STEM-related Activities Research Articles

Integrating Virtual Reality Tools into Secondary School Classrooms to Address Gender Gap in STEM Education: An Action Plan

This action plan addresses the gender gap in STEM education by integrating Virtual Reality (VR) tools into secondary school classrooms. Despite various strategies to increase female participation in STEM fields, women remain underrepresented in these areas. The action plan proposes the use of immersive and interactive VR experiences to create more engaging learning environments that may attract a diverse student body, particularly female students. By leveraging the potential of VR to simulate science experiments and other STEM-related activities, this project aims to enhance students' interest and confidence in STEM subjects. A pilot will be conducted in a secondary school, with approximately 50-100 students and a dedicated STEM teaching team. Key strategies include virtual reality technology training for teachers, the design of inclusive STEM curricula, and continuous evaluation through both formative and summative assessments. The expected outcome is that female students will show increased willingness to pursue further study and careers in STEM fields, contributing to long-term reductions in the gender gap in STEM education.

Co-Construction of Iteration Through Failure Moments: Interactions Between Museum Educators and Visitors

Museum educators play a major role in how visitors’ experience failure moments during STEM-related activities. The purpose of this study was to explore how museum educators co-constructed iteration through failure moments with visitors during an engineering activity. Utilizing an instrumental case study, we analyzed video data and one-on-one reflective meetings from five museum educators. Through our analysis, we highlight how educators and visitors are able to jointly attend, interpret, and respond to failures that leads to continuous improvements of the prototype and/or design process (i.e., iteration). The significance of this study lies in providing informal educators with approaches they can incorporate to support visitors during the failure-learning process, namely, strategies that develop visitors’ noticing skills around failure.

Exploring provider perspectives of the STEM club landscape: findings from one Australian state

ABSTRACT STEM clubs, often located in extracurricular settings, are designed to promote engagement and enjoyment of STEM-related topics and concepts. Given the current policy landscape, a closer examination of STEM clubs is warranted. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges presented by these programs by drawing on interviews with nine STEM club providers in Queensland, a state in north-eastern Australia. The study aims to elucidate the key elements perceived to contribute to the effectiveness and success of STEM clubs, whether school-based, library-based, or run by private businesses for profit. Through inductive thematic analysis, three prominent themes emerged: visioning, pedagogical design and intent, and facilitation. The analysis reveals that Queensland's STEM club context presents significant opportunities for authentic STEM learning and teaching, however, it also identifies challenges to be addressed, including recruiting facilitators who possess expertise in STEM knowledge and skills, possess the necessary confidence and ability to design and implement STEM activities, while also being able to engage and connect with student participants effectively. The findings have implications for STEM-related activities in other informal learning environments.

The Value of Support: STEM Intervention Programs Impact Student Persistence and Belonging.

In response to unwaveringly high attrition from STEM pathways, STEM Intervention Programs (SIPs) support STEM students in effort to increase retention. Using mixed methods (survey and focus groups), we studied students at one university who were either supported or unsupported by SIPs to understand how students may differ in experiences believed to contribute to STEM persistence. We evaluated: sense of belonging, scientific self-efficacy, scientific community values, scientific identity, and STEM involvement. The enrollment status of students two and a half years postsurvey was also tracked. SIP students reported significantly higher science identity and sense of belonging and were more involved in STEM-related activities than counterparts unsupported by SIPs. Differences in these measures were correlated with race/ethnicity, college generation status, and age. Notably, SIP students had higher odds of persisting in STEM than students not supported by SIPs. Focus group data provide additional meaning to the measured survey constructs and revealed nuanced qualitative differences between SIP and non-SIP student experiences. Overall, being involved in a SIP at our institution trends positively with theoretical models that explain STEM student persistence. SIPs have the potential to provide and/or facilitate meaningful and critical support, and students without those intentional supports may be left behind.

