The Effectiveness of Using Young Professionals to Influence STEM Career Choices of Secondary School Students

Abstract

There is a concern in many countries that secondary school student interest in careers in the STEM areas is declining. In response, a program has been developed in New Zealand for young professional technologists, engineers and scientists (known as ambassadors) to visit schools and carry out a variety of interventions to educate and encourage students to choose STEM careers. The interventions include careers talks and classroom activities, organized by regional facilitators who are employed by the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) to co-ordinate the programme across New Zealand. The goal of this research was to ascertain whether ambassador interventions are influential on students’ attitudes to careers and curriculum choices in school. The objectives were 1) To investigate the impact of the interventions on students’ views and perceptions of STEM careers; and 2) To discover any specific factors that must also exist in a given context for an intervention to be effective. The main finding was that the ambassador interventions were influential on student career decision processes, though not all students were influenced. The facilitators work effectively in recruiting, training, organizing and supporting the ambassadors, and the ambassadors belief in the value of what they are doing helps ensure effective interventions. The research outcomes are presented as a range of recommendations.

Effectivenss Computational Thinking Tecniques on Student Interest to STEM Subject

“…Still, Wing's hurdles in proposing the concept of computational thinking introduced to teachers' educators show an educators concept analogy that helps undermine the quality of educator services Voogt et al (2015) computational thinking refers to the thought process in helping to complete complex problem solving, generalizing and moving to the solution process, which crystallizes on computational systems. This computational thinking technique is embodied in the interpretation of education in New Zealand and Australia, influencing students' interest in the attitude and school curriculum (Williams & Mangan, 2016). Conferring (Najibulla et al, 2018), computational thinking techniques also help solve problems and find solutions based on the formative formulas introduced by (Selby & Woollard, 2013), namely decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, evaluation, and algorithm thinking, where it can be practised according to the suitability of the young as proposed by Wing in her argument.…”

“…Various tools and scales in measuring learning attitudes covering a wide range of fields, and many researchers evaluate computational thinking as distinct part of thinking Skills, which provides creative dimension, cooperation, problem solving, critical thinking and algorithm thinking (Sun et al, 2021). In New Zealand, the marketability of graduates from engineering is a bit worrying as only 6 per cent succeed; the weakness of young people's understanding of STEM's importance drive efforts in enhancing equity and influence in building positive values by assessing the impact of interventions on STEM subject interests and influential factor discovers (Williams & Mangan, 2016). In addition, Wang et al (2021) computational thinking and STEM concept operations are different from the tools and skill aspects of would suggestion on education; however, in applying computational thinking techniques in STEM education, they need to be appropriate in their respective fields to achieve practical domains solution.…”

Evaluation of STEM-Aligned Teaching Practices for Gifted Mathematics Teachers

“…Learning using the STEM approach is based on a philosophy that involves employing educational activities and projects to help stimulate learners' thinking and enable them to acquire scientific knowledge and apply it in solving problems in real-world situations, eventually achieving a connection between the school, society, and the labor market (Williams and Mangan, 2016). Among the most important justifications for the interest in STEM education are the following (see Carroll, 2015;Koch et al, 2018;Mansour and El-Deghaidy, 2015):…”

Gender Inequality and Science Education: Comparison with Brazilian Students in PISA and ENEM

“…Large companies in the field of engineering are looking for male workers (Sanchis-Segura et al, 2018). Gender differences in career interests also contribute to women's underrepresentation in fields such as mathematics and the natural sciences (Pitan & Atiku, 2017;Williams & Mangan, 2016;Sardenberg, 2001;Lopes, 1998).…”