NEW ERA UNIVERSITY

No.9 Central avenue New Era Quezon City

Senior High School Department
S.Y 2016-2017

STEM as the most preferred strand of

Grade 11 students

By:
Flormata, Kyla Mae B.
Buala, Kristine Lei
Estabaya, Edleen
Acorda, Mira Riche
Dela Cruz, Michaela
Hebrew, Marc Antonette

March 13, 2017

THESIS ABSTRACT
Title: “STEM as the most preferred strand of Grade 11 students”

Author: Flormata, Kyla, Buala, Kristine Lei,

Estabaya, Edleen Joy, Acorda, Mira Riche,
Dela Cruz, Michaela, Hebrew, Marc Antonette

Course: Science and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – STEM

School: New Era University

This study is about students who are likely to educate themselves in terms of exploring
their skills through the use of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This
study aims to find out why most of the grade 11 students chose the STEM strand over the many
other courses offered in the curriculum. The researchers purposively chose their participants
from the STEM AM students of the New Era University. Each student were interviewed and
given the chance to widely explain their aspirations in terms of studying in this strand. The result
shows that most of the students chose STEM because it is in line with their desired course to take
up in college, while some has experienced uncontrolled circumstances that made them to
forcefully choose this strand.

CHAPTER I:
INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

 Recent attention to K-12 education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(the disciplines collectively referred to as STEM) has revealed challenges in students’
performance and persistence, particularly for groups that are underrepresented in the STEM
fields (Schmidt, 2011; President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010)
Although these challenges are daunting, recent education policy developments are creating an
unprecedented opportunity to address them.

This emphasizes conceptual understanding of key ideas in each discipline, greater

coherence across grade levels, and the practices of science and mathematics. Together, these
changes have the potential to engage students in ways that better prepare them for postsecondary
study and STEM careers, and thus eventually, for addressing current and future societal
challenges and participating in an increasingly global and technologically driven society. The
political will and momentum gathering behind these efforts offer an opportunity to realize
improvements to K-12 science and mathematics education that have so far remained elusive.

The success of these efforts depends on many factors, including students’ equitable access
to challenging learning opportunities and instructional materials, teachers’ capacity to use those
opportunities and materials well, and policies and structures that support effective educational
practices. In turn, making informed decisions about improvements to education in STEM
requires research and data about the content and quality of the curriculum, students reasons
behind choosing this strand and the use of instructional practices that have been shown to
improve outcomes.

The purpose of this research is to know why most Grade 11 students chose STEM
specifically in New Era University. STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating
students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in
an interdisciplinary and applied approach. The first phase of the project involves a screening
interview where we will ask one student in each of the eight sections of the STEM AM Class.
The final phase involves analyzing to confirm the students reasons why they chose STEM. This
will allow for more individual consideration in choosing the STEM strand in the newly
implemented K-12 curriculum in the Philippines, and reasons why researchers wanted to conduct
this survey, it is timely relevant here in the Philippines since the K-12 was just implemented here
last 2013.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

 Why do today’s students choose STEM over other fields of study such as business, law,
or the arts? As the K-12 reaches the Philippines last May 15, 2013; many of the incoming senior
high school students were uncertain about what strand to get that will fit their desire. It turned
out that in New Era University, many Senior High School Students chose the STEM strand.
According to Jane Jackson (2011), most college students studying for degrees in science,
technology, engineering or math make the decision to do so in high school or before. However,
only 20% say they feel that their education before college prepared them “extremely well” for
those fields.

The survey, which asked college students pursing STEM degrees and the parents of K-12
students about attitudes toward STEM education, also found that male and female students enter
the fields for different reasons: females are more likely to want to make a difference, while males
are more likely to say they’ve always enjoyed games, toys or clubs focused on the hard sciences.
The present study will explore if the same is true with the Grade 11 students of New Era
University.
Another study conducted by Wang (2013) showed that students choose STEM choose because of
its Math and Science exposure that can spur interest. His study highlights the importance of
cultivating students' positive attitudes toward math. Wang believed that Colleges and universities
can employ outreach programs to increase STEM interest students. The present study will also
discover the reason of New Era University STEM Grade 11 students in choosing STEM as their
educational track.

