The laser demonstration: an effective tool for developing interest in science and technical careers

The of this study was to develop students’ attitudes toward chemistry through the integration of Culturally Responsive Transformative Teaching (CRTT) with the Colloid topic. The CRTT teaching model [1]consists of the five steps of self-identification, cultural understanding, collaboration, reflective thinking, and transformative construction. In cultural understanding, students were engaged with the ethnochemistry are the various chemically related cultural and community practices [2].topics of kecap SH, roti buaya, mandi merang, kue bacot, and laksa. The research was undertaken with 31 students from year XI in a secondary school in Banten, Indonesia, and used a qualitative methodology with data collection via interview, observation, reflective journal, and a TOSRA (Test of Science-Related Attitudes). The data were analyzed through initial coding of the TOSRA instrument which consists of social implications of science, normality of scientists, attitude to the inquiry, adoption of scientific attitudes, enjoyment of science lessons, leisure interest in science, career interest in science. Initial coding was followed by emerging coding revealed in the data analysis process. The results indicate that students became engaged in chemistry learning through Banten cultural practices. They understood different ways of accessing the concepts through meaningful learning experiences. The learning model provided opportunities for students to develop their attitudes to scientific inquiry, the adoption of scientific attitudes, and their interest in science. The TOSRA instrument also revealed students' opinions about science and scientists and their interest in science careers.

Decisions related to career choice are influenced by person’s interactions with his or her environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of a STEM (Science-Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) career choice. The study included two stages in which two different questionnaires were used. The purpose of the first questionnaire, which was replied by 1162 people, was to examine their attitudes towards STEM, and their sense of employment capability in this field. The data were analyzed according to three age groups: 12th graders, young adults aged 21–35, and adults over the age of 35. The second stage focused on three sub-groups: young high school graduates with a high affinity to STEM studies, whom have not yet chosen career; adults who have chosen career as researchers in the STEM field; and adults who have chosen career as researchers in the social sciences and humanities. The second questionnaire examined environmental characteristics and attitudes towards the factors potentially influencing a career choice in STEM. The results indicate that the attitudes towards STEM and the sense of employment capability in this field become significantly more positive with age. The number of family members who have a STEM career was not found to be a significant factor influencing a career choice; however, a significant correlation was found between high school major and the career chosen by graduates. The research findings point to important trends that shed light on the process of choosing a career in STEM and concludes that young people’s interest in science during school is a key variable to sparking interest in science careers.

Learning experiences are widely recognized as crucial in developing students’ attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Vocationally-oriented polytechnics and universities provide distinct learning experiences that may significantly influence students’ STEM self-efficacy, expectancy-value and career interest. The study explores how the unique learning experiences shape students' STEM attitudes among 487 students during their fourth semester at vocationally-oriented polytechnic and university. The S-STEM survey was adopted as the measurement instrument. The result showed that university students displayed a more favorable overall STEM attitude compared to students enrolled in vocational-oriented polytechnic. University students demonstrated greater STEM self-efficacy than polytechnic students, but no significant difference in STEM expectancy-value was detected between the two groups. From the perspective of inter-group comparison, university education consistently fostered students a heightened sense of STEM self-efficacy, expectancy-value and career interest in science, whereas vocationally-oriented polytechnic education boasted its unique strengths in cultivating robust attitudes and career interests towards science and engineering/technology. However, students in both institutions exhibited a relatively less positive attitude towards learning mathematics. The findings highlight the importance of learning experiences in shaping students' STEM attitudes and career interests. Keywords: career interest, expectancy-value, learning experiences, self-efficacy, STEM attitude

