STEMotiv

The following conclusions emerged from the research: 

1. A tool has been created to analyse and measure students’ interest and motivation in STEM areas, which has validated and proven its use. This instrument is based on 2 questionnaires aimed at measuring students’ interest and motivation in STEM subjects.
2. The results arising from the use of the tool shows that students’ degree of interest in STEM subjects is not very high and it therefore has to be improved. It is therefore fundamental to ensure the interest and development in STEM motivation is included in the strategy of educational centres.
3. Analysing the STEM resources reveals, on the one hand, that a high percentage of projects studied in the Basque language are focused on a single field and, on the other hand, the lack of importance given to mathematics, in combination with chemistry. Therefore, all the relevant subjects to acquire digital – mathematical – skills should be included when designing future STEM projects. Furthermore, the STEM projects should refer to the women who have held and hold STEM posts in order to overcome social stereotypes and empower women. It is also particularly important that the future generations embrace STEM trades and, therefore, the project designs should clearly indicate the sectors and trades that are going to provide employment in the future, along with motivating and stimulating students’ interest in all those areas.
4. The results provide a snapshot of students in Compulsory Secondary Education in Gipuzkoa 2020-2021. It would be of interest to extend the assessment work in order to analyse whether students maintain the same trend in the coming years, assess the consequences of the deployment of new STEM motivation and interest mechanisms and monitor the evolution of the territory. 
5. Significant differences were not noted between the students at the centres. Therefore, the resulting image of the analysis may be taken as a snapshot of the profile of Gipuzkoa students.
6. There is a statistically significant relationship between age (year) and STEM perception. In that regard, interest in mathematics fell linearly year-on-year. In other words, the students gradually lost interest and motivation in mathematics from Year 1 to Year 4 of compulsory secondary education. However, a greater loss of interest was seen from Year 3 to Year 4 in the other STEM subjects. Physics/chemistry is the subject or areas where there was the greatest fallout, even though interest remained to Year 3, though motivation was lost by the start of Year 4.
7. In regard to gender, there is different interest between men and women by STEM areas. In the case of boys, the subjects that they most like are technology, digital technologies and mathematics, while in the case of girls, they prefer those related to natural sciences and chemistry. The interest in physics was similar.
8. Girls give more importance to sustainability and to discussing women’s issues in the classroom than boys. In any event, the majority of students expresses their concern about those themes.
9. Differences were found according to the parents’ educational level when comparing populations with primary studies with those with university studies. Interest in STEM subjects among the latter is statistically more significant.
10. The different STEM project and initiatives aimed at education centres can be seen to have positively influenced student motivation for STEM subjects. Furthermore, in the case of the girls, this is more obvious and the path to end the gap opens up.