IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i9p4924-d797519.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Solving Ecological Problems through Physical Computing to Ensure Gender Balance in STEM Education

Author

Listed:
  • Gabrielė Stupurienė

    (Institute of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Universiteto Str. 9, LT-01513 Vilnius, Lithuania)

  • Tatjana Jevsikova

    (Institute of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Universiteto Str. 9, LT-01513 Vilnius, Lithuania
    Institute of Data Science and Digital Technologies, Vilnius University, Akademijos Str. 4, LT-08412 Vilnius, Lithuania)

  • Anita Juškevičienė

    (Institute of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Universiteto Str. 9, LT-01513 Vilnius, Lithuania
    Institute of Data Science and Digital Technologies, Vilnius University, Akademijos Str. 4, LT-08412 Vilnius, Lithuania)

Abstract

Research and practice have shown that female students are less interested in engineering and programming. This is related to gender stereotypes and technological self-efficacy. Research has also pointed out that students in rural schools tend to do less well in STEM subjects and are less likely to pursue STEM studies than their peers from large cities. Previous studies have highlighted the benefits of hands-on real-world-related engineering projects by building connections with students’ interests and technology while giving them something exciting to focus on. This study is aimed at investigating whether and how students’ individual characteristics (such as attitudes toward engineering and technology, motivation, and technology anxiety) are associated with rural school students’ engagement, gender differences, and inclusion in sustainable ecological engineering activities with Arduino microcontrollers. Surveys were conducted before and after the activity with pupils of a rural lower secondary school (ages 13–15). The results show that, female students’ initial attitude toward engineering and technology was significantly less positive than that of male students. Despite being novices in physical computing, a whole group of pupils were intrinsically motivated while performing these activities. The findings of this study provide transferable insights into practical STEM education that may strengthen students’ engagement, motivation, and achievement in STEM. The implications of the results of this study can be useful for a better understanding of the individual factors of students that influence future engineering activity design and STEM career selection opportunities.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabrielė Stupurienė & Tatjana Jevsikova & Anita Juškevičienė, 2022. "Solving Ecological Problems through Physical Computing to Ensure Gender Balance in STEM Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4924-:d:797519
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4924/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4924/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meuter, Matthew L. & Ostrom, Amy L. & Bitner, Mary Jo & Roundtree, Robert, 2003. "The influence of technology anxiety on consumer use and experiences with self-service technologies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(11), pages 899-906, November.
    2. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    3. Patrick Holzmann & Erich J. Schwarz & David B. Audretsch, 2020. "Understanding the determinants of novel technology adoption among teachers: the case of 3D printing," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 259-275, February.
    4. Ann Brower & Alex James, 2020. "Research performance and age explain less than half of the gender pay gap in New Zealand universities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laurentiu Mincu & Thorsten Gruber, 2013. "Exploring the Factors Influencing the Intention to Use Self-Service Technologies: An Eastern European Perspective," The International Journal of Economic Behavior - IJEB, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 3(1), pages 59-84, December.
    2. Saqib Ali & Habib Ullah & Minhas Akbar & Waheed Akhtar & Hasan Zahid, 2019. "Determinants of Consumer Intentions to Purchase Energy-Saving Household Products in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Chidera C. Ugwuanyi & Chukwunonso Oraedu & Chuka U. Ifediora & Ernest E. Izogo & Simplice A. Asongu & Ikechukwu J. Attamah, 2022. "Understanding drivers of self-service technologies (SSTs) satisfaction and marketing bottom lines: Evidence from Nigeria," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/025, African Governance and Development Institute..
    4. Jahanmir, Sara F. & Silva, Graça Miranda & Gomes, Paulo J. & Gonçalves, Helena Martins, 2020. "Determinants of users’ continuance intention toward digital innovations: Are late adopters different?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 225-233.
    5. Monaghan, Conal & Bizumic, Boris & Van Rooy, Dirk, 2020. "An analysis of public attitudes in Australia towards applications of biotechnology to humans: Kinds, causes, and effects," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. El Barachi, May & Salim, Taghreed Abu & Nyadzayo, Munyaradzi W. & Mathew, Sujith & Badewi, Amgad & Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, 2022. "The relationship between citizen readiness and the intention to continuously use smart city services: Mediating effects of satisfaction and discomfort," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Leung, Louis & Chen, Cheng, 2019. "E-health/m-health adoption and lifestyle improvements: Exploring the roles of technology readiness, the expectation-confirmation model, and health-related information activities," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 563-575.
    8. Herbjørn Nysveen & Per Egil Pedersen, 2016. "Consumer adoption of RFID-enabled services. Applying an extended UTAUT model," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 293-314, April.
    9. Wu, Ruijuan & Li, Peiyu, 2023. "Continuance intention to use self-delivery boxes: An empirical study in Tianjin, China," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Chi Kwong Bruce Wan & Adaobi J. Onuike, 2021. "Illuminating Opportunities for Smart Tourism Innovation That Foster Sustainable Tourist Well-Being Using Q Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-16, July.
    11. Laukkanen, Tommi, 2016. "Consumer adoption versus rejection decisions in seemingly similar service innovations: The case of the Internet and mobile banking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2432-2439.
    12. Jong-Hyeon Kim & Jin-Woo Park, 2019. "The Effect of Airport Self-Service Characteristics on Passengers’ Perceived Value, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intention: Based on the SOR Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.
    13. Kim, Jiyeon & Forsythe, Sandra, 2008. "Adoption of Virtual Try-on technology for online apparel shopping," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 45-59.
    14. Rajak, Manindra & Shaw, Krishnendu, 2021. "An extension of technology acceptance model for mHealth user adoption," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Patrick Holzmann & Erich J. Schwarz & David B. Audretsch, 2020. "Understanding the determinants of novel technology adoption among teachers: the case of 3D printing," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 259-275, February.
    16. Tseng, Shu-Mei, 2015. "Exploring the intention to continue using web-based self-service," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 85-93.
    17. Asrar Ahmed Sabir & Iftikhar Ahmad & Hassan Ahmad & Muhammad Rafiq & Muhammad Asghar Khan & Neelum Noreen, 2023. "Consumer Acceptance and Adoption of AI Robo-Advisors in Fintech Industry," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-24, March.
    18. Manon Feys & Evy Rombaut & Lieselot Vanhaverbeke, 2021. "Does a Test Ride Influence Attitude towards Autonomous Vehicles? A Field Experiment with Pretest and Posttest Measurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    19. Huang, Guei-Hua & Korfiatis, Nikolaos & Chang, Chun-Tuan, 2018. "Mobile shopping cart abandonment: The roles of conflicts, ambivalence, and hesitation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 165-174.
    20. Maria Andersson & Ola Eriksson & Chris Von Borgstede, 2012. "The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on Source Separation in the Work and Home Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(6), pages 1-17, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4924-:d:797519. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.