Investigating Female Students’ Stem-Related Attitudes, Engagement and Work-Intentions When Involved in a University Workshop Initiative

Abstract

Encouraging females to engage in and pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and vocations are key priorities for stakeholders and primary aims of the Australian Government-funded STEM in Situ (WISE 2016-18) project. Using a researcher-designed student survey by two of the authors, this article reports on the STEM-related attitudes, engagement and vocational intentions of female students involved in the project. The research survey developed for the project collected data in 2017-8 from 221 female students in Years 5-9 (11 to 16 years of age) from various public schools in Australia. Factor analytic and repeated measures t-tests data analysis techniques were used to explore the factor structure of the survey items and to examine students’ STEM-related attitudes, engagement and future work intentions both before and after their participation in the STEM in Situ project. The findings highlight the outcomes of the STEM in Situ workshops upon female students attitudes and engagements with STEM careers. The findings have the potential to inform future policies related to STEM interventions for young women.