“STEM education is important to the future of this country and is critical to maintain the
social, economic, and national security that comes with pre-eminence in STEM fields.” (Preston
2012). With this, it is clear that STEM students and graduates are in demand and is needed in the
society, and people who are critical thinkers, innovative and creative and social and cultural
competent are likely to excel in this strand. Ursuline College (2012) stated that Colleges and
universities who pursue and encourage students with these abilities will likely to have intelligent
and credible graduates ready to take over positions and prove their skills in the future.

In another study, it was found that students choose their university courses based on what
subjects they enjoyed and exceled at in school. These results found a high correlation between
enjoyment of a school subject and their interest in pursuing this subject at university and beyond.
(Hom 2014). It shows that subject interest is a great factor to students for them to pick the right
track and strand for them. Students who excel in Mathematics and shows great interest in
Science tend to pursue studying in the STEM strand.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 Since the K-12 was implemented in the Philippines; many of the incoming Senior High

School students were in doubt about what strand will fit their desire. As the researchers noticed

that many of the grade 11 students are in the STEM classes, the researchers wanted to seek

information about why did they came up choosing this strand and how will it help them in their

desired profession in the future.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant in a way that Grade 11 students must be able to know how

important to choose ideally the track and strand that will perfectly fit their skills, as well as their

educational background. As the researchers notice that many of the grade 11 students chose the

STEM strand specifically in the New Era University, this research will help the incoming grade

11 students. With this, students will have a background about what jobs could they achieve in the

future based on the current grade 11’s answers in the interview. This study will be beneficial for

the incoming grade 11 students in terms of how it is like studying in STEM and what could be

their possible job attainments in the future.

SCOPE
 The present study is concerned about the great number of grade 11 students in the STEM

strand specifically in the New Era University school year 2016-2017. It is limited in choosing of

only one student per section in the AM class, it is regardless of their gender and class standing.

The Study is only about the topic about why students chose this strand over the many offers of

the Philippine’s K-12 program and only focuses on the STEM students.

LIMITATIONS

The study does not cover ideas about the other strands like ABM, HUMMS, GAS etc. and does

not include anything not related or are not close to our main topic.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

1.Accredited/Accreditation- Accreditation is a process of validation in which colleges,

universities and other institutions of higher learning are evaluated. The standards for

accreditation are set by a peer review board whose members include faculty from various

accredited colleges and universities.

2. Curriculum- In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school,

but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools.

3. K-12 - is a short form for the publicly-supported school grades prior to college. These grades

are kindergarten (K) and the 1st through the 12th grade (1-12).

4. Pre-eminence- in dictionaries it is defined as the fact of surpassing all others; superiority.

5.STEM – it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

CHAPTER II

METHODS
RESEARCH DESIGN

The researchers conducted a case study to emphasize detailed contextual analysis of the

result attained in this research. It focuses on giving adequate and quality data based on the

participants’ answers throughout the interview. The study focuses on the students’ possible

reasons on why they chose STEM over the other offered strands in the k-12 program.

POPULATION AND SAMPLING

The participants in this study were the STEM AM students in the Senior high school

department of New Era University. The researchers conducted a purposive sampling technique in

picking the participants; one student in each of the eight AM sections was interviewed regardless

of the student’s gender and classroom standing. A total of eight students participated in this

study.

SOURCE OF DATA

The participants of this study were the Gr-11 students of AM Class in New Era

University, disregarding their personality, gender, age, and educational background. There is only

one representative for every sections of STEM- AM Class for this research to be contented. Since

there are 8 sections, there are also 8 participants. Whatever they said is respected and served as

this research source of data.

DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE

 The researchers conducted a one-on-one interview wherein same questions are asked to

all of the respondents. The aim is for all interviewees to be given exactly the same context of

questioning. This means that each respondent receives exactly the same interview stimulus as

any other. The goal of this style of interview is to ensure that interviewees’ replies can be

aggregated.

DATA ANALYSIS

The data that researchers conducted in this research find out that most of G11 students

choose STEM in a variety of reasons. The researchers categorized their reasons in three (3)

categories; Career, Interest and Uncontrolled Circumstances. Under ‘Career’, some says that it is

related to the course they will take in college, and to the job they want to in the future, while in

‘Interest’, some students say that they love Math and Science, and they have a huge interest

about these stuffs. Lastly is the ‘Uncontrolled Circumstances’ wherein they have no other choice

because of their parent’s decision to take this strand, or there are no other slots offered on other

strand. These are the reasons why STEM is the most preferred strand of G11 students basically

here in New Era University (NEU).

