To address the issue of gender disparity in participation in the physics state matriculation exam, a novel school visit program was designed. The program was facilitated by undergraduate university students of physics and related courses who visited schools providing lower secondary education and delivered a single-session workshop including…

STEM education equips students with critical thinking, problem-solving, and innovation skills necessary for success. This Spotlight will help readers analyze research-backed strategies to bolster the STEM teacher pipeline; learn how teachers can build student confidence and motivation in STEM; discover how hands-on learning can increase engagement…

The construct of science identity has been gaining attention across various domains in the educational arena. To date, however, no studies have used a person-centered quantitative approach within science identity research that is based upon traditional identity theory. Hence, there is an absence of a theoretical underpinning of the number of…

In Kazakhstan, an increasing school student population, low rates of graduates entering the profession, and high novice teacher attrition have made the attraction and retention of quality teachers a critical issue. To investigate this problem, the authors draw on the 2018 TALIS dataset involving a survey of 5201 Kazakhstani teachers from 275…

Academic tracking has long been a subject of debate due to its potential impact on educational equity, with students who are tracked highly receiving a higher quality education in comparison to students tracked lowly. These disparities in education quality may be affecting students' outcomes, as it has been demonstrated that the short-term…

In the context of falling recruitment to Initial Teacher Education programmes in the UK, this article focuses on motivators and demotivators affecting undergraduate students' attitudes towards training as a teacher and considers these under the broad headings of altruistic (such as wanting to share a love of the subject and working with young…

This study aims to design multimedia materials to be used in career counseling and to test their effects on self-efficacy and learning. Multimedia Learning Theory and Cognitive Load Theory were used in the study as a theoretical framework. The students were provided to recognize their personality traits (interests and abilities) and almost 50…

Mathematical competitions feature in most developed countries as a part of the secondary school experience, but to a lesser extent in developing countries. In this paper we investigate how widespread these competitions are in Africa, both historically as well as currently, focussing both on national Olympiads and on the participation of African…

As students transition between high school and college or career, many have begun to consider their future career paths or want to identify career options that will best fit them. To better understand the types of career characteristics that students want to explore, this study surveys a random sample of 11th and 12th-grade students who registered…

Manufacturing is struggling to find people to fill open positions in the various career opportunities they represent. The skills gap or skills needed by manufacturers has caused challenges in filling those open positions. Adding to this dilemma is that student interest in these careers has reduced, with the focus being on obtaining college degrees…

Calls for the increased recruitment of Black male teachers continue to abound in both education and popular discourse. An underpin of this call is the potential contributions that Black male teachers can make with Black male students by serving as critical institutional agents or even role models. Less attention, however, has been paid to Black…

Like other STEM fields, computer science (CS) lacks representation of minorities, such as Black and Hispanic individuals, both in the number of bachelor's degrees obtained and the number of individuals in the CS workforce. Out-of-school CS programs are often designed with the intent to inspire young people to pursue careers in CS. Much of this…

STEM subjects were officially introduced into upper secondary schools in Malaysia in 2020. Form Four students were given the opportunity to choose the STEM subjects before their enrolment in the STEM stream. According to the Malaysian Ministry of Education, this initiative prioritises students' interests to promote STEM involvement among the…

We expand on prior qualitative research about mathematics identity development using data from a large national US survey of 10,437 students in 336 college calculus classes. Multinomial logistic regression models find that a stronger mathematics identity predicts higher student interest in pursuing certain STEM careers when compared with non-STEM…

This study investigated the educational and career experiences of former Australian Olympians after their participation in the International Mathematical Olympiad. For this purpose, 15 former Olympians were engaged in interviews about how they developed their mathematical talent at university, how they selected their careers, and how they…