Yes We Can: Promoting Gender Equality from University to Primary Education Teaching through the Design of Knowledge Models

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are important issues that still need to be addressed, despite some progress in recent years. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to tackle various global challenges, including the 4th (Quality Education) and 5th (Gender Equality) goals that were used to frame an activity in a science education subject in a primary education teaching degree. Previous research has found a decrease in girls’ interest in STEM and STEM-related jobs in primary and secondary education. To encourage girls in primary education towards STEM-related professions, an activity was organized in a science subject at a university in Navarre, Spain. The goal of this activity was to identify inspiring women scientists who could serve as role models for university and primary school students. A knowledge model, which is a concise and graphical representation of knowledge through concept maps, was created using the methodology of knowledge model design (Cañas et al. Revista De Informática Educativa 13:145–158, 2000) to showcase all the women scientists selected by the students. This final model is publicly accessible and can be shared with any educational center interested in promoting gender diversity in STEM fields. The results showed that the students learned meaningfully as they inquired about women scientists in professions that are typically considered more suitable for men. As these students are trainee primary school teachers, they can become part of an educational network that empowers girls by developing STEM-related activities that promote gender equality.

Evaluating System Usability and Acceptance of a Quiz Based Augmented Reality Interaction for Learning Solutions of Electrical Motor

Learning of electrical motor is difficult as it’s understanding requires fundamental knowledge of multidisciplinary concepts such as mechanical, electrical and electromagnetism. At the same instance, the number of enrollment for students pursuing engineering programs in the higher education is declining. In response to this, there is a need to come out with a solution to stimulate the interest of students and improve their confidence in learning the subjected materials. This study proposed the development of an innovative Augmented Reality (AR) interaction environment for learning solutions related to basic principles of electrical motor operations. The AR system is built in Android platform for smartphone suitable to be placed into a virtual reality headset. The corresponding scenarios causing malfunction of the motor are projected as quiz scenario to the participants of the study. The participants are required to come up and select the appropriate solution to identify and troubleshoot the issues based on the appearance and movement of the virtual motor. The interactions between the participants and the developed system are made through vision capturing of the finger movement of the participants using the in-built smartphone camera. Based on the results, the proposed AR system is able to stimulate the interest of the users and applicable to enhance their learning experience and problem analysis skill through the outlined features. Overall, the developed system demonstrated much potential for enhancing the learning experience of engineering education and to attract students to involve in STEM related activities.

The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science Curriculum: ITEST Program Impacts on NYC School Student Scientific Identity

The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration of New York Harbor with New York City Public Schools (BOP-CCERS) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported initiative that involves multiple stakeholder collaborations and is led by Pace University. Within Pace, the initiative crosses over three different schools and colleges and across multiple departments. Pace University’s NSF project of focus in this article is the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. The purpose is to increase student motivation and preparation for pursuing STEM careers. This article presents results of programming to increase student scientific identity. Findings revealed that students in the 11th grade had the highest level of scientific identity compared to other high school grades. These findings indicate that 11th grade may be an ideal timeframe for interventions to improve scientific identity. Moreover, project participants had higher levels of engagement in STEM-related activities, were more likely to watch videos made by scientists, and read articles written by scientists than those in the control group.

The Integration of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (Stem) in Home Science: Teachers' Understanding and Challenges

The integration of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education was introduced in Home Science subjects in the year 2017. It aims to enable Home Science students to be competitive in facing the challenges of the 21st century. However, the integration of STEM was not fully implemented due to time constraint, lack of STEM knowledge, as well as heavy workload among the teachers. This study was conducted to explore the integration of STEM among Home Science teachers. Three research questions were derived. Firstly, by exploring Home Science teachers' understanding of STEM and the challenges faced by them in integrating STEM. This qualitative case study involved three Home Science Teachers in Larut Matang and Selama District, Perak. The research informants were selected by using purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that Home Science teachers understand the concept of STEM integration. They successfully integrate elements of Science and Mathematics, but lack the knowledge to integrate the elements of technology and engineering in Home Science. Only certain topics were chosen to inculcate the STEM elements. Findings also showed that the teachers are not confident in planning STEM projects because there is no guidance and course given to them. Three main challenges faced by the teachers are time constraint, no allocation or budget, and limited creativity to implement STEM projects. The involvement of Home Science teachers in STEM-related activities organised by the District Education Office, State Education Department, or with STEM organisations need to be increased to make sure they get enough exposure to STEM integration in the classroom. Comprehensive training should also be given to Home Science teachers through a continuous Professional Learning Community (PLC) to improve their level of competence in teaching STEM.