CHAPTER III
 RESULTS

The respondents which are the G11 students of AM class in New Era University stated why they
chose STEM were classified in 3 categories, these are Career, Interests and Uncontrolled
Circumstances.

CAREER INTERESTS UNCONTROLLED

CIRCUMSTANCES

related to the course they will has an interest on the subjects unavailability of slot for
take in the future included in STEM. another track/strand.

affiliated by the nearly College improvement of the knowledge influenced by friend’s

Education regarding about Math and
Sciences.

intimately connected to the job sharpen their intelligence parent’s decision

they want quotient (IQ)

Why most students choose the STEM strand is classified into three categories. First is
Career, students who are concerned about what their future job would be are mostly to take this
strand. They choose STEM because it is related to the career they want in the future. STEM is
where they practice their skills especially in Math and Sciences for them to be ready in their
future career. Most of the students wanted to work on the Science/Medical field, that’s why it is
relevant for them to choose this strand.

The second category is Interest, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
subjects are at the heart of a very wide variety of jobs and professions, studying and having an
interest on these subjects will give them skills they need to take part in building the world of our
future. They want to improve their understanding about these staffs because almost 35% of the
students said to themselves that they lack knowledge regarding this. It is then important to take
STEM for this reason because we know that Science is everywhere in the world around us and
Mathematics is in every occupation, every activity we do in our lives. Last is to sharpen their
intelligence IQ, Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a measure of your mental agility or
comprehension speed. Taking STEM will improve every individual’s IQ because this has
something on it that will surely help students to develop their IQ.

The last category is the Uncontrolled Circumstances; unavailability of slot for another
track/strand is one of the students’ problems in studying in grade 11. Some tracks/strands
are limited in slots and can only accommodate a small amount of students. This makes the
students to choose other tracks/strands even though they didn’t really want to study there
just in order to finish the grade 11. Influenced by friends, students who are not sure about
what track/strand to take tend to ask for their friends’ advice and later on join them in their
chosen track/strand. Parent’s Decision, this happens when parents’ wanted their children to
be successful and professional in the future, they make their decisions for their children
and forced them to take this strand. Parents think they always know what is best for us that
are why they make an effort to suggest or sometimes force their children to follow their
advices. The parents has a big role in this situation because first of all is that they’re the
ones who pay for their child’s tuition so they tend to pick what they think is best for their
children. Good thing is that one of the interviewed students learned to love his strand
despite of being forced to study in this strand.

CHAPTER IV
 DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

Most of the Grade 11 students chose the stem strand over the many other tracks and strands
offered in the k-12 curriculum. They believe that taking this course will help them achieve the
best career that they aspire in the future. However, not all students had the freedom to choose
what they want because of their different reasons, some of it is that their parents asked them to
take this course and another is that the slots in other strands are limited.

RECOMENDATION

This study has shown that some students ended choosing STEM because of some uncontrolled
circumstances. To help the students choose their desired strand, researchers suggest that the
schools should conduct seminars about the K-12 Curriculum with their parents for them to be
well informed about this new education system and to help them make their right decisions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hom, E. J. (2014, February 11). What is STEM education. Retrieved from
http://www.livescience.com/43296-what-is-stem-education.html

J. Jackson (2011, November 23). Why Students choose STEM. Retrieved from
http://www.stemreports.com/why-students-choose-stem/

Preston, C., Jane, B., Crawford, G. (2012). Our planet Earth. InKeith Skamp (Eds.),
Teaching Primary Science Constructively (4th edition), (pp. 447-496). South Melbourne, Vic:
Cengage Learning

Ursuline College (2012). What is STEM. Retrieved from https://ursuline-

education.com/sites/default/files/Oct2012STEM.pdf

Wang, X. (2013, September). Why Students Choose STEM Majors: Motivation, High School
Learning, and Postsecondary Context of Support. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276196873_Why_Students_Choose_STEM_Majors_M
otivation_High_School_Learning_and_Postsecondary_Context_of_Support

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
(S – Students, R – Researchers)

Interviewer: Researchers (STEM AM 3 students)

