Does Improving Awareness in STEM Careers Increase Interest in Pursuing STEM Careers?

Aaron Pidek, Anna Ptasznik, Caleb Petersen, Emily Schreiner, Susan Nicholson-Dykstra, William Thielke, Danny Vais
Noyce Teacher Team, University of Colorado at Boulder Northglenn High School

Background

The STEM Problem

Urban, public high school

Inaugural year of STEM focus

Guiding Question:
How can we increase the number of students entering STEM careers?
Research Question:
Will increased exposure to STEM careers increase student interest in and awareness of
STEM careers?

Incoming students are combination of traditional,

neighborhood students and students who choicedin(*) for the STEM program

All 9th grade students required to take algebra-based, College

Preparatory Physics

Approximately 500 9th grade students participating in research

study

35.2% Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL)

27%+ English Language Learners (ELLs)

Nationally, there has been a stagnant rate of American students entering STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math) careers. According to STEMConnector.org, the number of high school graduates looking
to pursue a STEM career in 2001 was 26%, and currently remains at 26%. According to a 2011 survey by
Microsoft, nearly 78% of current STEM majors decided to study STEM while in high school or earlier, indicating
the importance of engaging student interest in STEM at the high school level.
As a STEM high school, one of our goals is to encourage students to explore and enter these fields. Based on
anecdotal evidence from our science classrooms, we suspect that a majority of high school students do not
know the reality of STEM careershow they are associated with their current science classes, what types of
training is required for each, and what specific careers actually entail.

Research Treatment

% Student Responses
(n=501)

STEM
Career Research

100
80
60
40
20

Male

Percentage of Students
who Agree (n=501)

Students research a
STEM career of
their choice
Students present
their findings to
classmates

Survey of
STEM
Career
Interests

Breakdown of STEM Career

Interest by Gender
68.6

Students research barriers

preventing students from pursing
STEM careers
Students develop a solution for
increasing STEM career interest in
teenagers
Students presented their findings to
an expert panel of teachers and
education experts

Students complete reflection

after each career presentation
Interest level for career
presented
Barriers to entering
specific career
Ways that career could be
more enticing

52.2 53.9

Male

Survey of
STEM
Career
Interests

Students work in teams to

develop product that uses
physics to reduce sports injury
Each student approaches
problem from specific career
lens (medical, physicist,
engineer, marketing specialist)

Figure 11. Students indicated how they felt about their ability to influence change after doing the
presentations on creating a solution to the STEM problem. The majority of students at 64% felt
that they could make a difference locally for the STEM problem.

Figure 12. The 304 students that took the post survey explained what they thought was most valuable
in doing the STEM research/presentations. Tagxedo was used to diagram the most common word
responses as largest and the less common words in their responses as smaller words.

Finding: Interest in Pursuing STEM Career

Finding: STEM Career Awareness

Awareness of STEM careers increased through the treatment process.
Students self identified awareness and/or excitements for STEM careers increased by 92% as shown in Figure 3. Students also
identified what they felt was most valuable in doing their STEM presentations and 61% identified a reason relating to knowledge
of career opportunities in STEM while 13% identified the most valuable thing was increasing their awareness in the need for
people to pursue STEM careers (Figures 5 and 6).

It cannot be concluded that interest in STEM career awareness leads to interest in pursuing a STEM career.
The students were asked questions in the pre and post survey to determine their interest in pursuing a STEM career. In one
question students gave an open answer response to what career they were interested in pursuing (Figure 7). These responses
were coded into STEM and non-STEM careers (Figure 9). In another question students answered whether they would pursue a
STEM career or not by choosing an option on a four point Likert scale between strongly agree and strongly disagree (Figure 8).
In one method of questioning it was found that male students increased interest in pursuing STEM careers by 10% while the other
method of question showed only a 1.4% increase. Female students had an increase of 5% in one result while having a decrease
of 2.5% in the other. The results contradict each other.

How did project affect awareness of or excitement

for STEM Career?

Student Career Interests Pre and Post Treatment

Percentage of
Respondents

More excited for STEM career

Increased awareness of or
excitement for STEM
careers

Increased my awareness of future careers

Recognize STEM is involved in many careers

Decreased excitement for

a career in STEM

Increased awareness of training required

Increased awareness of income and earning
potential
Increased awareness of the day-to-day
experiences

Post Treatment
Pre Treatment
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Figure 4. In the post survey, students answered a questions asking them how they felt after doing
the STEM presentations / research. More students responded with identifying that they recognized
that STEM is involved in many careers (46 students out of the 304 students). Most students
identified some sort of increased awareness increase in STEM careers.

Value of doing STEM presentations

(students opinion)
helping peers / each other learng
about careers
increased presentation / research /
group skills
the need / importance for people
choosing STEM careers

Students' Identifying value of STEM

increase awareness of STEM
presentations
6%

details on students' career of choice

16%

35%

benefits/barriers to possible careers

increase awareness of STEM
careers available

23%

no response

13%
0

10
15
20
Percent of students (n=304)

25

30

Figure 5. In the post survey, students answered the open ended question asking them to
identify what was the most valuable part of doing the STEM presentations. The 304
responses were coded into the seven categories shown in this graph. The most common
response was that the most valuable thing of the presentations was increased awareness
in the STEM careers available.