STEM Education in Early Years: Challenges and Opportunities in Changing Teachers’ Pedagogical Strategies

In recent years, there have been growing calls to include STEM education in early childhood (EC). This has created new challenges for EC teachers as they try to find ways to integrate STEM content and pedagogical strategies into school-based curricula. This study interviewed 24 EC teachers to understand their roles in implementing STEM education in preschool classrooms. The qualitative interviews explored changes in teachers’ roles and challenges before and after integrating STEM-related activities. The study revealed that the STEM education process is a dynamic one, and that the role of EC teachers is changing from one delivering teacher-centered knowledge to one fostering STEM-related learning in children. The research findings indicate that EC teachers face various challenges when implementing STEM education. The transformation of the teacher’s role during STEM classroom practices when encountering a range of challenges is discussed.

Raising Primary School Boys’ and Girls’ Awareness and Interest in STEM-Related Activities, Subjects, and Careers: An Exploratory Case Study

Internationally, there is an under-supply of intellectual capital to provide for STEM-related employment. One contributing factor is the low number of female students selecting STEM school subjects and careers. Despite the literature recommending students engage in STEM activities earlier, many initiatives are not implemented until high school. This paper reports on an Australian project named MindSET-do which provided students with early positive STEM experiences prior to high school to raise awareness of, interest in, and aspirations for STEM-related subjects and careers. The case study surveyed n = 107 Year 6 boys’ and girls’ interests, ability beliefs and expectations in STEM school subjects and careers. Students’ awareness and interest in STEM-related subjects and careers increased significantly following experiences with inquiry-based STEM activities, χ2(1, n = 107) = 4.57 to 63.67, p < .05. Expectancy for success in mathematics was significantly higher for males than for females (U = 1125, p = .044, r = .2). Expectancy for success in science was slightly lower for the female group, but p > .05. Logistic regression found females were 24 percent less likely to have a positive view of mathematics than males (p = .003). Gender differences in STEM ability versus ability beliefs and expectancies for success are discussed, with recommendations for earlier positive experiences with STEM tasks.

Examining Students’ Perceptions of STEM Subjects and Career Interests: An Exploratory Study among Secondary Students in Hong Kong

To enhance understanding of factors that may improve students’ STEM career participation, we explored Hong Kong secondary students’ self-perceptions of STEM subjects and career interests using the STEM Semantic Survey and Career Interest Survey questionnaire. Results showed that most students thought technology was more appealing than science, mathematics, and engineering subjects. Science was the only subject in which male and female students showed similar attitudes. A gender gap was found in these students’ career interests in STEM. Students held a neutral to mildly positive stance toward a career related to science, technology, and mathematics but had the least interest in a career related to engineering. Males showed more interest than females in careers related to all four subject areas. Results revealed a need to stimulate students’ interest in STEM education and search for ways to make a connection between STEM subjects and future careers through STEM teaching in the classroom. More attention should be paid to encouraging girls to engage in STEM-related activities.

Improving Access to STEM for Girls of Color through Community Programs

Background: Our study examines community youth workers’ perceptions, attitudes, and aspirations regarding the development of STEM programming for girls of color gathered through a focus-group discussion embedded in a professional development workshop. Results: Drawing upon these conversations, we learned that they perceived themselves as not belonging in STEM and as focused primarily on community mental health concerns. Although many of the workers commented about being unprepared to plan or offer STEM programming, they suggested that a collective community effort could be a worthwhile approach for increasing STEM programming for girls of color. Results also revealed that the middle school girls of color being served by the community agencies represented in the sample corroborated these results as they too perceived themselves as not belonging in STEM. However, when probed about how they wanted to spend their out-of-school time, many of the girls who asserted lack of interest or belonging in STEM suggested everyday activities that were, indeed, STEM-based. Conclusions: This pattern of results suggests that persuading girls of color to pursue STEM-related activities outside-of-school requires a reframing that considers their existing interests.

Implementing STEM-related Activities for School Aged Users

Published literature acknowledges the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in various educational institutions and its contributions to the future of a nation’s economy. This paper focuses on successful library STEM-based programs that were undertaken from August to September 2019 for school-aged users in a public library. This paper also explores users’ perceptions in attending STEM-based activities in the library as well as their feedback on how future library programs on STEM could further be improved. These findings seek to provide new perspectives for librarians, educators, teachers, and staff in creating opportunities for STEM-based initiatives in an informal learning environment.

