Background: Given the disparities in gender representation, efforts are needed to make engineering education more inclusive and attractive to young people. It is important that those entering engineering education are making this decision with sufficient understanding of what it means to be an engineer. This study explored how lower secondary…

This study aimed to investigate students' perceptions of engineers and how they vary by grade level and gender. This study proposes an approach to understanding the Chinese students' perceptions of engineers and the interest preference of middle school students in the way of graphic analysis and questionnaire. This descriptive study incorporated a…

Students build up their STEM career interest based on their experiences. However, it remains unclear how students reflect on their STEM experiences in light of their understanding of STEM careers. This study aimed to explore how students relate their practices in STEM project-based learning (PBL) with their perceptions of scientists' and…

Background: This study addresses gender differences in early career experiences in engineering by examining entry-level jobs of Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) graduates in Canada. Purpose/Hypotheses: The study explored how gender shapes entry into this male-dominated occupation in the context of the contemporary knowledge economy. I tested four…

There is a demand for more STEM professionals. Early elementary students' conceptions about engineering can influence whether or not they explore STEM career paths and ultimately select an engineering career. This study examined the conceptions elementary students have regarding the work that engineers perform. The research questions were the…

The skilled technical workforce (STW) comprises workers in occupations that require significant science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) skills but not a bachelor's degree for entry. The United States had over 17 million STW workers in 2017, and is expected to be short about 3.4 million workers who are qualified for the available…

Science-related careers are often considered to be less accessible by many children. More research is needed to distinguish any influences from different aspects of life so that support and/or interventions can be focused to help mitigate any disadvantage and inaccessibility. In order to gain greater understanding of constraints or influences on…

Spatial ability represents our ability to mentally arrange, rotate, and explore objects in multiple dimensions. This ability has been found to be important for engineers and engineering students. Past research has shown that many interventions can be created to boost an individual's spatial ability. In fact, past research has indicated that…

This study aimed to validate the factor structure of professional competencies in engineering and test the measurement invariance of these competencies across gender. Through a cross-sectional survey, 552 senior undergraduate students (287 males) responded to a 24-item professional competencies scale. The professional competencies included five…

In many countries, the choice of a STEM career, especially in chemistry, is decreasing. A shortage of appropriately skilled workers can become a threat to any country's future achievements. Our research strives to understand behavioral trends and career choice factors related to personal and environmental themes. Building on the foundations of the…

The aim of this article is to report the results of an empirical study on adolescents' interest, self-efficacy, and vocational interest in technology and design. Following the expectancy-value model, we wanted to know how context-specific interest in technology and perceived self-efficacy in solving technical tasks are developed at lower…

This research brief uses nationally representative data from the 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17) to examine post-college transitions of US undergraduates into the skilled technical workforce (STW), defined here as workers in a collection of occupations that require significant levels of science, technology,…

Research suggests that, to narrow the gender gap in engineering, we should focus on helping young girls identify with engineering both because gendered attitudes emerge around kindergarten and because identity is more predictive than performance on persistence in the field. This qualitative study sought to understand the impact of collaborative…

Over the last fifteen years, engineering has made its way into science curriculum at all levels, elementary, middle, and high school. A need to analyze students' perception the field of engineering is warranted. Previous techniques for studying representations of scientists and build on what researchers in the science field have learned from…

This study investigated evaluations and advice communicated to male and female technology interns experiencing work difficulties, using a 2 (workplace issue: ability or interpersonal) ×2 (intern gender: male vs. female) between-subjects experimental design. Technology professionals rated hypothetical interns on competence, qualifications,…