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The increasing concern in North America regarding the workforce’s ability to maintain a competitive position in the global economy has led to an increased interest in effective science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of engaging in STEM project-based learning (PBL) activities on students’ mathematical problem-solving beliefs (PSB) and their perceptions towards SEM subjects and STEM careers. The data were collected using mathematical problem-solving belief and STEM semantics surveys. Participants ( n = 68) were secondary students who participated in a STEM summer camp in which STEM PBL activities were utilized. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-sample t tests, 95% confidence intervals, Cohen’s d effect sizes, and linear regression. Results showed that students increased their mathematical PSB ( p < .001, d = .50) and perceptions towards science ( p < .001, d = .68), engineering ( p = .002, d = .56), mathematics ( p = .015, d = .42), and STEM careers ( p < .001, d = .86). Additionally, the linear regression analysis revealed that students’ mathematical PSB predicted their STEM career perceptions positively and statistically significantly ( p < .05). These results support providing students with STEM PBL activities to increase their PSB and perceptions towards SEM subjects and STEM careers. Educators should utilize the results to provide opportunities for students to experience STEM PBL activities.

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Problem-posing activities have been shown to motivate students' learning while promoting a multifaceted and interesting educational environment. Moreover, these activities enable students to be engaged in personal interpretations of their own mathematical thinking. The purpose of this study was to determine if using a handson learning intervention with multiple representations could improve students' problem-posing skills. The researchers examined the answers of the participants (n = 14) with the greatest increase in scores from pre to posttest after participating in 20 problem-posing intervention activities to determine how the intervention allowed students to pose valid, real-world semi-structured problems. The researchers qualitatively analyzed the posed problems for logical real-world contexts and the alignment of the setup of each problem to determine if the students' posed problems were logical and solvable. Results from this study confirm that students were able to build stronger understanding of mathematical content when they were engaged in authentic problem-posing activities that were meaningful to them. Thus, teachers need to include purposeful and focused problem-posing activities into their classroom lessons.

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