Enlightening STEM Engagement During High School – Make it Real Banana Peel Authors Scott-Parker and Barone-Nugent conducted a study regarding the retention of college girls in STEM through the pilot of the Growing Tall Poppies STEM program. Read more about the program and outcome in the article, “How to Change Student Perception of STEM at School – Make it Real Banana Peel.

Abstract

Global progress has arisen from scientific advances and we currently live in the age of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); science as a way of increasing the knowledge base, technology as a means of manifesting the science, engineering as a way of building and creating with it, and mathematics to devise the language we use for science to explore new realities. Strengthening science economies requires more students to pursue STEM which means that we need to retain them early in the education pipeline in order to strengthen knowledge-based communities and nations’ economic growth. In Australia, however, there is a trend of more occupations requiring STEM skills while there is a declining interest in studying STEM subjects at secondary school. The disengagement of students from STEM subjects is most notable amongst girls towards the physical sciences such as physics and mathematics. When girls are considering life pathways at high school they generally view STEM subjects as difficult, leading to career pathways that are not aligned to their interests. With the exception of biology girls do not deem STEM as relevant to improving the human condition. Moreover, the STEM subjects are not viewed as interconnected and contributing to areas of knowledge that impact our lives. To increase the accessibility of STEM to able students and unblock the pipeline into the work sector we need to rationalise how the STEM areas work together and impacts the fabric of life beyond the knowledge silos. In addition, as educators we need to show young people how STEM is integrated into areas such as psychology, economics, computing, and data science. In this paper we describe how the Growing Tall Poppies STEM program (GTP) has enabled high school students and scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast to explore the interdigitated nature of STEM and psychology to support the understanding of how STEM skills are important, relevant, and life changing. The GTP framework was developed to encourage secondary students, particularly girls, to choose to study STEM subjects in their final years of secondary school by demonstrating (a) the relevance of these subjects to their everyday lives, (be) that girls are capable of STEM academic success, (c) that STEM subjects are career-empowering, by (d) providing examples that debunk the stereotypic expectations of female students and employee. This project highlighted how the STEM skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and innovation can be used beyond traditional STEM disciplines such as psychology. A group of Year 10 girls were immersed in an applied social psychology laboratory in 2016 to participate in a genuine research investigation, and students were given autonomy to contribute and take charge of their own project question. Thus the girls experienced firsthand the interdisciplinary nature of STEM, and in this way STEM was related to a broader range of applications and career paths for these students. This group of students advised that they felt inspired to continue in their study of STEM on their return to school, and indicating that they were more inclined to choose STEM subjects beyond Year 10.