2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Pathways to STEM Interest among High School Girls: Insights from the Women in Science and Technology Conference in Biobío, Chile

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Technical Session 1

A 2024 study by the Chilean Ministry of Education revealed a 37.6% gender gap in first-year enrollment in STEM programs, with technological fields such as electrical engineering showing only 11.6% female participation. In light of this gap, it is essential to foster initiatives that promote young women’s interest in science and technology, offering early experiences and female role models to challenge stereotypes and broaden career aspirations. In this context, the School of Engineering of a well-known private university in Chile organized the “Women in Science and Technology Conference in Biobío,” designed to engage high school girls through workshops and talks led by women leaders in STEM fields. To explore participants’ perceptions after the event, we used a validated scale grounded in expectancy-value and self-efficacy frameworks, designed to identify early STEM vocations. The scale measures four aspects of students’ attitudes toward science: enjoyment, utility, self-efficacy, and interest in STEM careers. The last aspect indicates students’ future orientation and the perceived effectiveness of outreach efforts. Data were collected through a single post-event survey administered to 109 participants in the 2025 conference edition. The participants were female students from 10 different high schools and aged between 16 and 18. Descriptive and correlational analyses were complemented by a stepwise path analysis, which tested whether enjoyment, perceived utility, and self-efficacy predicted professional interest in science and technology. Results highlight the mediating role of enjoyment over the perceived utility in linking self-efficacy with professional interest in science. The study demonstrates how motivation and expectancy-value factors influence girls' interest in STEM and highlights the role of targeted outreach in promoting science and technology careers. Despite its single-measure limitation, it contributes to the research on reducing gender gaps in STEM by examining how short-term interventions can influence long-term career goals.

Authors

Prof. Camila Zapata-Casabon Universidad Andres Bello [biography]

Master in Marketing and Market Research from the University of Barcelona, Spain. Industrial Civil Engineer from the Universidad del Bío-Bío. She has three diplomas in the areas of coaching, digital marketing and equality and empowerment of women. Her professional experience is linked to higher education as a project engineer and university management in the public and private area. Teacher at different universities in matters of entrepreneurship, business plans and marketing. She currently works as a teacher and academic secretary at the Faculty of Engineering of the Andrés Bello University. The areas of research interest are the impact, relationship and integration of the gender perspective within communications and marketing in the various areas of development, digital marketing and content marketing.
Prof. Marcela Cárdenas Universidad Andres Bello [biography]

Marcela Cárdenas, has a Master in Human Resources Management and Management Skills from the Universidad del Bio Bio, Chile, Bachelor of Business from the Universidad de las Américas, Chile, and Auditor Accountant from the Universidad de Concepción, Chile. She has more than 15 years of experience in the industry, in the areas of management, accounting planning, human resources and Administration. She is a teacher with 10 years of experience in universities in the areas of administration and human resources, giving classes to undergraduate, advanced, and postgraduate students. She is currently the Administrative Secretary of the School of Engineering of the Andrés Bello University.
Prof. Maria Elena Truyol http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1153-4967 Universidad Andres Bello [biography]

María Elena Truyol, Ph.D., is full professor and researcher of the Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB). She graduated as a physics teacher (for middle and high school), physics (M.Sc.), and a Ph.D. in Physics at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. In 2013, she obtained a three-year postdoctoral position at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. She focuses on educational research, physics education, problem solving, instructional material design, teacher training, and gender studies. She teaches undergraduate courses in environmental management, energy, and the fundamentals of industrial processes at the School of Engineering, UNAB. She currently coordinates the Educational and Academic Innovation Unit at the School of Engineering (UNAB). She is engaged in continuing teacher training in active learning methodologies at the three campuses of the School of Engineering (Concepción, Viña del Mar, and Santiago, Chile). She authored several manuscripts in the science education area, joined several research projects, participated in international conferences with oral presentations and keynote lectures, and served as a referee for journals, funding institutions, and associations.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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