The role of media in influencing students’ STEM career interest

Abstract

Background Digital media are pervasive in the lives of young people and provide opportunities for them to learn about STEM. Multiple theories argue that the STEM media environment may shape how youth see a STEM career in their future. Yet, little is known about how pre-college digital media consumption may be related to students’ STEM career interest at the beginning of college. The wide variety of STEM media also raises the question of potentially different effects and pathways by media type. In this study, we collected a nationally representative sample of more than 15,000 students in their first year in U.S. colleges and universities. We asked about their career interests at the beginning of college and also asked them to retrospectively report their STEM media consumption during high school. Results We found that watching STEM-related TV and online videos, as well as playing STEM-related video games during high school, were positively associated with students’ STEM career interests at the beginning of college. However, we also found that STEM media consumption did not impact directly on STEM career interest, but acted through two intermediaries: STEM identity (I and others see me as a STEM person) and three personal career outcome expectations: a high interest in self-development (enhancement and use of talents), and low interests in material status (money, fame, power) and in interpersonal relationships (helping, and working with, other people). Conclusions This study finds that STEM media have a significant effect in fostering STEM career interest, with most of the effect coming from STEM TV, STEM video viewing, and STEM video games. The effect is mediated mainly through students’ identity and, to a lesser extent, through personal values, such as self-development, material, and interpersonal relationship values. This study suggests that media communication should be mindful of how different platforms may deliver nuanced and varied messages of what STEM careers may afford and who can succeed in STEM.

A review of undergraduate research programs aimed at underrepresented students

“…Currently, the rate at which students may be interested in STEM may be transformed by their viewing of STEM media (e.g., television shows, video games, and other popular media), which positively affects students’ identity without modulating STEM career interest. 114 Nonetheless, this suggests that how students view STEM in the coming years may continue to be morphed. Thus, research programs must continue to readily adapt to appeal to students and adequately expose them to a representative view of pursuing STEM fields.…”

#WomenInSTEM: exploring self-presentation of identity on Instagram

“…This extension [Herrera et al, 2012] describes and underscores the interactions among compounded social identities and highlights the potential influence of media (i.e., non-STEM contexts) on STEM identity formation. Understanding STEM identity is important because it has been shown to be related to STEM interest, persistence in STEM fields, and choice of STEM careers [Aschbacher, Ing & Tsai, 2014;Brickhouse, Lowery & Schultz, 2000;Chen et al, 2023;Hazari et al, 2010;Tan, Calabrese Barton, Kang & O'Neill, 2013;Vincent-Ruz & Schunn, 2018].…”

“…More recent research has begun to explore the impact that informal (non-school) STEM and at-home STEM experiences [Cian, Dou, Castro, Palma-D'souza & Martinez, 2022;Dabney, Chakraverty & Tai, 2013;Dou, Hazari, Dabney, Sonnert & Sadler, 2019] and media [Chen et al, 2023] have on STEM identity development.…”

“…While women's representation in STEM fields has improved in recent years, women comprise only 35 percent of the STEM workforce and are still underrepresented in computer science, engineering, physics, and mathematics [NCSES, 2023]. Examining images of women in STEM on social media is important because prior research focused on traditional media has found that media images influence girls' perceptions of STEM professionals [Miller, Nolla, Eagly & Uttal, 2018], internalization of gender-stereotyped views that promote STEM careers as more appropriate for men [Cheryan & Markus, 2020;Prieto-Rodriguez et al, 2022], identification with STEM professionals [Steinke, Applegate, Penny & Merlino, 2022;Steinke et al, 2007], and STEM identity, which has indirect effects on STEM career interest [Chen, Hardjo, Sonnert, Hui & Sadler, 2023]. Thus, social media may be important for providing adolescent girls with access to more inclusive images of STEM professionals as well as strategies for identifying with STEM and overcoming challenges related to gender bias they may experience in STEM settings.…”

The Impact of Technological Transformation on Career Choices in the Stem Sector

“…In addition, the lack of comparative and cross-cultural studies makes the results of existing research unable to be broadly generalized. This signals the need for more focused and in-depth research to fill this gap, especially to understand how digital technologies affect perceptions and career planning in STEM fields (Chen et al, 2023).…”