Background. Evidence indicates that girls underestimate their competencies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and show less interest in this domain than boys despite similar achievement levels in many countries. Furthermore, in most countries female participation rates in STEM fields are inequitably low. The concepts of learning and educational capital offer a framework for better understanding these findings. Learning capital denotes resources developed in the case of each individual child, whereas educational capital characterizes resources developed in a society. Purpose. We investigated the extent to which organismic, actional, telic, episodic, and attentional learning capital as well as economic, cultural, social, infrastructural, and didactic educational capital (a) are associated with girls’ confidence in their STEM abilities, implicit personality theories, and exam performance and (b) help predict whether girls choose to participate in extracurricular STEM programs. Methods and Results. A sample of 473 female high school students was surveyed. In stepwise regression analyses, actional learning capital relating to the totality of actions one is capable of performing was the strongest predictor of girls’ confidence in their STEM abilities, beliefs in the stability of existing abilities, and modifiability of ability deficits. Infrastructural educational capital consisting of the materially implemented possibilities for action permitting learning and education was the strongest predictor of exam performance. T-Tests revealed that girls choosing to participate in extracurricular STEM programs showed significantly higher values for all capital aspects except cultural educational capital. Conclusion. Results suggest that girls with high actional learning capital feel more confident in their STEM abilities and have more favorable beliefs in their abilities whereas high infrastructural capital predicts exam performance. All five aspects of learning and four aspects of educational capital help to identify girls who may be interested in STEM activities and thus may have the potential for developing excellence in STEM.

Author(s): Johanna Kuhlmann, (University of Regensburg, Germany), Teresa Greindl, (University of Regensburg, Germany), Daniel Patrick Balestrini, (University of Regensburg, Germany), Heidrun Stoeger, (Chair Professor for School Research, School Development, and Evaluation, University of Regensburg, Germany)