IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i17p12960-d1227069.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

High School Students’ Perceptions of the Role of Social Support in Cultivating Their Interests in and Aspirations to STEM Degrees and Careers—A Middle Eastern Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Abdellatif Sellami

    (Educational Research Center, College of Education, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar)

  • Malavika E. Santhosh

    (Qatar University Young Scientists Center (QUYSC), Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar)

  • Nitha Siby

    (Qatar University Young Scientists Center (QUYSC), Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar)

  • Jolly Bhadra

    (Qatar University Young Scientists Center (QUYSC), Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar)

  • Zubair Ahmad

    (Qatar University Young Scientists Center (QUYSC), Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar)

Abstract

This case study intends to comprehend students’ perceptions of social support in cultivating their interests and aspirations for science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM) degrees and careers. Survey-based quantitative research was employed, incorporating data from 1426 high school (grade 11th–12th) students in Qatar. The survey instrument encompassed four dimensions, i.e., (1) participants’ demographics, (2) STEM interests, (3) STEM supports/barriers and (4) STEM career aspirations to understand students’ perceptions. Spearman’s Rho correlation test demonstrated a positive correlation between students’ perceived social support (from family, teachers, and society) and their STEM interests ( p < 0.01). Findings from the Mann-Whitney U test illustrated that females perceived enhanced social support (from teachers and society) in Qatar ( p < 0.05). Even though teachers and society have been the stimulus to developing students’ STEM interests, there is still room to implement a policy for the consequential influence in constructing students’ STEM career aspirations. Thus, we believe these findings would urge policymakers to design tools that enable teachers and society to nurture, cultivate and sustain interest in STEM among the youth to meet Qatar’s National Vision 2030.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdellatif Sellami & Malavika E. Santhosh & Nitha Siby & Jolly Bhadra & Zubair Ahmad, 2023. "High School Students’ Perceptions of the Role of Social Support in Cultivating Their Interests in and Aspirations to STEM Degrees and Careers—A Middle Eastern Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-17, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:12960-:d:1227069
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/12960/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/12960/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sara Hamad & Hassan Tairab & Yousef Wardat & Lutfieh Rabbani & Khaleel AlArabi & Mohammed Yousif & Ahmad Abu-Al-Aish & George Stoica, 2022. "Understanding Science Teachers’ Implementations of Integrated STEM: Teacher Perceptions and Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-19, March.
    2. Tarek Ben Hassen, 2022. "A Transformative State in the Wake of COVID-19: What Is Needed to Enable Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Education in Qatar?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-24, June.
    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. Sana Malik & Melissa Bessaha & Kathleen Scarbrough & Jessica Younger & Wei Hou, 2023. "Self-Reported Depression and Anxiety among Graduate Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining Risk and Protective Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Tarek Ben Hassen, 2022. "The GCC Economies in the Wake of COVID-19: Toward Post-Oil Sustainable Knowledge-Based Economies?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Saif Alneyadi & Enas Abulibdeh & Yousef Wardat, 2023. "The Impact of Digital Environment vs. Traditional Method on Literacy Skills; Reading and Writing of Emirati Fourth Graders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    4. Wu-Yuin Hwang & Rio Nurtantyana, 2022. "X-Education: Education of All Things with AI and Edge Computing—One Case Study for EFL Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, October.

    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:15:y:2023:i:17:p:12960-:d:1227069. 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.