STEM Attitudes Research Articles

Meta-analysis of chemistry-based interdisciplinary informal research experience program for high school students

Research-based learning models, particularly interdisciplinary programs, are crucial in promoting STEM skills and fostering positive attitudes among students. This study presents a meta-analysis evaluating the impact of a chemistry-based interdisciplinary research experience program on high school students in Qatar. Over ten cohorts from 2010 to 2020, 230 students participated in multidisciplinary, hands-on research experiences. The study used pre-post questionnaires and t-test analyses, with further meta-analysis conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software to evaluate the program’s effectiveness in shaping STEM attitudes. Significant findings emerged, with a notable large effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.885), underscoring the program’s efficacy in bolstering positive STEM attitudes among students. The study observed that research complexity and gender do influence the outcome of the program, aligning with the tenets of Social Cognitive Theory, which posits that both individual and contextual elements are influential in attitude formation and learning processes. Conclusively, the research substantiates that interdisciplinary, experiential learning significantly heightens student interest in STEM fields. It also points to the potential benefits of further explorations into the nuances of gender disparities and the complexity of research in enhancing the scope and impact of such educational programs.

STEM ATTITUDE DISPARITY: THE IMPACT OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN VOCATIONALLY-ORIENTED POLYTECHNIC AND UNIVERSITY ON STUDENTS’ SELF-EFFICACY, EXPECTANCY-VALUE, AND CAREER INTEREST

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

Children Challenging Industry: improving young pupils’ engagement with science through links with industry

ABSTRACT Perceptions of science, industry and related careers are not well-understood in children below age 11, with many potentially influential factors needing research. The Centre for Industry Education Collaboration at the University of York has run the Children Challenging Industry programme (CCI) since 1996. The CCI consists of components designed to place curriculum science in a real-world context, aiming to improve knowledge about and attitudes towards STEM-focused industry, pupils’ STEM career aspirations and attitudes towards science. Professional development for teachers and training for industry partners are also important elements of the CCI, but they are not the focus here. In this evaluative study, 508 children aged 9-11 from 23 English primary schools in two UK areas, completed pre- and post-intervention online questionnaires in the academic year 2019-2020 to gather quantitative and qualitative data on their perceptions. The quantitative data were compared across different groups and time points, and qualitative data was explored thematically. The data suggest that the CCI generally positively increased children's experiences of science learning, particularly where baseline awareness of industry was low. The outcomes showed that the positive impact of the CCI on attitudes towards science, and knowledge of industry, including STEM careers in industry, was statistically significant.

Effect of STEM Training with Educational Robotics Applications Designed for Classroom Teachers on the STEM Awareness and Attitudes of Teachers

Effect of STEM Training with Educational Robotics Applications Designed for Classroom Teachers on the STEM Awareness and Attitudes of Teachers

Deciphering Global STEM Attitudes through Insightful Correlations for Education

This study explores students' attitudes towards STEM and the relationship between STEM dimensions in Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo Junior High School, which implements STEM-based science learning. Through a survey of 85 students, it was found that students' attitudes were most dominant in the integrated STEM dimension and lowest in mathematics. However, the correlation between STEM dimensions varied, with technology and engineering showing no correlation with mathematics. These findings suggest that educators can leverage students' positive attitudes towards integrated STEM activities to improve engagement and learning outcomes. Furthermore, understanding the lack of correlation between certain STEM dimensions can inform curriculum adjustments for more effective integration of these disciplines in junior high school education. Hightligh: Strong preference for integrated STEM. Varied correlation between STEM dimensions. Informs curriculum adjustments for effective integration. Keywords: STEM education, attitudes, Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo Junior High School, correlation, curriculum development

Uncovering Integrated STEM Attitudes and Dimensional Correlations in Education

This study investigates the attitudes towards STEM among junior high school students at Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo in Indonesia, focusing on exploring the degree of attitude towards STEM and examining the relationship between STEM dimensions. Using a survey method with 85 students from a population of 326, the research found that students' attitudes were most pronounced in the integrated STEM dimension, followed by engineering, technology, science, and mathematics. However, correlations between certain STEM dimensions and STEM itself were inconsistent, highlighting nuances in students' perceptions. These findings contribute to enhancing STEM education strategies, particularly in schools with integrated STEM-based learning, and suggest avenues for further research in broader educational contexts. Highlight: Examining STEM attitudes in Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo's junior high. Analyzing correlations between STEM dimensions and their implications. Enhancing STEM education strategies in Indonesia's educational context. Keyword: STEM education, Attitude assessment, Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo, Junior high school, Indonesia

Transforming STEM Education: The Impact of the RETA Model on Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes and Lesson Planning

