TY - JOUR
T1 - STEMChoice
AU - Youngblood, Terrance Denard
AU - Yeter, Ibrahim Halil
AU - Williams, Casey Michael
AU - Burley, Hansel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016.
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/6/26
Y1 - 2016/6/26
N2 - On a national scale, there has been a call for improved instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at all educational levels. In addition, claims have been made regarding the lack of a viable STEM workforce in certain critical areas. Consequently, many resources have been devoted to encouraging and motivating students in the secondary levels to pursue a STEM-related career. This paper is centered on the efforts of an inquiry-based, STEM educational program that uses the conception, design, production, and deployment of rockets as a way to teach and improve students STEM-related workforce skills. The target population included high school students in one state in the southern region of the United States. Program evaluation data were collected via a student questionnaire grounded on two theories: Social Career Cognitive Theory (SCCT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Based on program data collected during the 2014-2015 academic year, this paper will examine the effectiveness of the program in motivating students to pursue a STEM career, using the theoretical lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). The following research question will be addressed: which factors help predict student intentions to pursue a STEM career upon graduation of high school? A stepwise multiple regression model was established to predict students' inclination to choose a STEM career. Findings suggest a viable model which accounted for the most amount of variability in students' inclination to pursue a STEM career, R =.40, F (4, 444) =20.885, p <.01. The predictors within this model were focused on teamwork, overall student evaluation of the program, and problem solving.
AB - On a national scale, there has been a call for improved instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at all educational levels. In addition, claims have been made regarding the lack of a viable STEM workforce in certain critical areas. Consequently, many resources have been devoted to encouraging and motivating students in the secondary levels to pursue a STEM-related career. This paper is centered on the efforts of an inquiry-based, STEM educational program that uses the conception, design, production, and deployment of rockets as a way to teach and improve students STEM-related workforce skills. The target population included high school students in one state in the southern region of the United States. Program evaluation data were collected via a student questionnaire grounded on two theories: Social Career Cognitive Theory (SCCT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Based on program data collected during the 2014-2015 academic year, this paper will examine the effectiveness of the program in motivating students to pursue a STEM career, using the theoretical lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). The following research question will be addressed: which factors help predict student intentions to pursue a STEM career upon graduation of high school? A stepwise multiple regression model was established to predict students' inclination to choose a STEM career. Findings suggest a viable model which accounted for the most amount of variability in students' inclination to pursue a STEM career, R =.40, F (4, 444) =20.885, p <.01. The predictors within this model were focused on teamwork, overall student evaluation of the program, and problem solving.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84983334783&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:84983334783
VL - 2016-June
JO - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
JF - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
SN - 2153-5965
Y2 - 26 June 2016 through 29 June 2016
ER -