Fascinating or dull? Female students’ attitudes towards STEM subjects and careers

Internationally, the need to advance science, technology, engineering  and mathematics (STEM) education is recognized as being vital for  meeting social and economic challenges and developing a scientifically,  mathematically, and technologically literate citizenry. In many countries,  however, there are gender differences in the participation and achievement  of girls and women in STEM education and STEM careers, usually to the  disadvantage of females. This paper aims to identify challenges to female  students’ participation in STEM both at post-primary (secondary school)  level and beyond in the Irish context. The research questions we aim to  address in this paper are: (1) what are student attitudes towards science,  technology, engineering and mathematics as measured through interest  and perceived ability in STEM, students’ valuing of STEM and students’  commitment to STEM? and (2) what gender differences occur regarding  students’ attitudes to science, technology, engineering and mathematics?  A survey was completed by 308 post-primary students in Ireland as part  of a one-year research project titled “STEMChAT: Women as catalysts  for change in STEM education.” Data analysis compiled descriptive  statistics, including response frequencies and percentages and median  and interquartile range values, and compared gender differences in survey  responses using the Kruskal–Wallis H Test. Results indicated that female  students had significantly more positive attitudes to science compared  to males while in comparison, males had significantly more positive  responses to mathematics compared to females. Challenges regarding  access to and understanding of STEM in the context of post-primary  education are discussed.