7%

Non STEM

Life Science

Physical
Science

Math Post

46%
50%

33%
38%

19%
12%

6%
4%

Engineering
Computer
Science
26%
22%

Tech

11%
17%

50

careers available
benefits/barriers to possible
careers
details on students' career of
choice
the need / importance for people
choosing STEM careers
increased presentation /
research / group skills
helping peers / each other
learng about careers

Figure 6 . In the post survey, students answered the open ended question asking them to identify
what was the most valuable part of doing the STEM presentations. The percent of students
choosing different responses is shown here. This is taken from the 238 students that did respond,
the 66 that did not respond are not included.

Figure 7. Students identified what career they were currently interested in pursuing in an open ended survey question. The pre survey had 506 responses and the post
survey had 304 responses. The responses were coded into STEM and non-STEM career choices. Life science and technology careers showed an increase in students
choosing those careers while the others show decreases.

Percent Change in Students Pursuing STEM

Career

Percent Change in Students Pursuing STEM

career

(Based on student response to open-ended career interest question)

(based on student Likert scale response to "I will pursue a career in STEM" )

6
Percent change (%)

Figure 3. Students responded to a survey question asking them to identify how they
felt after doing the STEM research and presentations. Of the 7 allowed responses,
only 8 percent of the 304 students responded with a decrease in excitement for a
career in STEM. The other 92% of students identified an increase in awareness
and/or interest in STEM careers.

50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

5
4
3

+5%

2
1

+1.4%

0
Female

Male

Figure 8. Students chose and answer on a Likert scale in response to the statement I will
pursue a STEM career. An answer of 3 or 4 was taken as affirmation where and answer
of 1 or 2 was taken as not interested. Female students showed and significant increase
of 5 % choosing interest in pursuing a STEM career.

Percentage change (%)

Impact of Treatment on STEM

Awareness

92%

Survey of
STEM
Career
Interests

Female

Figure 2. Students answered a Likert scale question about their choice to pursue and whether
they would enjoy a STEM career. Male students had a higher percentage interested in pursuing
a STEM career by 4.6% than female students. More female students that said they would enjoy
a STEM career also said they would pursue a STEM career.

8%

7%

agree
64%

Figure 1. In the pre survey students answered and open ended question with what career they
were interested in pursuing. The responses were coded into STEM and non-STEM careers.
Over 60 percent of male and female students indicated they were interested in pursuing a
STEM career.

Will Pursue
Would Enjoy

Make
STEM
more
fun

disagree
36%

56.8

7%

Teach
Expose
Guest Adversti Remove Create
about students speakers se the barriers More
STEM to STEM
Advanta
to
STEM
Careers
at a
ges of College Classes,
young
STEM
opportu
age
Careers
nities
18%
17%
6%
24%
10%
11%

Students' Feelings About Personal Agency

at Northglenn

Engage Students in Problem Solving

Reflection

Field
Trips/Fai
rs

Figure 10. Students had researched the STEM problem, including reading peer reflections on why
peers were or were not interested in pursuing a STEM career. They then proposed a solution to
the problems and presented it to the class. Their responses are given here. Field trip/Fairs
includes any proposals related to direct contact with the career fields. Removing barriers to college
mostly refers to proposals asking for reduced prices in college prep classes, college tuition, or
raising funds for these things.

(Based on student responses to open-ended career

interest question)

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Student Solutions

Student Interest in Pursuing STEM

Careers

Female

The solutions that students devised to solve STEM problem are

shown in Figure 10. The students described what they thought was
most valuable from doing the STEM presentations and this is shown
id a word diagram in Figure 12 (also in Figures 5 and 6).
Student Solutions to Increase STEM Career Interest
Percentage of
respondents (n=252)

Northglenn High School:

Student Products

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4

Conclusions & Next Steps

Conclusions:
Research treatment of career presentations, reflection & STEM problem solving DID lead to an
increase in student awareness of STEM careers
Problem solving experiences allowed students to feel empowered to make change in Northglenn
community
Increased awareness of STEM careers did NOT lead to a significant change in student interest in
STEM careers
New questions:
If we had not conducted the research treatment, would we have seen a change (increase or
decrease) in STEM interest over the year? (need for a control group?)
If students had researched more obscure careers that they were less familiar with, would we
see more of an increase in interest?
If students learned about careers through guest speakers or short videos, would they be more
intrigued than learning from peers?
Does learning more about the lengthy education and tough class requirements for many
STEM careers actually turn students off of STEM?
A common barrier identified by students for pursuing a STEM career was the lengthy education
requirements, time, and rigorous courses. How do we address resilience instead of just
awareness?
Modifications for Next Year:
Modified list of careers to include more diverse, less common STEM careers
Modified reflection to better target barriers/reasons students are not pursuing STEM careers
Research and integrate strategies for having students develop resilience for overcoming
challengeswill this help make STEM careers more accessible/realistic?
Shorter, more targeted career interest survey
Longitudinal research regarding students long term interest in STEM Careers (2013-2017)

+10%

-2.5%
Female

Male

Figure 9. Students wrote in the career of their choice in the pre and post survey for
what career they plan on pursuing. The careers were coded into STEM and non-STEM
careers. Male students showed a 10% increase between surveys while female
students had a decrease of 2.5%.

Acknowledgements
We would like to Laurie Langdon, Valerie Otero & Ryan Grover for their guidance with this research project. Many thanks to Principal Sharee Blunt
and our peers at Northglenn High School who have supported this work. This research was funded by NSF DUE 1240073.