Short and long term impact of a high-tech STEM intervention on pupils’ attitudes towards technology

Abstract

The immediate and retention effects of a high-tech learning intervention on pupils' attitudes towards technologyAbstract STEM presents a challenge to education at large. The enrollment numbers in higher education STEM tracks are ever-decreasing numbers all around the globe. More so, young people's interest in and attitudes towards STEM seem to be free falling. Educational interventions that can help boost the attractiveness of STEM are therefore needed, and diverse such interventions are implemented worldwide. We present a longitudinal impact study of a STEM education intervention focusing on the attitudes of pupils towards technology. The intervention involves young students visiting a high-tech truck (Techno Trailer) at their schools. Inside this truck grade 5 and 6 students (average age 11 years) experience diverse interactions with high tech material and exhibits, focusing on how technology can contribute to solving problems in industry and society. 1496 elementary school students aged 10-12 years old (grades 5 and 6) participated in the study. Some of their teachers were prepared for the visit through a preparatory workshop, while others were not. We used the PATT to measure the pupil's attitudes towards technology. Three separate measurement occasions were included: just before, three days after and three weeks after the intervention. Differences between the measurement occasions reflect changes in attitudes over time. Overall, the study shows that the intervention rendered technology as less boring, more interesting and more viable as a career option for the pupils. For girls specifically, the intervention contributed to reversing the gender stereotypical view that technology is mainly a topic for boys. For boys we did not observer such an effect. The immediate educational impacts (three days later) tended to decrease across time but most remained significant (three weeks later) as compared to the base line. The results of this study show that short-term high-tech STEM education interventions can positively impact on students' attitudes towards technology. At the same time, they show that such interventions in themselves are not enough and that they need to be part of a wider strategy to boost STEM attractiveness. Furthermore, our results highlight the added value of the preparatory workshop for teachers in terms of generating educational impact on pupils' attitudes towards technology.

A systematic review of the factors affecting girls' participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects

“…[47,81,131,133,151] Behavior Collaboration • Providing supplemental hands-on training sessions. [17] Behavior Competence • Motivate teachers, in particular those teaching nonacademic tracks. [142] Behavior Confidence • Improved confidence through the use of geospatial technologies.…”

“…[ 65,161,173] Interest • Early exposure to meaningful experiences and encourage an out-of-school program that engages authentic STEM experiences. [17,55,151] Self-concept • Disentangle instrumental and expressive aspects of gender inequality in STEM fields. [60] Note: [ 90,91,135] Parental involvement • Encourage the importance of discouraging the use of stereotypes about careers among young children.…”

My Daughter a STEM-career? ‘Rather not’ or ‘No problem’? A case study

“…Boeve-De Pauw and colleagues (2020) also found that even a one-day intervention (visiting technology and science workshops) can have a positive impact on girls' interest in a STEM career. By focusing more on design and technology workshops and making them more accessible to girls by letting them develop their own design, opportunities can be created to make the hard sciences more attractive (Ardies et al, 2015b;Boeve-De Pauw et al, 2020).…”

Higher education and science popularization: Can they achieve coordinated growth?

“…In addition, local higher education system occupies a certain proportion of the limited local resources such as labor resources, financial resources, land resources, etc., which squeezes the resources of science popularization and hinders the growth of science popularization [ 24 ]. What is more, some elements of higher education may hinder the attractiveness of science popularization activities; for instance, some academic research articles written by university faculties are unintelligible and obscure, which decreases the enthusiasm of public to science and technology, reduces the effects of science popularization activities, and increases the difficulty of science popularization work [ 10 , 25 ]. Besides, it is found that improper planning or tactics of higher education development decreases the effectiveness and successfulness of science popularization, thus higher education institutions should make use of science popularization activities wisely and properly [ 26 ].…”