Many teaching approaches have been tried to improve student attitudes and achievement in science and mathematics education. Achievement effects have been synthesized, but a systematic overview of attitude effects is missing. This study provides a meta analytic review based on 56 publications (1988–2014), reporting 65 independent experiments that investigated the effects of teaching approaches on student attitudes in primary or secondary science or mathematics education. Five types of teaching approaches were distinguished: inquiry-based, context-based, computer-based, collaborative learning strategies, and extra-curricular activities. Since many different attitude outcomes were distinguished and attitudes were assessed at different levels of granularity, we did separate analyses for specific and more global outcomes. Outcomes were not significantly different for different educational approaches. When taking all interventions together, significant effects were found for General Attitude (n = 60; d = 0.35), General Interest (n = 20; d = 0.22), and Career Interest in Science (n = 4; d = 0.40). The effects were significantly weaker for studies with older students. Analysis of achievement outcomes yielded a significant and large overall effect (n = 40; d = 0.78), again with no significant differences between teaching approaches. Although the positive effects might be partly due to novelty, the current findings do counter skepticism about the learning outcomes of interest-oriented teaching approaches.

BackgroundNurturing students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers is a major goal of STEM education. Although the relationship between students’ stereotypical beliefs regarding STEM careers and their career interest can be reasonably hypothesized, research investigating the extent to which and how students’ STEM career interest is directly or indirectly influenced by their stereotypical beliefs is lacking. This study investigated how upper primary students’ stereotypical beliefs regarding STEM careers predicted their STEM self-efficacy and STEM career-related outcome expectations and how these constructs predicted their STEM career interest. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse quantitative survey data of 824 fourth- to sixth-grade students and test the hypothesized models.ResultsStudents’ stereotypical beliefs regarding STEM careers negatively predicted their self-efficacy in STEM activities and career-related outcome expectations. Additionally, the students’ self-efficacy in STEM activities and career-related outcome expectations in turn predicted their STEM career interest.ConclusionsThese results explain the potential indirect effect of STEM stereotypes on students’ career interest through self-efficacy and outcome expectations. The findings highlight the significant role of STEM stereotypes, self-efficacy in STEM activities, and career-related outcome expectations in students’ career development. The implications of this study for STEM education are also discussed.

Student giftedness is a complex, developmentally dynamic and contextual phenomenon that teachers confront every day. In the classroom, teachers often meet students who have exceptional potential or achieve very high learning goals. The aim of this study is to illustrate the evaluation of inquiry-based learning activities in a specific context (Diversity in Science towards Social Inclusion learning modules) implemented in a non-formal educational setting for gifted students in relation to their level of individual interest and their autonomous and controlled motivation, comparing different groups of students. We investigate how these activities affect the students’ attitudes towards inquiry-based learning, their situational interest and their interest in science careers. A total of 264 Slovenian lower secondary school students participated in the study. The students participated in non-adapted and adapted activities based on the inquiry-based learning approach. The data were collected using pre- and post-activity questionnaires. Participation in the study, which took place in the period between the 2021/22 and the 2022/23 school years, was voluntary. The data was collected anonymously and used for research purposes only. The results show several statistically significant differences in how students’ level of individual interest, autonomous motivation and controlled motivation for learning chemistry affects their attitudes towards inquiry-based learning, their situational interest in Diversity in Science towards Social Inclusion activities and their interest in science careers. For the gifted and non-gifted students who participated in “Forensics Science” lab activities before and after the adaptations to the modules, the results related to their attitudes towards inquiry-based learning and situational interest are also reported. Thus, the results of the study provide useful insights for researchers in the field of chemistry education as well as for chemistry teachers in lower and upper secondary schools. The presented study is a good example of best practices that chemistry teachers can apply in teaching chemistry, thus enabling all students, not only the gifted ones, to learn chemistry using the inquiry-based learning approach.

