2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 148: A Qualitative Study of Factors Influencing K-12 Students' Interest in STEM Career (Fundamentals)

Presented at Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Poster Session

Driving the US economy and technological advancement depends heavily on the STEM labor force with a higher education degree. To increase the recruitment of K-12 students into the STEM discipline in college, there is a need to study what factors influence their interest in STEM careers in recent times. In this paper, the researchers explored what influences K-12 students’ interest in STEM careers using semi-structured interviews conducted during an engineering summer camp.

The camp was held at a local state university in the mountain west region and was funded by the Department of Education’s GEARUP program. The camp enabled students to better understand STEM and what engineers do. The students worked in teams and engaged in various engineering activities as part of the camp. This camp focused on building two types of rockets, launching, adjusting the design, and relaunching. The activities were designed to simulate real product design, starting with an idea, then preliminary design and testing, then a final design.

Data collected for this research came from the summer engineering camp in the summer of 2022. The qualitative data collected via semi-structured interviews were thematically analyzed using MAXQDA 2022 qualitative analysis software. The researchers aimed for intercoder reliability of 0.8. Themes from the analyzed data show that motivation, experiential learning, social influence, engineering camps, and science fairs are major factors influencing K-12 students' interest in STEM careers. Therefore, high-school teachers are encouraged to use project-based and problem-based learning in STEM classrooms. In addition, high school administrators are encouraged to organize STEM outreach and program where high school students can meet STEM-like-minded friends while bonding with family.

Authors

Tristan Robert Straight Wartburg College
Jennah Meyer Wartburg College
Dr. Ibukun Samuel Osunbunmi http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-7821-9059 Utah State University - Engineering Education [biography]

Ibukun Samuel Osunbunmi is an Assistant Research Professor, and Assessment and Instructional Specialist at Pennsylvania State University. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Engineering Education from Utah State University. Also, he has BSc and MSc degrees in mechanical engineering. His research interests include student engagement, design thinking, learning environment, evidence-based pedagogy, e-learning, broadening participation in STEM education, sustainable energy, and material characterization. This work was conducted while he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University, Logan, USA.
Bolaji Ruth Bamidele Utah State University
Murad Musa Mahmoud http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7810-6046 Wartburg College [biography]

Murad is an Assistant Professor at the Engineering Science Department at Wartburg College. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Utah State University. Research interests include recruitment into STEM, diversity in STEM as well pedagogy and instruc
Prof. Kurt Henry Becker Utah State University - Engineering Education [biography]

Kurt Becker is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University. His research includes engineering design thinking, systems engineering, engineering education professional development, technical training, and adult learning cognition. He is currently working on a USAID funded project in Egypt, “Center of Excellence in Water”, and Department of Education funded GEARUP projects in the area of STEM education related to engineering education. He has extensive international experience working on technical training and engineering projects funded by the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Countries where he has worked include Armenia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Thailand. In addition, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in engineering education for the department.
Dr. Jonathan D. Phillips Utah State University

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