This study investigates the influence of an innovative teaching model, the Realistic, Exploratory, Technology-enhanced, and Active (RETA) model, on the STEM attitudes of senior-grade pre-service teachers. The research involved 65 participants from a public university in Turkey. Employing a comprehensive approach, the study utilized a STEM attitude scale, a RETA-based lesson evaluation rubric, and semi-structured interviews to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. The results revealed a noteworthy correlation between pre-service teachers with positive attitudes towards the RETA approach and their heightened efficacy in developing impactful lesson plans. Through the application of the RETA model, participants demonstrated an increased inclination towards innovative teaching strategies, emphasizing the integration of 21st-century skills. Furthermore, post-course assessments indicated a significant positive shift in attitudes, with participants recognizing the model's potential to foster equity within their teaching practices. This research contributes valuable insights into the integration of digital technologies in the classroom, offering a robust framework for pre-service teachers to enhance their pedagogical approaches.

The Impact of Socio-Scientific Activities on Middle School Students’ Attitudes and Views towards STEM

In this study, middle school students were encouraged to develop STEM based socio-scientific activities, and as a result, their attitudes and opinions towards STEM were investigated. Mixed nested method was used in this research. Sample of the study consists of 16 seventh grade students, who got educated during the 2017-18 academic year in an eastern province of Turkey. The study lasted 24 weeks during an academic year. Data was collected by using STEM Attitude Scale, STEM Interview Form, Field Notes and Informal Meetings. The research findings indicated that engagement in STEM-based socio-scientific activities significantly enhanced participants' attitudes towards STEM disciplines. Moreover, this active involvement positively impacted their skills and aspirations, fostering a greater inclination toward selecting professions and careers geared towards creating innovations to enhance human life. Additionally, it was concluded that the activities positively affected their knowledge and motivation about STEM and socialization features such as communication, interaction and sharing.

Learning From Online Instructional Videos Considering Video Presentation Modes, Technological Comfort, and Students Characteristics

Although much is known about the importance of video-based instruction for learning STEM online, how the instructor is presented in the video and how this impacts student reactions and learning remains largely under-explored, especially considering students’ backgrounds. Thus, we examined the relations between students’ backgrounds – specifically, comfort with technology and gender – and video presentation mode on learning from instructional STEM videos presented online. Using a mixed method design across two studies, we measured students’ accurate recall of STEM content, enjoyment, and attitude. Study 1 (n = 70) examined content from a computer programming course, and Study 2 (n = 60) replicated and expanded the first with content from a statistics course, and with additional videos and additional outcome measures. Results indicated that students’ comfort with technology was associated with learning outcomes, gender was sometimes associated with attitudes, but presentation mode did not impact outcomes. These studies have implications for course design, understanding and supporting student learning online, and future research.

The Relationship between Science Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Perceptions towards 21st Century Skills and their STEM Attitudes

Students are expected to have 21st century skills and be STEM literate for successful future careers. Teachers who will include teaching practices to develop these skills should have these competencies. Therefore, it is important how teachers perceive 21st century competencies and STEM education or what kind of tendencies they have in this context. This study aims to examine science teachers’ self-efficacy perceptions towards 21st century skills and their STEM attitudes and to reveal the relationship between them. Fifty teachers working in a city in Turkey participated in the study in which the concurrent mixed methods research design was used. Scales of self-efficacy perceptions towards 21st century skills and STEM attitudes were used as data collection tools. Independent sample t-test, Mann Whitney U test (MWU), Kruskal Wallis-H test (KWH) and Spearman Correlation analysis were used in the analysis of the data. In the study, a significant and positive relationship was determined between teachers’ self-efficacy perceptions and their STEM attitudes. It was determined that teachers with self-efficacy perception had positive STEM attitudes. Qualitative data consisting of teachers’ opinions supports these findings. It was observed that while teachers’ gender and professional seniority did not make a difference in self-efficacy perceptions, STEM attitudes differed in favour of women according to gender, and there was no difference according to professional seniority.

Examining the Mediating Role of STEM Attitudes between STEM Pedagogical Content Knowledge and STEM Intra Class Practice Self-Efficacy

The general purpose of this research is to examine the mediating effect of STEM attitudes between STEM pedagogical content knowledge and STEM intra class practice self-efficacy. This research was conducted in a causal design. A total of 345 teacher candidates, 261 female (75.7%) and 84 male (24.3%), were included in the research. The data was collected with the STEM Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale (STEMPCKS), Attitude Scale for STEM Education (STEMAS) and STEM Intra Class Practice Self-Efficacy Perceptions Scale (STEMICPSEPS). Path analysis technique was used in data analysis. In addition, bootstrapping analysis was used to evaluate the significance of the mediating effect of STEM attitudes. At this point, 1000 resamples were made and lower-upper bound confidence intervals were determined. In research results, the mediating effect of STEM Attitudes was found to be significant in the relationship between STEM Pedagogical Content Knowledge and STEM Intra Class Practice Self- Efficacy. Keywords: Path analysis, STEM attitudes, STEM intra class practice self-efficacy, STEM pedagogical content knowledge.

