STEM Disciplines Research Articles

Ten simple rules for leading a successful undergraduate-intensive research lab.

Participating in mentored research is an enormous benefit to undergraduate students. These immersive experiences can dramatically improve retention and completion rates, especially for students from traditionally underserved populations in STEM disciplines. Scientists typically do not receive any formal training in management or group dynamics before taking on the role of a lab head. Thus, peer forums and shared wisdom are crucial for developing the vision and skills involved with mentorship and leading a successful research lab. Faculty at any institution can help improve student outcomes and the success of their labs by thoughtfully including undergraduates in their research programs. Moreover, faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions have special challenges that are not often acknowledged or addressed in public discussions about best practices for running a lab. Here, we present 10 simple rules for fostering a successful undergraduate research lab. While much of the advice herein is applicable to mentoring undergraduates in any setting, it is especially tailored to the special circumstances found at primarily undergraduate institutions.

Interest of Secondary School Students Towards Stem Education in Delhi Region

STEM education is essential for developing students' critical thinking, creativity, and problem- solving abilities. This helps to develop future leaders and boosts the economy. However, increasing engagement and participation in STEM disciplines requires an awareness of the elements that influence secondary school students' interest in STEM subjects. The interest of Delhi region secondary school pupils in STEM education is examined in this study work. Its goal is to incorporate science, technology, engineering, and math into the curriculum of children in order to improve their cognitive abilities and encourage them to seek solutions to problems in the real world. In field education, STEM is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach. However, understanding students' interest in STEM subjects is crucial for fostering engagement and promoting excellence in these areas It investigates numerous elements that affect students' interest in STEM disciplines, including curriculum design, teaching strategies, social perspectives, and extracurricular activities, using surveys and interviews. The results offer significant perspectives for educators, policymakers, and stakeholders to formulate efficacious approaches for endorsing STEM education and cultivating a workforce prepared for the future in the Delhi region.

Inclusive Science Communication Approaches Through an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EDISJ) Lens

Science communication has taken center stage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines in the context of public outreach and citizen science. Developing practical communication skills is imperative for all scientists to be highly successful in their careers and more so for underrepresented and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) professionals in STEM. The program, led by the Engineering and Science Librarian at the University of Victoria (UVic) Libraries, aimed to equip students and early career scientists with critical communication skills by leveraging the unique voices and lived experiences of BIPOC speakers in STEM disciplines. Through this program, a unique toolkit with engaging modules consisting of 30 short videos, each three minutes long (30 x 3) by BIPOC speakers was created to provide broad foundational skills in verbal and visual communication, using an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EDISJ) lens. A two-day conference offered networking and communication development opportunities to students and early-career scientists in STEM disciplines by connecting them with BIPOC STEM leaders and visionaries who promote STEM advocacy. This paper will discuss the methods used in the creation of the toolkit and conference using an EDISJ lens.

Riding the wave towards flourishing in STEM education: Enhancing teaching efficacy through a K-12 training program

The research aimed to analyze the effectiveness of a training program for K-12 teachers in improving their perceptions of flourishing, job satisfaction, work as meaning, and efficacy, as well as their students' academic performance. The study involved 147 K-12 teachers and 3544 students. A 'quasi-experimental' pretest-posttest with a control group design was adopted. The results showed significant improvements in students' academic performance and in all teacher variables in the experimental group. Targeting interventions towards K-12 educators has immense potential to profoundly influence students' academic growth by increasing their interest and competence in STEM disciplines.

Digital Technologies in the Process of Teaching STEM Disciplines: Challenges and Prospects

Digital Technologies in the Process of Teaching STEM Disciplines: Challenges and Prospects

PhD Student Funding Patterns: Placing Biomedical, Biological, and Biosystems Engineering in the Context of Engineering Sub-disciplines, Biological Sciences, and Other STEM Disciplines

