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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Fascinating or dull? Female students’ attitudes towards STEM subjects and careers
Frontiers in Psychology, Vol.13, pp.1-16
2022
PMCID: PMC9558732
PMID: 36248500
Abstract
Internationally, the need to advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is recognized as being vital for meeting social and economic challenges and developing a scientifically, mathematically, and technologically literate citizenry. In many countries, however, there are gender differences in the participation and achievement of girls and women in STEM education and STEM careers, usually to the disadvantage of females. This paper aims to identify challenges to female students’ participation in STEM both at post-primary (secondary school) level and beyond in the Irish context. The research questions we aim to address in this paper are: (1) what are student attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics as measured through interest and perceived ability in STEM, students’ valuing of STEM and students’ commitment to STEM? and (2) what gender differences occur regarding students’ attitudes to science, technology, engineering and mathematics? A survey was completed by 308 post-primary students in Ireland as part of a one-year research project titled “STEMChAT: Women as catalysts for change in STEM education.” Data analysis compiled descriptive statistics, including response frequencies and percentages and median and interquartile range values, and compared gender differences in survey responses using the Kruskal–Wallis H Test. Results indicated that female students had significantly more positive attitudes to science compared to males while in comparison, males had significantly more positive responses to mathematics compared to females. Challenges regarding access to and understanding of STEM in the context of post-primary education are discussed.
Details
- Title
- Fascinating or dull? Female students’ attitudes towards STEM subjects and careers
- Authors
- Ciara Lane (Corresponding Author) - University of LimerickSila Kaya-Capocci (Author) - Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen UniversityRegina Kelly (Author) - University of LimerickTracey O’Connell (Author) - University of LimerickMerrilyn Goos (Author) - University of Limerick
- Publication details
- Frontiers in Psychology, Vol.13, pp.1-16
- Publisher
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.959972
- ISSN
- 1664-1078
- PMID
- 36248500; PMC9558732
- Copyright note
- © 2022 Lane, Kaya-Capocci, Kelly, O’Connell and Goos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Education and Tertiary Access
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99984379002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Psychology, Multidisciplinary
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