Interest and Recruitment in Science: A Reform, Gender and Experience Perspective

Abstract

This paper reports on Swedish results from a worldwide research project concerned with the Interest and Recruitment in Science Education (the IRIS-International study) together with results from a longitudinal national study on girl's views on out of school experience in science and technology in upper secondary education. The studies are framed in the structural situation of the Swedish educational system. The results show that there are reform and policy effects to consider in the discussion of recruiting more students in STEM. Interest in the subject, earlier school experience, achievement and teacher feedback is found to be important for educational choice in STEM. Specifically girls point out societal relevance as important. In addition there are elements outside the school setting with importance for educational choice. Moreover, girls point out visits to a museum and watching films and boys popularized forms of science and computer games. All students consider TV and activities outside school as important for their educational choice in STEM. When trying to implement outside school experience with girls in a longitudinal study in upper secondary education the interplay with school subject teaching is identified as missing. The friction between subject teaching in schools and connections with the surrounding world is proposed as important for future studies.