Whether doctoral students are funded primarily by fellowships, research assistantships, or teaching assistantships impacts their degree completion, time to degree, learning outcomes, and short- and long-term career outcomes. Variations in funding patterns have been studied at the broad field level but not comparing engineering sub-disciplines. We addressed two research questions: How do PhD student funding mechanisms vary across engineering sub-disciplines? And how does variation in funding mechanisms across engineering sub-disciplines map onto the larger STEM disciplinary landscape? We analyzed 103,373 engineering and computing responses to the U.S. Survey of Earned Doctorates collected between 2007 and 2016. We conducted analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc comparisons to examine variation in funding across sub-disciplines. Then, we conducted a k-means cluster analysis on percentage variables for fellowship, research, and teaching assistantship funding mechanism with STEM sub-discipline as the unit of analysis. A statistically significantly greater percentage of biomedical/biological engineering doctoral students were funded via a fellowship, compared to every other engineering sub-discipline. Consequently, biomedical/biological engineering had significantly lower proportions of students supported via research and teaching assistantships than nearly all other engineering sub-disciplines. We identified five clusters. The majority of engineering sub-disciplines grouped together into a cluster with high research assistantships and low teaching assistantships. Biomedical/biological engineering clustered in the high fellowships grouping with most other biological sciences but no other engineering sub-disciplines. Biomedical/biological engineering behaves much more like biological and life sciences in utilizing fellowships to fund graduate students, far more than other engineering sub-disciplines. Our study provides further evidence of the prevalence of fellowships in life sciences and how it stretches into biomedical/biological engineering. The majority of engineering sub-disciplines relied more on research assistantships to fund graduate study. The lack of uniformity provides an opportunity to diversify student experiences during their graduate programs but also necessitates an awareness to the advantages and disadvantages that different funding portfolios can bestow on students.

Comparative analysis of gender disparity in academic positions based on U.S. region and STEM discipline.

Despite a move toward gender parity in the United States (U.S.) workforce, a large gender gap persists in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); this is particularly true for academic (i.e., instructor and tenure track) STEM positions. This gap increases as women advance through the traditional steps of academia, with the highest degree of gender disparity in tenured positions. As policies, politics, and culture, which all contribute to gender equity across the world, vary across regions in the United States, we expect that the gender gap in STEM might also vary across geographic regions. Here, we evaluated over 20,000 instructor and tenure track positions in university STEM departments across the U.S. to evaluate whether and how the geographic region of a university might determine its proportion of women in STEM academic positions. Similar to previous research, regardless of geographic region, more men were employed in both tenure track and instructor positions across STEM fields. However, variation existed regionally within the U.S., with the Mountain region employing the lowest proportion of women in tenure track positions and the East North Central and Pacific regions employing the greatest proportion. We expect this regional variation could be caused by differences in state and local policies, regional representation, and mentorship, resulting in inconsistent support for women, leading to differences in work environments, hiring, and job retention rates across the country. A better understanding of which geographic areas within the U.S. have more equal distributions of women in the STEM field will help us to identify the specific mechanisms that facilitate more equal and inclusive opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups across all levels of STEM academia.

Social network analysis and educational change: unravelling the role of innovative teaching staff in a higher education environment

ABSTRACT As the higher education landscape has shifted and calls for change and improvements have grown louder, researchers have turned to empirical investigations of what makes change possible in higher education. Recent studies on the impact of informal interactions for promoting change have given impetus to social network analysis as an approach to studying higher education change. However, the relationship between teachers’ social network characteristics and their disposition to adopt changes remains largely unknown. In this study, we describe the characteristics of teaching networks and explain the network characteristics of the most innovative teaching staff. By capturing whole teaching and research networks within a STEM discipline department at a Norwegian university, we show that teachers tend to speak to the same colleagues about both research and teaching, and that teaching communities are constrained by departmental sub-units (i.e. research groups). Furthermore, by combining the network data with a survey on diffusion of innovation, we find that the most innovative teachers (1) are central in the network, having the largest personal networks, (2) have a substantial reach to the rest of the network, and (3) are highly interconnected. This paper contributes to the understanding of change theories in higher education and discusses how these results can inform the practice of change agents and educational developers. In addition to confirming the presence of a research-teaching nexus, we discuss why leveraging the networks of the most innovative teaching staff would be a promising strategy for facilitating change in higher education.

Beyond STEM attrition: changing career plans within STEM fields in college is associated with lower motivation, certainty, and satisfaction about one’s career

BackgroundResearch and policy often focus on reducing attrition from educational trajectories leading to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but many students change career plans within STEM. This study examined how changing career plans within STEM fields was associated with psychological indicators of career readiness. We conducted a large online survey of undergraduate students (N = 1,727) across 42 courses covering every major STEM discipline at a large U.S. research-intensive public university. Students reported about their career plans, whether plans had changed, motivation for those career plans, and satisfaction with and certainty of persisting with those plans. A trained team of coders classified whether students reported having STEM career plans at the time of the survey and at the beginning of college.ResultsStudents who said they had changed career plans within STEM fields during college also reported lower motivation for their new career plans, satisfaction with those plans, and certainty of persisting in them, compared to students who retained consistent STEM career plans. With few exceptions, these associations held across students’ gender, race, year in school, and STEM field of study. Within-STEM career plan changes were very common, reported by 55% of fourth-year STEM students. Women reported changing career plans within STEM fields more often than men.ImplicationsResults suggest that changing career plans within STEM is an important phenomenon to consider in preparing a qualified and diverse STEM workforce. Students who change career plans within STEM fields may need additional supports for their career motivation and satisfaction compared to students who do not change plans.

