REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This research intends to understand the perspectives and guide the students

in terms of pursuing STEM-related courses in college. The review of the related

literature in this chapter presents the different literature that have a connection with

STEM Education, Student’s Interest in STEM, and Pursuing STEM-related Careers.

STEM EDUCATION

Coined by Dr. Judith Ramaley of the National Science Foundation in 2001,

STEM was meant to represent the meaningful connection that exists among

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. On the other hand, “the

Florida Department of Education lands squarely on the side of integration with their

definition of STEM: STEM education is the intentional integration of science,

technology, engineering, and mathematics, and their associated practices to create a

student-centered learning environment in which students investigate and engineer

solutions to problems, and construct evidence-based explanations of real-world

phenomena with a focus on a student’s social, emotional, physical, and academic

needs through shared contributions of schools, families, and community partners”

(Latham, 2018). “STEM education is driven by today’s complex policy and economic,

social, and environmental problems that require solutions integrated and

interdisciplinary in nature” (English, 2017). “STEM education is perceived as an

educational philosophy in which science, technology, engineering and mathematics

are used as integrative means to solve real-life problems” (Priemer et al., 2019).

Srikoom et al. (2019) viewed STEM education as a tool used for understanding the

ever-changing, natural world in daily life.

knowledge, typically one studied in higher education. It is also defined as the

practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to

correct disobedience. Discipline is commonly used in contexts where a distinct chain

of authority exists. In this sense ‘academic discipline’ can be seen as a form of

specific and rigorous training that will turn out practitioners “who have been

‘disciplined’ by their discipline’ for their own good". In the case of STEM, it includes

disciplines in the life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, mathematics,

computer science, and the health sciences.

STEM strand focuses on advanced concepts and topics compared to other

strands. In this track, students are expected to become a pilot, an architect, an

astrophysicist, a biologist, a chemist, an engineer, a dentist, a nutritionist, a nurse, a

doctor, and a lot more, even the marine engineers could take this track.

It wasn’t too long ago when the K-12 system was introduced to the

Philippines. According to the DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2012, the two years of senior

high school (grades 11 and 12) aim to prepare students for entry to higher education

and at the same time equip them with relevant and globally competitive skills that will

promote employability and entrepreneurship or technopreneurship. According to

Orbeta et al. (2018), one of the reasons provided by proponents of the K to 12 law is

that SHS graduates can work or engage in entrepreneurial activities if they choose to

do. They view K to 12 programs as a way of help for the students to land on better

job opportunities after graduation even if they can’t enroll themselves in college right

away. The curriculum also aims to teach the students to become entrepreneurs by

adding classes that tackle about managing businesses. The entrepreneurship

generate business ideas and make a profit according to their passion.

Thus, we can say that beyond the benefit of learning science, technology,

engineering, and math, STEM education should increase students' understanding of

how things work, improve their use of technologies, teaches critical thinking skills

and instills innovation.

STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN STEM

Selecting a strand and track that students intend to pursue for the next two

years, can be quite a challenging task for some. By choosing a strand, it means they

are seeing an overview on what course to take in college and being prepared for it

study found that the prevailing STEM programs are influential to students to a certain

extent. The choice to enroll in the STEM strand in senior high school, according to

Estonanto (2017), opens a door for secondary level graduates to enroll in science

related courses in the next level. It was later revealed in a study by Alipio (2020), that

stratifying students’ career according to their senior high school strands create a

significant difference to their academic adjustments and performance. Deciding to

enroll in SHS-STEM as the very start of a career path means that when a student

enters the tertiary level, he or she might be able to adjust or perform well in his or her

future chosen STEM-related course.

STEM offers students a promising career path. Just as Estonanto (2017)

stated, it is through this program that students' skills in science, technology,

engineering, and mathematics concepts from simple to complex problems in the

country and around the world are furtherly developed, and it prepares them to
pursue college degrees that would make them future scientists, technological

experts, engineers, mathematicians, programmers, science educators, and other

professionals.

In comparison to students in the Non-STEM Program, Franco and Patel

(2017), suggests that students in the STEM Program were more likely to convey the

importance of engagement, to get more challenging works involvement, to have

higher levels of cognitive and emotional engagement as a result of teachers'

instructional practices, and able to define the relation of course content to future

careers and education. This idea was later opposed by Biliran (2018), stating that

there should not be any comparison between strands as no strand is beyond the

other, and one should not look down on a particular strand even though it seems

easy. Moreover, through this, students would be produced as competent learners of

21st-century skills, which are critical for the country's economic and social progress.

