.