Rage-ography: Rigor, Anti-wokeness, and Technoviolence

Abstract: Feminist studies scholars and those in related critical studies traditions have long encountered resistance arising from STEM disciplines and capitalist logics on our campuses and in the wider public discourse. The struggles to establish and preserve feminist studies and ethnic studies programs over the past five decades remind us that the present pandemonium has historical roots that can be traced, not only to identify patterns instructive for us in this moment, but also for a visceral resonance that buoys us in this time and place. We recognize our own outrage at injustice even as we feel the rage directed at feminist studies scholars from sites of elite power, sustained through false dualisms of left and right, minority and majority, woke and anti-woke, STEM and non-STEM. This piece explores the preservation of elite power through the examination of institutions and epistemics at the heart of contemporary wage capitalism: the world of engineering education and practice, and critical resistance within that world. We analyze (ostensibly nonidentitarian) projects such as technoscientific teaching, research, and production. We choose to analyze episodes from the "before times" that reveal a sustained pattern of misogyny, white supremacy, heterosexism, and ableism pervading society and the academy prior to current enactments of that kind. In so doing, we follow an emergent line of inquiry, tracing emotion as well as argument: these dynamics are now, and have long been, fraught with rage. It is the systematic, historically robust, and selective acceptance and denial of rage that we want to explore here as a foundational feature of the present pandemonium, common to feminist studies academic contexts and to engineering, as well as interactions between the two.

Towards effective collaborations: Reflections and recommendations for adult education and STEM

AbstractThis article presents a general and overarching view on partnerships between adult education and STEM disciplines. Drawing from their individual STEM backgrounds, personal perspectives and experiences with such partnerships, and the science of team science, the authors consider the benefits of adult eeducation for STEM, the benefits of STEM for adult education, and some best practices and pitfalls of collaborations. In this way, they address some of the “why?” and “how?” that adult educators may wish to consider as they seek new collaborations, or navigate existing partnerships.

Integrating United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Soil Science Education

The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer an opportunity to improve soil science education on sustainability because they provide specific context to educate faculty and students from various disciplines, including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) about SDGs. Soil science is a STEM discipline with a wide range of applications in the SDGs. The objectives of this study were to use a matrix approach (framework for presenting options for discussion and implementation) to integrate SDGs into an existing introductory soil science course taught to undergraduate students from different STEM fields (environmental and natural resources; wildlife biology; and forestry). The course was enriched with a lecture on SDGs and students were asked to link soil properties and class activities to specific SDGs. A post-assessment survey revealed an increase in students’ familiarity with SDGs, and their relevance to soil properties and course activities. Students acknowledged the importance of soils and individual actions for achieving the SDGs. There was an overall increase in student familiarity (+59.4%) with SDGs. Most students agreed (46.7%) and strongly agreed (23.3%) that the course activities were an effective way to learn about SDGs with examples from soil science. Identified learning gaps in subject matter found through the surveys on SDGs were clarified during later classroom discussions. The advantage of this teaching approach is that it seamlessly integrates SDGs with existing course materials while relying on students’ critical thinking skills to effectively analyze soil science information and form a judgement on how it relates to SDGs.

Enhancing STEM education through emotional intelligence and counseling techniques

