Search

Zajednički temelji su redoviti skup mladih istraživača (doktoranada i poslijedoktoranada) iz područja građevinarstva i srodnih tehničkih znanosti. Skup je zamišljen na način da bude platforma za jedna od prvih izlaganja mladih istraživača, što im omogućava svojevrsne treninge za daljnja prezentiranja i istraživački rad, te adekvatno umrežavanje. Sudionici prezentiraju svoja istraživanja ili koncept istraživanja pred kolegama iz različitih STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) područja, a njihovi sažeci ili radovi su objavljeni u zborniku. Svaki skup svakako sadrži najmanje jedno pozvano predavanje i radionicu ili okrugli stol na jednu od aktualnih tema vezanih za znanstveno-istraživačku domenu i položaj mladih u istoj. Common Foundations are a regular group of young researchers (doctoral students and postdoctoral students) from the field of civil engineering and related technical sciences. The meeting was conceived in such a way as to be a platform for one of the first presentations of young researchers, which provides them with a kind of training for further presentations and research work, as well as adequate networking. Participants present their research or research concept in front of colleagues from different STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields, and their summaries or papers are published in the proceedings. Each meeting certainly contains at least one invited lecture and workshop or round table on one of the current topics related to the scientific and research domain and the position of young people in it.

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics.] The dearth of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields has been lamented by scholars, administrators, policymakers, and the general public for decades, and the STEM gender gap is particularly pronounced in physics. While previous research has demonstrated that this gap is largely attributable to a lack of women pursuing physics in college, prior research reveals little in terms of the characteristics and career interests of women who do plan to major in physics or how these traits have evolved over time. To address these gaps, this study utilized nationwide data on first-time, full-time college students to (1) document national trends in plans to major in physics among women entering college, (2) document the career aspirations of women who intend to major in physics, and (3) explore the characteristics of women who intend to major in physics and how this population has evolved across time. This study found that women’s interest in physics has been consistently very low in the past four decades. The most popular career aspiration among women who plan to major in physics is research scientist, although this career aspiration is declining in popularity, while increasing numbers of women say that they are undecided in their career choice. Further, this study identifies a distinctive profile of the average female physics student as compared to women in other STEM fields and women across all majors. Women who plan to pursue a physics major tend to be confident in their math abilities, value college as an opportunity to learn, plan to attend graduate school, and desire to make theoretical contributions to science. However, they are less likely than women in other fields to have a social activist orientation. These findings have important implications for scholars, educators, administrators, and policymakers as they seek to recruit more women into the physics field. peerReviewed

This paper examines the role of the sociocultural background of students for choosing STEM fields in university. We combine rich survey data on university graduates in Switzerland with municipality level information from the census as well as nationwide elections and referenda to characterize a student’s home environment with respect to religious and political attitudes towards gender equality and science-related issues. Our empirical estimates are based on a structural Roy model which accounts for differences in costs (relative distance to the next technical university) and earnings across majors as well as for selection bias. Our findings suggest that male students from conservative municipalities are more likely to study a STEM field, whereas the sociocultural background plays little role for the major choice of females.

Despite the striking reversal of the gender gap in educational attainment and the near–gender parity in math performance, women pursue science and engineering (S/E) degrees at much lower rates than their male peers do. Current efforts to increase the number of women in these fields focus on different life-course periods but lack a clear understanding of the importance of these periods and how orientations toward S/E fields develop over time. In this article, we examine the gendered pathways to a S/E bachelor’s degree from middle school to high school and college based on a representative sample from the 1973 to 1974 birth cohort. Using a counterfactual decomposition analysis, we determine the relative importance of these different life-course periods and thereby inform the direction of future research and policy. Our findings confirm previous research that highlights the importance of early encouragement for gender differences in S/E degrees, but our findings also attest to the high school years as a decisive period for the gender gap, while challenging the focus on college in research and policy. Indeed, if female high school seniors had the same orientation toward and preparation for S/E fields as their male peers, the gender gap in S/E degrees would be closed by as much as 82 percent.