The Supporting Role of Mentees' Peers in Online Mentoring: A Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Peer Influence.

Studies show that online mentoring is an effective measure to support girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), especially if it also allows for networking with other participants on the mentoring platform. However, research is missing on peer influence. This topic seems especially crucial in programs for adolescents as peer influence plays an important role at this age. In our study, we investigated peer influence on mentoring outcomes – confidence in own STEM abilities and STEM-related activities – in an online mentoring program in STEM for secondary school girls (N = 124, M = 14.3 years, SD = 2.2 years, age range: 11–19 years). The program provides girls with at least 1 year of one-on-one interaction with a personal female mentor who has a college degree in a STEM subject. Participants can also interact with other participants on the platform. We used a longitudinal social network analysis approach to examine peer influence on mentoring outcomes. Our results indicate that both mentoring outcomes – mentees’ confidence in own STEM abilities and STEM-related activities – are influenced by peers moderated by the mentees’ own age. Younger mentees tended to become more similar to their peers regarding confidence in own STEM abilities and STEM-related activities, whereas older mentees tended to become more dissimilar over time. In addition, peer group size had a positive effect on confidence in own STEM abilities, but not on STEM-related activities. This effect was moderated by the mentee’s age. Overall, peers have a positive influence on the measured mentoring outcomes, especially for young mentees.

Psyched for STEM: Integrating psychology as a science in elementary education

Policymakers and the public have a complicated view of psychology. Few laypeople think of psychology as a science, which makes it difficult for psychologists to get funding from programs aimed at supporting STEM. The American Psychological Association created a task force to address this and they have recommended goals to enhance psychology’s prominence as a STEM discipline. This includes but is not limited to: improved public understanding of the scientific basis for psychology, increase, through pedagogic collaboration and scholarly engagement, psychology’s involvement with other STEM disciplines, and expand educational resources and opportunities in psychological science. For many adults, there is an implicit and negative stereotype that assumes that you are either a “smart” science person, or you are not, known as a fixed mindset. One way to negate this false attitude from continuing is to engage people early and often regarding the vast range of activities and opportunities that STEM education provides, psychology included. It is important that children have multiple opportunities to engage in STEM related activities throughout their formal education. Evidence is accumulating that this exposure to STEM activities, especially by educators of diverse backgrounds and disciplines, is helping to encourage and build confidence in kids regarding their abilities to pursue STEM related careers (i.e. Draw A Scientist studies). This presentation will discuss implementation and outcomes of a multi-year interdisciplinary and community collaboration of inclusion of psychology as a STEM in an elementary school setting. We will also offer suggestions for future endeavors in meeting the APA taskforce goals.

Preservice Preschool Teachers’ Self-efficacy in and Need for STEM Education Professional Development: STEM Pedagogical Belief as a Mediator

This study analyzed early childhood preservice teachers’ specific components of self-efficacy to provide a more exhaustive comprehension of the relationships among STEM self-efficacy, pedagogical belief, and the self-reported need for professional development (PD). The participants were undergraduate or graduate preservice teachers recruited from the early childhood education department of a university in Taiwan. The research used instruments including the Teacher STEM Self-efficacy Scale, Teacher STEM Pedagogical Belief Scale, and Need for PD Scale to collect the data. In total, 150 preservice preschool teachers completed the survey. MANOVA and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that preservice teachers’ scores on STEM self-efficacy and the three components of self-efficacy were positively correlated with their STEM pedagogical beliefs and self-reported need for PD. Furthermore, affective attitude predicted teachers’ need for PD directly or indirectly through STEM pedagogical belief. In addition, the result indicated that STEM pedagogical belief acted as an intermediary in the association between the two components of self-efficacy (“cognitive concept” and “affective attitude”) and the self-reported need for PD. However, STEM pedagogical belief cannot mediate the relationship between the “equipped skill” component of self-efficacy and the self-reported need for PD. Preservice preschool teachers who had STEM teaching experience, reported interests in STEM, or participated in STEM-related activities had higher levels of STEM self-efficacy in terms of cognitive concept, affective attitude, and equipped skill. Based on these findings, the researchers provide suggestions for future research and practical implications in teacher development program.