This research explores the transformative potential of integrating emotional intelligence and counseling techniques in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Recognizing the multidimensional nature of academic success, this study investigates the impact of fostering emotional intelligence on the holistic development of STEM students. Through an in-depth analysis of counseling strategies tailored to the unique challenges of STEM disciplines, the research aims to uncover how this integrated approach influences academic performance. The study emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence in navigating the complex and rigorous demands of STEM education. By addressing challenges such as perceived stigma, limited resources, and time constraints, the research proposes solutions for effective implementation. Teacher training and professional development are crucial in seamlessly empowering educators to integrate counseling techniques into their pedagogical practices. Furthermore, the research delves into the potential impact of such integration on various facets of student life, including improved resilience, enhanced focus, strengthened interpersonal skills, and heightened motivation. The student support systems, inclusive learning environments, and technology integration strategies proposed contribute to fostering a conducive atmosphere for emotional growth within STEM education. The findings underscore the interconnectedness of emotional well-being and academic success, highlighting the need for comprehensive student support systems. As STEM education evolves, integrating emotional intelligence and counseling techniques emerges as a strategic imperative for cultivating a generation of adaptable, resilient, and high-achieving STEM professionals. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on innovative educational practices and advocates for a paradigm shift towards holistic learning environments prioritizing students' emotional intelligence in STEM disciplines.

A multidisciplinary approach to STEM education: Combining HR, counseling, and mentorship

In the dynamic landscape of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, the traditional emphasis on technical proficiency is evolving to recognize the multifaceted needs of learners. This research explores the integration of Human Resources (HR) practices, counseling services, and mentorship programs as a holistic and transformative approach to STEM education. The multidisciplinary model aims to address not only the academic rigor inherent in STEM disciplines but also the psychological, emotional, and professional development crucial for success. The paper emphasizes the challenges faced in integrating HR, counseling, and mentorship, including institutional silos, resource constraints, diversity barriers, resistance to change, measurement complexities, and scalability concerns. Recommendations are proposed to overcome these challenges, emphasizing collaborative interdisciplinary structures, strategic resource allocation, proactive diversity initiatives, effective communication, robust evaluation metrics, and phased scalability. In conclusion, the integration of HR, counseling, and mentorship in STEM education represents a paradigm shift toward a holistic, student-centered model. By dismantling traditional barriers and fostering a culture of collaboration, institutions can create an environment that nurtures the comprehensive development of STEM learners. This integrated approach not only equips individuals for success but also contributes to the evolution of a more dynamic, inclusive, and impactful STEM community poised to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Gender and Development Integration in the Curriculum towards Inclusive Education

This study investigates how students' attitudes regarding gender roles, academic success in STEM disciplines, and involvement in gender-related activism are affected by the inclusion of gender in development courses. In order to provide a thorough understanding of the consequences of gender integration, the study uses a mixed-methods research design that draws on feminist theory, social learning theory, and critical pedagogy. While qualitative analysis focuses on students' participation in gender-related activity, quantitative analysis looks at changes in students' perceptions toward gender roles and academic success in STEM disciplines. The results demonstrate the beneficial effects of gender integration on students' perceptions of gender roles, with inclusive curricula challenging prevailing prejudices and enabling learners to adopt more equitable viewpoints. Students are shown to be motivated to participate in gender-related activities by gender integration. An inclusive curriculum encourages active engagement and helps to bring about social change through bringing attention to issues, advancing social justice, and giving students the tools they need to confront gender inequality. Overall, this study emphasizes how important it is to integrate gender perspectives into the classroom in order to establish welcoming and equal learning environments. The findings underscore the necessity to include gender-related concerns in educational policies and practices and add to the body of research on gender integration. Society may work toward gender equality and enable people to be change agents by adopting inclusive education.

Navigating queer spaces in Australian tertiary STEM Education: a retrospective autoethnopoetic exploration

ABSTRACT This article presents a retrospective autoethnopoetic study exploring a queer student's journey in Australian tertiary STEM education, employing queer research methodologies to illuminate the challenges encountered. Through personal narrative and poetic expression, we identify critical themes: microaggressions, discrimination, identity formation, cisheteronormative navigation, and resilience strategies. Although rooted in the first author's experiences, these insights reflect broader issues prevalent among queer students in STEM, such as the impact of discrimination and microaggressions on academic performance and well-being. This study underscores the significance of queer theory and autoethnopoetic methods in challenging normative assumptions in STEM education research, contributing to a deeper understanding of the queer academic experience. It advocates for the development of inclusive and supportive educational policies aimed at enhancing the learning environment for queer students, emphasising the need for visibility, representation, and support systems within STEM disciplines.