Interviewee: Julia Estabar (STEM AM 1 Student)
Interview Setting: Interview conducted in the corridor of building A fourth Floor.
R: What made you choose STEM?
S: First, My parents wanted me to take this strand, because they know what’s best for us.
Second, it is practical to choose STEM; you can get many job opportunities in the future.
R: What course will you take in college?
S: As of now, I’m not yet sure but I’m thinking of taking Molecular Biologist
R: What do you think is your advantage among the students who choose different strands?
S: I think the quality of teaching because the teachers are more focussed on us.
R: that’s all thank you
S: thank you

Interviewer: Researchers (STEM AM 3 students)

Interviewee: Janelle Leonardo (STEM AM 2 Student)
Interview Setting: Interview conducted in the corridor of building A fourth Floor.
R: What made you choose STEM?
S: I chose STEM because it is related to my desired course in college.
R: What course will you take in college?
S: Med-Tech
R: What do you think is your advantage among the students who choose different strands?
S: Studying in STEM does really give you a hard time, so I think that STEM students study more

than the other students in different strands.

R: thank you for answering our questions
S: thank you too
Interviewer: Researchers (STEM AM 3 students)
Interviewee: Jacob Aganan (STEM AM 3 Student)
Interview Setting: Interviewed inside room 414
R: What made you choose STEM?
S: I did choose STEM because it’s related, closely related with the course and job that I will take
R: What course would you want to take in the future?
S: I still don’t have a specific course that I want to take but I’m thinking of getting Neurology,
Chemical Engineer, Astrophysics, and Aeronautical Engineer.
R: What do you think is your advantage in taking STEM compared to the other students who
chose different strands?
S: for me, STEM students have more white collared job opportunities in the future.
R: thank you for making time answering our questions

Interviewer: Researchers (STEM AM 3 students)

Interviewee: Michael Namatay (STEM AM 4 Student)
Interview Setting: Interview conducted in the corridor of building A fourth Floor.
R: What made you choose STEM?
S: At first, I really don’t want to take STEM; I was forced by my father that’s why I enrolled on
this strand. But later on I learned to love studying here and that also my classmates are all
funny
R: What course would you want to take in the future?
S: I want to take Computer Engineering
R: What do you think is your advantage in taking STEM compared to the other students who
chose different strands?
S: I think my advantage is that I am more exposed in Math and my Math skills are improving.
R: Okay. Thanks

Interviewer: Researchers (STEM AM 3 Students)

Interviewee: Lawrence Pineda (STEM AM 5 Student)
Interview Setting: Interview conducted in the corridor of building A fourth Floor.
R: What made you choose STEM?
S: because the course I wanted to take in college is in line in this strand
R: Second, What course in college are you planning to take?
S: I’m not yet sure what to take but I wanted to be a Physical Therapistn so I think I’ll take
courses that is related to what I want.
R: What do you think is your advantage in taking STEM among the other students who
chose different tracks?
S: I think our advantage is that we are more exposed in Science and Math and our skills in these
subjects are quite improving.
Interviewer: Researchers (STEM AM 3 students)
Interviewee: Dominic Sucayan (STEM AM 6 Student)
Interview Setting: Interview conducted in the corridor of building A fourth Floor.
R: What made you choose STEM?
S: Because first of all, I wanted to be an architect or engineer in the University of the Philippines
R: Second question, what course will you take in college?
S: Architect, you’re repeating your question (laughing)
R: Then what is your advantage?
S: advantage from what?
R: your advantage from other students who chose different strand or tracks.
S: I’m more skilled in math, right? Because studying in stem is hard
R: that’s all. Thank you

Interviewer: Researchers (STEM AM 3 students)

Interviewee: Bannuar Montero (STEM AM 7 Student)
Interview Setting: Interview conducted in the corridor of building A fourth Floor.

R: Why did you choose STEM?

S: I chose stem because I’m out of choices, because when I enrolled in New Era
the there are no more slots for ABM and HUMSS, so I have no choice but to choose STEM.
R: What course do you plan to take in college?
S: the course I want to take in college is Law; I will take a pre-law degree that is under ABM and
HUMSS. Unfortunately since I’m studying in STEM, I think I’ll just pursue the right course
in college.
R: What is your advantage in studying here in STEM among the other students in different strand
S: I think the advantage of studying here in STEM is our discipline in Math. That’s it
R: Thank you
S: Thank you too