FIRST High-School Students and FIRST Graduates: STEM Exposure and Career Choices

Shahaf Rocker Yoel,Yehudit Judy Dori

doi:10.1109/te.2021.3104268

Abstract

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contributions: The study contributes to the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) by explaining high-school students’ career choices and finding possible relations between self-efficacy, interpersonal skills, what inspires them to choose a career, and their actual choices. The practical contribution of this research lies in understanding the impact of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) program on its participants and graduates. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background: The FIRST program incorporates project-based learning that fosters the design and production of innovative robotics by teams of students who compete annually. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research Questions: 1) Do the FIRST program activities increase STEM exposure and encourage STEM career choices, and if so, how? 2) What are the factors that affect these choices? Are there correlations between those factors? If so, what are they? 3) Is the effect of the FIRST program on FIRST high-school students’ exposure and career choices different from that effect on FIRST graduates? If so, what are the differences and does gender play a role in these differences? <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methodology: The research participants included 119 FIRST high-school students and 297 FIRST graduates. The research applied a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach, with data collected both qualitatively via interviews and quantitatively via questionnaires. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Findings: Analysis of the data showed that the FIRST program increased participants’ STEM exposure and career choice in STEM domains. A significant, positive, strong correlation was found between interpersonal skills, STEM exposure, career choice, family and school support, and external motivation.

Highlights

F IRST—For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology—was founded in 1989 in the USA as a nonprofit organization by Dean Kamen, an engineer, Manuscript received January 21, 2021; revised June 3, 2021 and July 29, 2021; accepted August 8, 2021
The impact of FIRST on the STEM domains that the highschool students and the graduates chose as a major in high school was analyzed
This study is a part of a larger research project regarding the effect of the FIRST robotics program on its participants

Summary

Introduction

F IRST—For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology—was founded in 1989 in the USA as a nonprofit organization by Dean Kamen, an engineer, Manuscript received January 21, 2021; revised June 3, 2021 and July 29, 2021; accepted August 8, 2021. The program incorporates project-based learning (PBL) and fosters innovative robotics design and production. Evaluations of the FIRST program in the USA showed that it increased participants’ interest in STEM, understanding of STEM, and STEM career choice [2], [3]. The vision of FIRST Israel, founded in 2005, is to expose Israeli students to STEM while developing and preserving valuable organizational and social culture [4]. The FIRST program incorporates project-based learning that fosters the design and production of innovative robotics by teams of students who compete annually. Research Questions: 1) Do the FIRST program activities increase STEM exposure and encourage STEM career choices, and if so, how? 2) What are the factors that affect these choices? 3) Is the effect of the FIRST program on FIRST highschool students’ exposure and career choices different from that effect on FIRST graduates? Research Questions: 1) Do the FIRST program activities increase STEM exposure and encourage STEM career choices, and if so, how? 2) What are the factors that affect these choices? Are there correlations between those factors? If so, what are they? 3) Is the effect of the FIRST program on FIRST highschool students’ exposure and career choices different from that effect on FIRST graduates? If so, what are the differences and does gender play a role in these differences?

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Conclusion