Investigating the individual interests of undergraduate students in STEM disciplines

Despite massive investments in the education sector to empower youth in Qatar, a vital concern remains to retain students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines at the undergraduate level. Even though the country is committed to fostering a knowledge-based society, the low interest of undergraduates in STEM disciplines remains a vital challenge. To investigate this, the current study uses a survey methodology to investigate the perspectives of 172 undergraduate students to understand quantitatively the factors that influence their individual interests in STEM disciplines. Non-parametric significance tests and binary logistic regressions were employed to quantitatively measure the direct factors and predictors that affect students’ individual interests. Findings indicated that aspects like students’ reason/motivation to join STEM, their interaction with faculty, the habit of skipping classes, the difficulty faced in the curriculum, and their parents’ highest educational qualification have an association with individual interests. Also, it was found that demographics such as age group, ethnicity, undergraduate discipline, undergraduate year, parent’s employment status, and mother’s highest educational qualification do not contribute to significant differences in students’ individual interests. These conclusions provide important implications for educationists and policymakers to devise constructive reforms to enhance undergraduate students’ individual interests, thereby improving their persistence in STEM.

Classroom observational data: a professional development tool for introductory college mathematics instruction

Two groups of mathematics faculty, one from a four-year college and one from a two-year college, redesigned their respective introductory college mathematics courses following presentation of observational data regarding how faculty had been teaching the courses. This presentation emphasised how infrequently faculty teaching introductory college mathematics employed recommended pedagogical practices. This work was part of a multi-year federal grant project designed to increase the numbers of underrepresented students majoring in STEM disciplines. While the two teams developed very different redesigned course activities, in both instances the primary motivation for initiating the work was the information provided to faculty in a professional development workshop regarding how they had previously been observed teaching the mathematics content and how infrequently they utilised the pedagogical practices recommended by STEM education experts. The paper also highlights faculty resistance to curricular reform and enumerates some ways of addressing this resistance. The paper also discusses why faculty from two-year and four-year institutions resisted working together on course redesign and provides recommendations for future efforts addressing course redesign.

Examine the Impact of Contextual, Personal, and Behavioral Factors on High School Teachers’ Engagement in Teaching Science Using an Integrated STEM Approach

Teachers’ self-efficacy, attitude, and engagement are influenced by various factors, encompassing personal, school contextual, and behavioral aspects. Nevertheless, prior studies have not thoroughly explored the intricate relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy, attitudes, and engagement, particularly in the context of teaching science through an integrated STEM approach (ISTEMA). Drawing upon the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study proposes a structural equation model that incorporates school contextual factors: school administrative support and peer or collegial support, along with the personal factor—teachers’ STEM discipline knowledge to predict teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching science through ISTEMA. It also considers school administrative support and teachers’ self-efficacy to teach science through an ISTEMA as predictors for teachers’ attitudes and engagement in the implementation of ISTEMA. Additionally, school administrative support, teachers’ self-efficacy to teach science through ISTEMA, and teachers’ attitude to teach science through ISTEMA are regarded as behavioral factors that predict engagement in the implementation of ISTEMA. The survey was administered to 452 high school teachers hailing from four distinct regions and Phnom Penh City, Cambodia. The results of the full structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that changes in teachers’ STEM discipline knowledge and peer or collegial support may correspondingly lead to changes in teachers’ self-efficacy to teach science through an ISTEMA (SE), with an indirect effect of school administrative support (AD) on SE via teachers’ STEM discipline knowledge. The enhancement of SE and teachers’ attitude to teach science through an ISTEMA (ATT) significantly influences teachers’ engagement to teach science through an ISTEMA (EGG), whereas AD has a direct impact on engagement and an indirect one via teachers’ self-efficacy and attitude. Furthermore, SE directly and indirectly affects engagement through teachers’ attitude. These findings hold profound significance in shaping policies related to teacher training in integrated STEM education and theoretical foundation for future studies.

Does targeted recruitment turn the dial for gender equity? A qualitative study at an Australian University

AbstractThis qualitative study explored a targeted recruitment initiative that was designed to attract and recruit female academic staff in STEM disciplines at an Australian University. Semi‐structured, one‐on‐one interviews were conducted with female and male key informants: 16 Panel Members and six Applicants. Codebook Thematic Analysis was applied using a feminist methodological lens. Results showed several themes (categorised as barriers and facilitators) impacting the implementation and success of targeted recruitment. The majority of themes were associated with Panel Members, underpinning the importance of panels' support for targeted recruitment. Nearly all barriers were gender‐related, disadvantaging female applicants and emphasising a need to address gender inequity broadly. Key recommendations for future improvement were strategies to improve the support of panels (e.g., gender bias training, improved communication of responsibilities in targeted recruitment and ensuring an equity and diversity ‘champion’) and efforts to strengthen the positive diversity reputation of the University.