How do engineering attitudes vary by gender and motivation? Attractiveness of outreach science exhibitions in four countries

The role of self-determination in informal and formal science learning contexts

“…According to meta-studies (Rennie 2014) and research literature, science centre and museum education has strong motivational effects (Braund and Reiss 2007;Rennie et al 2003;Salmi 2012). Also, the effect on knowledge learning has proven to be meaningful (Rennie 2014;Salmi et al 2016), and there is clear evidence that science centre pedagogy advances attitudes (Osborne and Dillon 2008;Thuneberg et al 2017) and career choices (Tan and Subramaniam 2003).…”

“…Moreover, science interests differentiate according to gender as well as to age (Jidesjö 2008(Jidesjö , 2012. However, the science centre learning situation has been shown to enhance learning in addition to reducing the knowledge achievement gap between girls and boys or different achievers (Ainley et al 2002a;Salmi et al 2016;Zoldasova and Prokop 2006).…”

“…In particular, we were interested in identifying similarities and differences in motivational and learning factors between the boys and girls because several earlier studies indicated gender equal results in informal learning environments compared with formal education (Doppelt 2004;Rennie 2014). This comparison is essential because, according research (Salmi et al 2016), science centres also have turned out to encourage boys and girls towards unconventional educational aspirations and to gain positive cognitive and affective results . In order to identify the role of motivational factors, it was necessary to control the role of cognition and reasoning, which was achieved by using a visual reasoning ability (Raven) test in this study.…”

Do Female Motives for Enrolling Vary According to STEM Profile?

“…This problem is common in other parts of the 68 world [1], [2]. Burchell et al [3] states that STEM studies are 69 predominantly undertaken by men; women make up 24% of 70 all professionals engaged in science and engineering.…”

Engineering Technology Students - How do They Compare to Other STEM Students?

“…Students majoring in STEM fields, while increasing in diversity, need to represent diversity in the same numbers as what is represented in the national population. [7][8][9] The challenge has been taken on by various groups and organizations [10][11][12] , without understanding the effect of their efforts. Often a true demographic of these students is not understood, leaving organizers with generalizations based upon activities and interactions in the informal setting.…”