Shortages of science and mathematics teachers are a serious concern in the United States. Despite the implementation of intervention strategies to address this problem at the high school level, little empirical research had been conducted to inform and strengthen these initiatives. This retrospective cohort study used multinomial logistic regression models to predict students’ science and mathematics teaching career intentions at the end of high school. These intentions were most strongly associated with having had an interest in science and mathematics teaching already at the beginning of high school. Other significant predictors included middle school interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers, high mathematics preparation, and a desire to work with, and help, others. Whereas students interested in science and mathematics teaching shared many motivational features with students interested in other teaching careers, their mathematics knowledge was significantly higher. This research counters blanket stereotypes about teacher ineptitude, while supporting a more positive view of teachers’ motivation to teach. Future interventions targeting high school students should focus on mentorship opportunities and purposeful teaching experiences that mirror the roles science and mathematics teachers play in school life. Such interventions highlight both the potential positive impacts teaching has on students and provide further subject matter exploration. Examples of such programs can range from formalized teaching assistant positions in science and mathematics classrooms to full university partnerships in which colleges of education and science, as well as local school boards/districts, work together to spark interest in science and mathematics teaching among high school students.

Differences in classroom climate and science related attitudes were investigated among junior high school science classes and students in Taiwan. The sample consisted of 1,269 students enrolled in 40 science classes distributed equally among ten junior high schools, five metropolitan and five rural. Classes were further classified according to sex (21 boys and 19 girls classes) and ability (19 high and 21 low ability classes). Using the Learning Environment Inventory (Anderson, Walberg, & Fraser, 1982) to measure climate, science classes in metropolitan schools, more than rural, were found to be characterized by Speed, Friction, Favoritism, Difficulty, Cliqueness, and Competitiveness. No differences were found in the classroom climates of classes in which students were grouped according to sex or ability. Using the Test of Science‐Related Attitudes (Fraser, 1981), students in science classes in metropolitan schools, in contrast to rural, expressed more positive attitudes toward the Social Implications of Science, Adoption of Scientific Attitudes, and Attitude to Scientific Inquiry. Boys more than girls recorded high scores on Leisure Interest in Science and Career Interest in Science. High ability students were found to have higher scores on Attitude to Scientific Inquiry than did low ability students. When examining the relationship between the 15 subscale scores of the LEI and the seven subscale scores of the TOSRA for the 40 classes, only 9 out of 105 correlations proved to be significant. Most differences in climate, attitude, and their interactions were attributed to school location rather than to student characteristics.

The authors examined the influence of social cognitive variables on students' interest in environmental science careers and investigated differences between White and ethnic minority students on several career-related variables. The sample consisted of 161 undergraduate science majors (124 White students, 37 ethnic minority students). Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses found self-efficacy, outcome expectations, role model influence, perceived supports and barriers, and environmental concerns contributed significant variance to the prediction of these students' interest in environmental science. When compared with White students, ethnic minority students perceived greater barriers to pursuing a career in environmental science, exhibited less concern about environmental problems, and had less interest in environmental science. The authors highlight implications for environmental educators who are in a position to increase diversity within the field.

This study examined a middle school mathematics intervention course titled programming robotics, and mathematics (PRM). The course teaches mathematics through computer science and robotics concepts. The study assessed the relationship between the course and mathematics achievement as well as student interest level in future computer science coursework and career after completing the course. To analyze mathematics achievement, an independent t-test was used to compare the means on a mathematics assessment of the control group of 4,801 students and the PRM group of 381 students. To analyze future interest in computer science courses and careers, PRM students completed a survey and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results. While the mathematics achievement data were determined to be statistically insignificant based on the survey results, the PRM course created student interest in future computer science coursework and careers. This study took place during the 2020–2021 school year, while students were on distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations are to revisit this study during a more traditional school year.

Extensive research shows that non-formal science education programs effectively build and sustain long-term interest and persistence in science careers. Framed by expectancy-value theory, this study examined the academic and career outcomes of students who participated in a multi-year volunteer program at a science museum. Twenty-one participants were interviewed about their motivations for volunteering and the impact of participation on their science career trajectories. Data were coded for factors related to expectancy-value including goals, motivations, previous non-formal science experiences, and family attitudes towards science and STEM. Results showed participants of the volunteer program pursued science careers at higher rates than the national average, adding evidence to show how non-formal science education programs extend the longevity of science career interests. This study also documented a newly emergent phenomenon of acceleration of participant science career trajectories. Museum volunteer programs such as the one studied may help high school students gain knowledge and skills central to science career development earlier than is typical. The implications of this type of program for students with already established science interests and science career motivations is discussed from an equity perspective.

Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) was an afterschool program for 4th and 5th grade girls that provided authentic learning experiences in environmental science as well as valuable female mentoring opportunities in an effort to increase participants’ academic achievement in science. BUGS participants demonstrated significantly greater amounts of gain in science knowledge as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in Science (ITBS-S). The original BUGS participants and contrasts have now completed high school and entered college, allowing researchers to assess the long-term impact of the BUGS program. Fourteen former BUGS participants completed two instruments to assess their perceptions of science and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Their results were compared to four contrast groups composed entirely of females: 12 former BUGS contrasts, 10 college science majors, 10 non-science majors, and 9 current STEM professionals. Results indicate that BUGS participants have higher perceptions of science careers than BUGS contrasts. There were no significant differences between BUGS participants, Science Majors, and STEM professionals in their perceptions of science and STEM careers, whereas the BUGS contrast group was significantly lower than BUGS participants, Science Majors, and STEM Professionals. Additional results and implications are discussed within.

For many reasons, students with disabilities are not as thoroughly represented in science careers as are their nondisabled peers. In this case study, the authors explore the effects an informal education program focused on environmental science and delivered to college-bound students with disabilities had on comfort level with science and interest in science careers. Results indicate that the informal nature of the program was well-received and increased individuals' confidence in their science ability. The authors present suggestions for translating this experience into a traditional classroom setting.

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum aims to provide students with problem‐solving skills and knowledge to promote interest in STEM careers. Yet, study of the scientific method, the basis for research and many other STEM careers, is often overlooked. The current high demands for an increased STEM workforce, highlight the importance in developing students’ interest and skills that would encourage career pursuit. The objective of this study was to evaluate and develop seventh grade students’ understanding of the scientific method. We hypothesized that improving students’ understanding of the scientific method would increase interest in pursuing a STEM career. We evaluated this hypothesis by using a physiology‐based outreach activity focused on hands‐on learning and collecting survey data post event. The event was performed at a middle school located in the metropolitan Omaha, Nebraska. One‐hundred and four students participated in one hour of physiology‐based activities led by volunteer faculty, postdoctoral research associates, graduate students, and medical students. Sessions commenced with the volunteers introducing themselves, their career level, and research focus. Volunteers then gave a brief explanation of how science affects everything in the world followed by an introduction to the physiological systems: the eye, or the heart and lungs. Students were lead through a set of activities designed to explain the scientific method scientific method by conducting experiments at two stations centered on the eye or the heart and lungs for 20–25 minutes. The session concluded with 15 minutes of question and answer to allow students to confer with the volunteers about what they just learned, science as a career, and what a scientist’s typical day resembles. A post‐survey was administered to evaluate the effectiveness of the day of activities. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data and factor analysis was conducted to create a “Science Interest” scale. Overall, this project received positive feedback from the students related to learning and understanding science. Sixty‐five percent of students reported that the event increased their appreciation of science. Seventy‐one percent of students reported that the outreach event helped them understand what a career in science is like. Twenty‐one percent of students reported the event increased their interest in science, 68% reported this event didn’t change their interest, and 11% reported that this event decreased their interest in science. Using the “Science Interest” scale (Alpha = .773), 54 (58%) students fit into the “high” science interest category and 39 (42%) fit into the “low” interest category. Students who scored high in science interest were significantly (p< 0.01) more likely to answer “agree” or “strongly agree” on the questions, “This event increased my appreciation of science” and “This outreach event helped me to understand what a career in science is like.” Relatedly, students who scored low on the science interest scale were significantly more likely to respond that the event made them less interested in a science career. Our data suggest that a physiology‐based educational outreach event is effective in enhancing understanding of the scientific method and generation of interest to pursue a STEM career.

Enhancing Students’ Interests in Science and Technology Related Careers Through a Specially Designed Optional Course