Development and application of a scale to measure students’ STEM continuing motivation

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to develop a scale to measure students’ STEM continuing motivation (CM). In accordance with the conceptualisation of CM by Maehr (1976. Continuing motivation: An analysis of a seldom considered educational outcome. Review of Educational Research, 46(3), 443–462. doi:10.3102/00346543046003443), we define STEM CM as students’ tendencies to actively engage in STEM-related activities. The STEM Continuing Motivation Scale was developed from a literature review and student cognitive interviews, and was validated on a sample of 465 Chinese 7th and 8th graders. The results demonstrated that the developed scale had high reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.91) and good validity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that boys had significantly higher STEM CM than girls and there were significant differences in engineering CM among students from different schools. The implications of the findings of this study are also discussed.

Engaging the Community through Science Nights: An Elementary School Case Study.

Parental involvement increases K-12 student interest in STEM careers; however, when parents lack confidence in STEM content, or language and cultural barriers exist, parental engagement decreases. The Teacher Enrichment Initiatives (TEI) collects annual teacher feedback regarding the level of parental involvement with students during science nights, which laid the foundation for teachers to develop a science night training. Using qualitative methods, this single-case study follows elementary teachers who participated in the TEI science night training as they implement a Science Night program at a majority-minority elementary school. Data were gathered by TEI staff during the inaugural and third year of the Science Night program showing an increase in attendance from 700 (2016) to 800 (2018) and an increase in parental engagement with their student in STEM-related activities from 46% (2016) to 62% (2018). The data and follow-up summary were used by the case study school teachers to write and secure grants to support an annual Science Night program. This case study suggests Science Nights can be a mechanism to promote parental engagement with their student in hands-on STEM activities. Further, this case study suggests teacher feedback and inclusion in developing a science night model is central to successful implementation of a science night program.

Foregrounding backstage activities for engaging children in a FabLab for STEM education

Abstract To tackle the worldwide shortage of graduates with a STEM diploma, governments are allocating funds to STEM education. This article focuses on the potential of FabLabs in relation to STEM education for non-expert users; more specifically, children of 6–16 years old. We describe two case studies – ‘Wa Make?’ and ‘Making Things!’ – that are part of a long-term process of engaging local non-expert users in FabLab Genk. Although the goal of the two cases was the same (i.e. getting children acquainted with a FabLab), their setups differed completely. By comparing the two cases, we address the importance of backstage activities for engaging non-expert users in STEM-related activities in FabLabs and report on the different front- and backstage activities that we undertook in both case studies. We discuss how focusing on these backstage activities resulted in us moving away from the ‘30-minute workshop model’ to engage non-expert users in FabLab Genk in the long-term. We also report on how it urged us to thoroughly reflect upon the roles that adults (i.e. the researchers, youth workers, teachers, etc.) take on in STEM-related activities in FabLab. With our article we aim to provide handlebars for engaging children in a FabLab for STEM educational purposes, through foregrounding backstage activities. By doing so, this paper advocates to consider FabLabs as more than merely technical infrastructures and to foreground the importance of backstage activities in processes to engage non-expert users in STEM education.

Making an impact: The effects of game making on creativity and spatial processing

For decades, researchers have tried to understand how to guide students to both pursue and excel in a career in the fields science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Recently, creativity has been recognized as being important in STEM-based fields and some researchers have even suggested a shift from STEM to STEAM to account for the artistic side of science (Boy, 2013; Henriksen, 2014). Creative capacities augment scientific endeavors given the role these capacities play in problem-solving and innovation. Our work focuses on identifying a method to improve both creativity and spatial abilities, as spatial ability predicts the likelihood to succeed in a STEM field (Wai et al., 2009). Some scientists found that making computer games provides students with an introduction to computer science and technology through an engaging, self-driven platform. While this technique has been successful in sparking interest in STEM careers (Javidi & Sheybani, 2010; Robertson & Howells, 2008), little research has been conducted on how it impacts STEM success. We examined if game-making could lead to cognitive improvement in creativity and spatial abilities in addition to its attitudinal effects. Using a longitudinal, pretest/post-test design, we found that making levels in Portal 2 improved creative and spatial abilities over a control. Participants who made levels also reported being more interested and confident in a variety of STEM-related activities. We conclude that game-making can be used as an engaging way to not only encourage students to pursue, but prepare them to succeed in STEM careers.