Exploring STEM Attitudes among First-year Early Childhood and Primary Preservice Teachers: Gender and Regional Insights in Western Australia

Exploring STEM Attitudes among First-year Early Childhood and Primary Preservice Teachers: Gender and Regional Insights in Western Australia

Evaluation of a community-based, hybrid STEM family engagement program at pre-kindergarten entry

IntroductionThis article investigates an early STEM family engagement program offered during the pre-kindergarten (pre-k) year. Pre-k is an important juncture for community organizations to support children’s STEM engagement and parental involvement in informal STEM learning. We evaluated a program called Teaching Together STEM, which offers a series of museum outreach and family events at schools with the aim of broadening access to early STEM for children experiencing poverty. We replicated program content previously delivered using in-person events but shifted to a hybrid delivery approach that combined two virtual and two in-person events with linguistically diverse families of 3- and 4-year-olds. We evaluated whether attending events improved parent outcomes, such as involvement in STEM activities at home, and child outcomes, such as engagement in a STEM task.MethodsThe analytic sample included 59 families—35 randomly assigned families took part in the treatment and 24 families were assigned to a waitlist control group. Developed in Spanish and English, the informal STEM program was hosted by local children’s museum educators for 21 pre-k classrooms using these components: (a) a series of four family education “funshops;” (b) parent tips and reminders via text message; (c) nine thematically related, take-home STEM extension activity kits; and (d) a family museum field trip for each school, as well as individual family museum passes.ResultsThere were no significant impacts on primary outcomes of parent involvement (effect size [ES] = −0.03) or child STEM engagement/enthusiasm (ES = −0.73). There were improvements in some aspects of parents’ STEM attitudes (e.g., math expectancy ES = 0.58), but other distal parent and child outcomes were not significantly changed.DiscussionThe hybrid delivery approach showed promise in terms of attendance and parent satisfaction but likely was not intensive enough to increase parent involvement. We discuss implications for other community-based family engagement programs focused on broadening participation in informal STEM.

Exploring South African Students’ STEM Self-Efficacy and Attitudes in Non-Formal Learning Experiences

This study explored the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) attitudes and self-efficacy of secondary students identifying as Black South African, multi-racial or Afrikaans South African, or Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe nationals who participated in a non-formal STEM education camp programme. Using Bandura’s social cognitive theory for self-efficacy and attitude, this study sought to document participants’ STEM self-efficacy and attitudinal factors related to the camp experience. Survey data were collected before and after participants’ participation in the camp and a delayed post-measurement after 18 months of exposure. Results indicated a significant increase in the self-efficacy concept of conceptual understanding over time between the pre-test and delayed post-test; however, there were no indicated differences over time for the other self-efficacy constructs of Higher Order Cognitive Skills, Practical Work, Everyday Application and Science Communication. Analyses of the STEM attitude constructs showed differences between the Twenty-first Century Skills (increase over time from pre-test to delayed post-test) and Your Future (decrease over time from pre-test to delayed post-test) constructs with no differences for Mathematics, Science and Engineering and Technology. Furthermore, there were no detected differences of self-efficacy and attitudes from pre-test to post-test. These findings suggest that participating in a singular, non-formal STEM learning event may not be sufficient to document changes in self-efficacy and attitudes from the pre- to post-learning experience; however, the experience could have been one of many learning events that may have provided an opportunity for supporting South African students’ self-efficacy and attitude growth, especially in Conceptual Understanding and Twenty-first Century Skills.

China primary school students' STEM views, attitudes, self-concept, identity and experiences: A pilot study in Shandong province

<p>This article reports the survey findings of a pilot study on primary students' views, attitudes, self-concept, identity, and experiences toward STEM education. This survey was held in China Shandong Province. Applying a mixed-method approach, we administered the survey to 332 students and interviewed 8 students to learn about their views about STEM education after the activity. The survey data was analyzed using Rasch on five constructs, namely views, attitudes, self-concept, identity, and experiences in STEM learning. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using emergent coding. The findings showed that students generally responded positively to the five constructs. Students thought that problem-solving was essential, but it was still difficult for them to solve a real-world problem. They agreed that joining STEM activities could enhance their interest in STEM jobs, but they still had less confidence in pursuing a STEM job. The findings provide some insights into a pilot STEM curriculum work in a province and open up possibilities for broadening and deepening knowledge about STEM teaching and learning in China, which is at its nascent stages.</p>