The learning outcomes of informal and formal education are different. Namely, according the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, after-/out- of-school settings (i.e. informal education) tends to give more emphasis to outcomes related to development of interest and identity in STEM fields. Although both forms of educations are important, IEEE should focus more on informal education. In IEEE Croatia Section is thus started the popularization program called "SUZA" with the goal to motivate pre-university student’s interests in STEM fields, support their endeavors to major in STEM fields at university and educate pre-university STEM teachers.

This paper analyses the evolution of tertiary education in Brazil from 2000 to 2012, with particular focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Administrative data are used to build indicators on the demand for courses, number of places, enrolments and graduates, and field concentration of the system output. The quality of the graduates is also briefly discussed, using as parameters the flows of new engineers graduating from top universities as well as the performance of Engineering graduating students on standardized tests administrated by the federal government. The evolution of such indicators is reported for: a) universities x other institutions offering tertiary education, classifying both types in publicly and privately-administrated; b) doctoral-granting institutions, as adapted by Steiner (2005, 2006) from the original Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Higher education institutions classified by Carnoy et al. (2013) as "elite institutions" are also considered as a separate group when quality matters are debated. The major objective of these efforts is to examine the context, dimension and quality of STEM human capital formation in Brazil from 2000 to 2012. Results suggest that the flow of new STEM graduates is expanding year after year in Brazil, but these numbers are still near to the ground in international standards and are concentrated on low-quality higher education institutions.

Low participation and performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields by U.S. citizens are widely recognized as major problems with substantial economic, political, and social ramifications. Studies of collegiate interventions designed to broaden participation in STEM fields suggest that participation in undergraduate research is a key program component that enhances such student outcomes as undergraduate GPA, graduation, persistence in a STEM major, and graduate school enrollment. However, little is known about the mechanisms that are responsible for these positive effects. The current study hypothesizes that undergraduate research participation increases scientific self-efficacy and scientific research proficiency. This hypothesis was tested using data obtained from a survey of minority students from several STEM intervention programs that offer undergraduate research opportunities. Students were surveyed both prior to and following the summer of 2010. Factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of participants' responses on scientific self-efficacy and scientific research proficiency scales. Difference-in-difference analysis was then applied to the resulting factor score differences to estimate the relationship of summer research participation with scientific self-efficacy and scientific research proficiency. Factor analytic results replicate and further validate previous findings of a general scientific self-efficacy construct (Schultz, 2008). While the factor analytic results for the exploratory scientific research proficiency scale suggest that it was also a measureable construct, the factor structure was not generalizable over time. Potential reasons for the lack of generalizability validity for the scientific research proficiency scale are explored and recommendations for emerging scales are provided. Recent restructuring attempts within federal science agencies threaten the future of STEM intervention programs. Causal estimates of the effect of undergraduate research participation on specific and measurable benefits can play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of STEM intervention programs. Obtaining such estimates requires additional studies that, inter alia, incorporate adequate sample sizes, valid measurement scales, and the ability to account for unobserved variables. Political strategies, such as compromise, can also play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of STEM intervention programs.

Recent studies showed that embedding engineering at K-12 level has a positive impact on stimulating interest in- and improving learning outcomes of science and mathematics, and development of 21st Century skills. Engineering activities are used as a way for displaying an authentic applicability of taught math and science in K-12 students in real applications. In this context, an outreach activity, namely Life is Engineering Program (LIEP) was launched in 2009 by the College of Engineering at Qatar University with particular focus on Qatari male students. In LIEP, K-12 students in the 10th and 11th grade work on assembling racing cars over a period of six months throughout an accompanying program of activities, engineering workshops and seminars, and finally a race is conducted in an international racing circuit located in Qatar. The methodology of the assessment included analysis of 2 surveys each of 16 questions (including demographics, open-ended, and Likert scale up type of questions). Surveys were delivered to both LIEP participating students (Sample no. N= 57) and LIEP non-participating Qatari students (sample no. N= 51). Experimental group outcomes against Control group outcomes were analyzed; findings indicate statistical significance in perceptions towards development of significant set of 21st century competencies. Perceptions towards STEM fields were more positive for the experimental group than the control group for the majority of measuring items, however statistical significance was detected in fewer items. The paper provides further details on the LIEP outreach program, as well as the assessment, its methodology and initial findings and planned actions American Society for Engineering Education, 2015. Scopus