The 650 school students from Years 9 and 10 visiting QUT this week (February 13-15) for the Science and Engineering Challenge will already have pretty firm ideas about their future, according to researchers who’ve investigated teenagers’ career planning.
Simone Long and Professor Les Dawes from QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty have surveyed the faculty’s first-year university students every year since 2014 to ask them when they decided on a STEM career, their degree and their uni.
Ms Long said every year the majority answered that their pursuit of a STEM career was well and truly entrenched by Year 10.
“What our results show, year after year, is that STEM careers are chosen when these students are aged 12 to 14,” she said.
“They know the field they want to work in before reaching Year 11. But more than 60 per cent wait until Year 12 to choose their specific course or degree. And when it comes to narrowing it down to where they will do that course, we see that around 70 per cent chose their university mid-Year 12.”
Professor Dawes said the annual survey results also showed that parents (around 28 per cent) and teachers and guidance counsellors (22 per cent) were nominated as being the biggest external influencers on students choosing a STEM degree.
“But around 40 per cent of our first-year students nominate ‘no-one’ as having the most influence on them,” he said.
“This is an interesting finding and needs to be explored further to see if it’s a generational response or if it’s because their passion and motivation to study STEM overrode anyone who might have influenced or encouraged them.”
Around 650 school students from Years 9 and 10 are visiting QUT this week for the Science and Engineering Challenge, as part of a national event.
The students are representing 24 schools across the Brisbane and Caboolture region and participating in interactive science and engineering activities over three days.
The goal of the program is to challenge students’ perception of science and engineering and experience aspects of those fields that they normally would not encounter in a school environment.
Ms Long said despite years of governments and universities pushing STEM careers, there was still a perception among some school students that science and maths were not interesting or relevant to them.
“Some of that disconnect is because they don’t always get a chance to see science and maths in action in the real world and see the wonderful way it can impact on their lives and other people’s lives,” she said.
“The Science and Engineering Challenge aims to show them practical examples of how these fields can be fun, intriguing and ultimately make the world a better place.”
The highest ranked schools from this week’s Brisbane event will go on to compete in the national event in Western Australia later this year.
The Challenge is supported by Engineers Australia, SEQ Water and Defence Force Recruiting.
The Science Engineering Challenge at QUT
Competing schools:
Wednesday, February 13
Brisbane Christian College
Burpengary State Secondary College
Clontarf Beach State High School
Caboolture State High School
Deception Bay State High School
Grace Lutheran College
Our Lady’s College
Tullawong State High School
Thursday, February 14
Alexandra Hills State High School
Anglican Church Grammar
Brisbane State High School
Kilcoy State High School
Murrumba State Secondary College
St Laurence’s College
Woodford State School
Friday, February 15
Cannon Hill Anglican College
Corinda State High School
Iona College
Kelvin Grove Secondary College
Morayfield State High School
Narangba Valley State High School
Pine Rivers State High School
Wynnum State High School
Activities:
Future Power - Control the supply of power to a variety of infrastructure on a ‘power station’ board
Stringways - Develop networks that join a series of points in the most efficient way possible
Grasping at Straws - Design and build a bionic hand
Helter Skelter Shelter - Construct a tall earthquake-proof tower
Flatpack- Design and build a model chair
Return to Mars - Construct a vehicle to quickly transverse an undulating surface
Bridge - Build a small bridge from balsa, pins, tape, paddle pop sticks etc
Confounding Communications - Design an efficient code to send messages along fibre optic rods using only pulses of coloured light.
QUT Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, media@qut.edu.au
- Rose Trapnell, media@qut.edu.au or 0407 585 901
