Potential Factors to Enhance Students' STEM College Learning and Career Orientation

Abstract

In this study, we highlight the importance of high school students having a college-attending and career-ready mindset in STEM fields. With this purpose, we adopted a stepwise multiple regression analysis to determine which variables are significant predictors of students' STEM college learning and career orientation. The participants were 1,105 high school students from nine randomly selected high schools across greater Houston Texas. Forty-two percent of the variance on STEM college learning and career orientation as an outcome variable can be explained by six predictor variables: (a) parental involvement; (b) STEM related activities engagement; (c) academic experience; (d) teacher effective pedagogy; (e) technology/facilities; and (f) self-esteem.The results indicate that when students received support from teachers and parents, they could develop more positive attitudes toward future post-secondary education and career pathways in STEM fields.

Investigation of factors influencing career choice among STEM undergraduates in Nigeria universities

“…The study recommended that occasional disengagement from rigorous academic engagement (unsupervised activities, gaming, and carelessness) hold the possibility of predicting and can avail actionable data for stakeholders to integrate early interventions to encouraging learners in taking up careers in STEM. Rivera and Li (2020) study randomly sampled one thousand, one hundred and five respondents to investigate significant predictors of STEM college learning and career orientation through multiple regression analysis across high schools in Houston Texas. In the study, 42% variance was revealed as STEM college learning and career orientation among six outcome predicting variables, which include STEM related activities engagement, technology/facilities, parental influence, academic experience, self-esteem and effective teacher pedagogy.…”

“…While there are global, national and domestic efforts to encourage students to study STEM related disciplines for over three decades, the projection in terms of expertise have been well speculated and funded to propel emerging learners (Litchtenberger & Casey, 2018;National Science Board, 2017;OECD, 2019b;Peña-Calvo et al, 2016). Governments and stakeholders have budgeted significantly to ensure the gap between demand and supply is remediated with little success on record now (Nasir et al, 2022;Rivera & Li, 2020;Tan et al, 2021).…”

Utilizing Environmental Analytical Chemistry to Establish Culturally Appropriate Community Partnerships

“…Within the NACP, EAC has helped to destigmatize science and STEM for many AI/AN and minority individuals, one of the commonly cited barriers to STEM [125]. Dozens of students have been mentored through the NACP partnership using the lens of EAC methodologies to understand how environmental contaminants effect human and ecosystem health.…”

An idea to explore: Engaging high school students in structure‐function studies of bacterial sortase enzymes and inhibitors ‐ A comprehensive computational experimental pipeline

“…Early and consistent exposure to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) leads to increased career choices in these fields. 2,3 Six predictor variables were recently identified that support STEM college learning and career orientation in high school students, including: parental involvement, STEM related activities engagement, academic experience, teacher effective pedagogy, technology/facilities, and self-esteem. 3 Of these, university professors can directly contribute to STEM-related activities engagement by acting as advisors for voluntary high school science fair projects.…”

“…2,3 Six predictor variables were recently identified that support STEM college learning and career orientation in high school students, including: parental involvement, STEM related activities engagement, academic experience, teacher effective pedagogy, technology/facilities, and self-esteem. 3 Of these, university professors can directly contribute to STEM-related activities engagement by acting as advisors for voluntary high school science fair projects. High school science fairs can be competitive or non-competitive and occur at several levels.…”