Student Attitudes toward STEM: The Development of Upper Elementary School and Middle/High School Student Surveys (original) (raw)
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Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 2015
Using an iterative design along with multiple methodological approaches and a large representative sample, this study presents reliability, validity, and fairness evidence for two surveys measuring student attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and math (S-STEM) and interest in STEM careers for (a) 4th- through 5th-grade students (Upper Elementary S-STEM) and (b) 6th- through 12th-grade students (Middle/High S-STEM). Findings from exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested the use of a four-factor structure to measure student attitudes toward science, math, engineering/technology, and 21st century skills. Subject matter experts and literature reviews provided evidence of content validity. Reliability levels were high for both versions. Furthermore, both the Upper Elementary S-STEM and Middle/High S-STEM Surveys demonstrated evidence of configural, metric, and scalar invariance across grade levels, races/ethnicities, and genders. Th...
Using an iterative design along with multiple methodological approaches and a large representative sample, this study presents reliability, validity, and fairness evidence for two surveys measuring student attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and math (S-STEM) and interest in STEM careers for (a) 4th- through 5th-grade students (Upper Elementary S-STEM) and (b) 6ththrough 12th-grade students (Middle/High S-STEM). Findings from exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested the use of a four-factor structure to measure student attitudes toward science, math, engineering/technology, and 21st century skills. Subject matter experts and literature reviews provided evidence of content validity. Reliability levels were high for both versions. Furthermore, both the Upper Elementary S-STEM and Middle/High S-STEM Surveys demonstrated evidence of configural, metric, and scalar invariance across grade levels, races/ethnicities, and genders. The findings support the validity of interpretations and inferences made from scores on the instruments’ items and subscales.
Elementary Students' Attitudes towards STEM and 21st Century Skills
International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 2021
STEM and 21st-century learning are very important to be applied from an early age for all students, including at the elementary school level. This study aims to describe students' attitudes towards STEM and 21st-century skills according to gender and education level. The method used is descriptive quantitative by explaining and comparing the results of the questionnaires given to students. Student attitudes are described based on domain of STEM (Science, Technology/Engineering and Math) , 21st-century skills, gender, and student grade level. The test instrument used refers to one of the articles that have been published in a reputable international journal with a questionnaire scale of 1-5. There are 130 elementary students who were obtained randomly from one of the elementary schools in Yogyakarta. The results showed that based on the science the mean score of the students was 3.23 (moderate). on mathematics 3,21(moderate); on technology/engineering 3.68 ( moderate ) and on 21s...
Evaluation of Middle School Students' Attitudes Towards Stem Education
2019
The aim of this study is to evaluate the attitudes of secondary school students towards STEM education. For this purpose, screening method, one of the quantitative research methods, has been used. Of the 384 students who participated in the research, 50.5% are female and 49.5% are male. Data has been obtained through STEM training attitude scale. The data has been analyzed by means of SPSS 21.0 software with average, standard deviation, t test and correlation techniques. As a result of the study, it has been concluded that the participants have positive attitudes towards the fields that make up STEM. It has been observed that there is no correlation between the participants' attitudes towards STEM and their gender. However, there is a significant positive correlation between their attitudes towards STEM and their success in science and general courses.
Determining the Students' Attitudes Towards STEM: E-Twinning Project from STEM Club to STEM School
Journal of STEAM Education, 2021
In the research, the attitudes of the participants studying at primary school level towards STEM education approach were examined. e-Twinning project was created from "STEM club to STEM school" to integrate STEM education approach into the program. The aim of our project is to make students do STEM activities and increase their interest in STEM fields. The aim of this research is to determine the STEM attitudes of the students who are doing the e Twinning project on STEM. It was used in the screening model from quantitative research methods in the research. STEM primary school attitude Survey was used as a data collection tool in the research. The sample of the research consists of 215 students attending the 3rd and 4th grades in the project. In the research, the data were collected with STEM primary school attitude scale consisting of 37 substance sub-dimesons developed by Faber, Wiebe, Corn, Townsend and Collins (2013) and adapted to Turkish by Özyurt, Kusdemir and Başaran (2018) for primary schools. Analyzed with SPSS 21 Program. The confidence of the scores obtained from the scale was found to be 0.95. In the research, it was reached that students' attitudes regarding STEM education were high. According to the findings of the research, it was determined that the attitudes of the students who went to the science center in STEM e Twinning project were more positive than the students who did not go. It was determined that STEM attitudes were more positive for students who experimented outside the lesson than students who did not. It can be said that students who experiment outside the lesson develop a more positive attitude in science, engineering-technology and 21st century skills than students who do not conduct extra-lesson experiments. Students who used interactive boards in the lesson were found to have a more positive attitude in science and 21st century skills in their sub-dimensions than students who did not use interactive boards in the lesson. A positive correlation was found between science, technology, engineering and mathematics and STEM, which are the sub-dimensions of STEM.
Students’ Attitude towards STEM Education
Acta Didactica Napocensia, 2017
STEM is the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields. STEM education refers both to teaching and learning in the above-mentioned disciplines, but especially to teaching and learning a new discipline based on the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The present survey aims to investigate the opinion of a sample of 110 respondents, students from Romanian universities, taking into account: a) their experience in STEM fields during high school studies; (b) the engineer's profession and the engineer's skills; c) the factors that influenced their option to study one of the STEM fields. The results show that the respondents have been interested in STEM fields since secondary and high school; this interest determined them to choose to continue their studies in a STEM field. Also, the majority of respondents agreed that the choice of their university specialisation was influenced by the teachers who taught them the subjects that they study at the university during their school years. The data also show that the students are convinced of the importance of the engineer's profession as well as of the engineering knowledge and skills.
2017
This study uses data collected at two National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) programs in Connecticut and Mississippi to investigate high school students’ perceptions and preferences about education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Family background has a significant impact on a high school student's interest in STEM, as shown during the student recruitment stage and by the analysis of the students' college education plans prepared upon graduation from the two NSTI programs. The building exercise and competition instrument is the most effective among the few examined, while passive learning is not what young people prefer when briefly introduced in the two NSTI programs.
STEM in Transition from Primary School to Middle School: Primary School Students Attitudes
lnternational Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 2021
This study aims to examine the STEM attitudes of primary school fourth-grade students who are in the transition period from primary school to middle school. More specifically, this study examines whether the students' attitudes towards STEM significantly differ according to gender, parents' educational background, science achievement, and mathematics achievement. The data obtained from 221 fourth-grade students through the STEM Attitude Scale were analyzed by independent sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The research results revealed that students move from primary school to middle school with a high STEM attitude. In this transition, girls' attitudes towards mathematics and boys' towards engineering and technology were higher. The tendency in engineering and technology attitudes differs only in favor of male students but does not differ significantly in parents' educational background, science, and mathematics achievement. While there was no significant difference in general STEM attitudes of the students in terms of gender and mother's education, there was a difference in father's education, mathematics, and science achievement. Following, the research results were discussed, and recommendations for policymakers and practitioners were presented.