Preliminary Psychometric Assessment of STEM Attitude Measure for U.S. High School Students With Disabilities

This was the first study in which a psychometrically validated STEM measure, the “Student STEM” (S-STEM), was studied for HSSWD. This study also represented the first time a psychometrically validated STEM measure, the “Student STEM” (S-STEM), was studied for HSSWD. Data were collected from 229 HSSWD in a western state and analyzed using Cronbach’s Alpha, McDonald’s Omega, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The Alpha and Omega results showed less internal consistency in HSSWD attitudes toward mathematics than their attitudes toward the other three S-STEM subscales. The EFA results showed preliminary indications of construct validity for the engineering and technology subscale. Limitations of the study are its modest sample size and some measurement imprecision. Implications of the study are further psychometric analyses of the S-STEM for HSSWD and educators focusing on increasing STEM opportunities for HSSWD.

PC Towards Understanding Zimbabwe’s Competence-Based Science Curriculum and its Implications on the Study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

This study sought to gain an understanding of the Competence-Based Science Curriculum - CBSC as an approach that enhances students’ acquisition of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics - STEM knowledge, skills, and attitudes. In this conceptual paper, structural analysis formed the methodological framework that guided the cross-examination of the purposively selected research articles and document policies. Structural content analysis was used to interrogate the generated data. From the findings and discussion, it was noted that the CBSC was seen as an approach that is learner-centred and grounded in constructivism and perennialism philosophies. Thus, it promotes students’ interaction with their environment during STEM learning. Though CBSC can be well-planned, designed, and documented, it is marred with some challenges. From this, the discussion forwarded possible solutions geared towards equipping teachers with relevant knowledge, and skills to effectively implement the new approach in learning activities. From this discussion, it can be concluded that CBSC as an approach if effectively implemented can promote the acquisition of STEM knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

Deciphering Kyrgyz science and mathematics teachers’ STEM teaching readiness

This study explored the interdependence of knowledge-base in teaching, STEM career awareness, teaching efficacy, attitudes, and STEM teaching readiness. Using a Likert-scale instrument adapted from literature, 367 public high school science and mathematics teachers from Osh and Naryn regions participated in the study. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling using SmartPLS revealed that STEM teaching readiness could be predicted by knowledge-base in teaching and STEM career awareness, and teaching efficacy and attitudes can be predicted by knowledge base in teaching. Teaching efficacy and attitudes did not have a significant direct effect on STEM teaching readiness, nor a mediating effect between knowledge-base in teaching and STEM teaching readiness and between STEM career awareness and STEM teaching readiness. The hypothesized model may inform relevant policy-making bodies and can be used in developing and implementing a locally-relevant and context-specific STEM professional development for science and mathematics teachers.

Seeing Is Believing

Abstract: We investigate how visual cues in universities discourage women from pursuing STEM. We extend research on ambient sexism (i.e., witnessing sexist mistreatment of others) to include environmental cues that women do not belong. Men were pictured in STEM buildings (Pilot Study 1) and described in university-sponsored STEM news articles (Pilot Study 2) twice as often as women. In an experiment, undergraduate women who read about male scientists reported less positive STEM attitudes relative to men who read about male scientists and women who read about female scientists. Women who read about and saw images of female scientists reported more positive STEM attitudes than women who simply read about female scientists. Depicting predominantly male scientists in universities negatively impacts female students.

Using artificial intelligence to predict students’ STEM attitudes: an adaptive neural-network-based fuzzy logic model

ABSTRACT Numerous artificial intelligence methods have lately been applied in education. This study proposes an Adaptive Neural-network-based Fuzzy Logic (ANFIS) model combining fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks for predicting students' STEM attitudes. The inputs of the research were determined as grade levels and academic achievement scores, and the output was determined as STEM attitudes. The hybrid optimisation method trained the fuzzy inference system (FIS) to recognise the more effective ANFIS model. Afterward, the effects of the input variables on the output variable were examined with statistical techniques. Finally, the students' artificial and real STEM attitude scores were compared. 600 middle school students participated in the study, and data were gathered using a Personal Information Form and STEM Attitude Scale. The study revealed a significant positive correlation (r = 0.298; p = 0.000) between the generated ANFIS scores and real scores, the real and artificial scores didn't indicate a statistically significant difference. Therefore, the results obtained through ANFIS correctly predict students' STEM attitude scores. The grade level and academic achievement variables showed statistically significant differences in STEM attitudes. This study is a concrete example as it shows that it is possible to know some characteristics of students using artificial intelligence.