With all its promising benefits, students’ reasons on choosing STEM varies on

different factors.

When a student chooses STEM as a strand they want to pursue for their

senior highschool years, they are “often stereotyped as geniuses or naturally gifted

in the discipline” (Ehrlinger et al., 2018; McPherson et al., 2018; Sainz et al., 2019;

Starr, 2018). Thus, it can be said as the truth or the latter. Generally, if a person has

an interest in something or he or she performs well in that certain thing, it could be

something that he or she could take pride in, and it could be a motivator for him or

her to pursue that same exact thing next time the opportunity lets that person. It

shows compatibility to a study by Halim et al. (2019), which looked into the role of

students’ STEM self-efficacy in STEM careers, and found a positive and significant

relationship between students' STEM self-efficacy and interest in all disciplines of

capabilities in doing something. Therefore, the study suggests that a person who

believes in their capabilities in the STEM disciplines, found to have a more interest in

it.

The role of self-efficacy in choosing a strand can also be shown in the study

by Dumapias and Tabuzo (2018), where it was concluded that student’s level of

interest and confidence in their math and science subjects influences their choice in

taking STEM in senior high school. Similarly, Kazi and Akhlaq (2017) also

discovered that an individual's environment, talents, skills, and academic

achievements all influences career choice. Hence, students’ choice in enrolling in the

STEM strand can be the effect of him or her excelling in such factors. It is especially

evident in the study of Ferrer and Dela Cruz (2017), which showed that the

significant correlations of the students’ performance in Science, Mathematics and

English which were found consistent from NCAE to Grades 10 and 11 could suggest

their academic performance in the succeeding grade levels which could also guide

them in choosing the academic track where they have better aptitude or potential.

Students’ interest in subjects mathematics and science, “has a strong and positive

relationship” (Ahmed, Sharif, & Ahmad, 2017) in their decision-making.

It was also stated that the choice of the students was also influenced by the

level of their social status, financial resources, affordability and future employability.

As the senior high school strands are designed to prepare and equip seniors for their

future college courses, it evinces the fact that it lets students see opportunities

ahead of them. That’s why in choosing a career or strand, the passion of a student

and the practicality in life is also often considered. If a person is passionate in doing

something, then that person will likely pursue the path of that thing he or she is
passionate about. Above all else, in the pursuit of passion comes the feeling of

fulfillment and the joy in doing what you love. Yet, based on the findings of the study

of Magdadaro (2020), students sought to their teachers or parents for advices as to

what strand in Senior High School they will prefer to choose that could be

advantageous and beneficial for them in the future. Students mostly based their

choices on being practical than being passionate. Moreover, several studies which

were specifically conducted by Ibrahim (2017), Kaneez and Medha (2018), Kazi and

Akhlaq (2018), found out that the role and influence of the parents and teachers in

the life of the student affects a child’s decision-making. Their advices and opinions

could be the basis of the students’ choice whether to enroll in a specific strand or

not. In contrast, Guraya and Almaramhy (2018) says the latter.

PURSUING STEM-RELATED CAREERS

“It is important to understand the barriers and factors that influence individual

education and career choices” (Blotnicky et al., 2018). Globally, youth vary

considerably in their level of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

(STEM) career knowledge, their career interests, and their intentions of pursuing a

STEM career.  STEM career knowledge, defined as a student’s familiarity with a

particular STEM career, varies considerably based on the school’s STEM career

guidance. According to Villena (2017), the K to 12 program implementation helped

the students to be prepared in their future career, as they finish the SHS, the career

guidance program assisted them in deciding the best career to be taken in the future.

However, there are factors on why students tend not to pursue STEM-related

careers. Students’ stereotypical beliefs regarding STEM careers negatively

expectations. Additionally, “the students’ self-efficacy in STEM activities and career-

related outcome expectations in turn predicted their STEM career interest” (Luo et

al., 2021). McLeod (2017) defines this stereotyping as a preconceived notion about a

specific group or class of individuals. STEM stereotypes are stereotypes regarding

people working in STEM fields. According to Ehrlinger et al. (2018), people that are

pursuing STEM careers are sometimes stereotyped as socially awkward,

unattractive, and naturally intelligent. In their study where undergraduates are asked

to describe the prototypical computer scientist or engineer, descriptors typically fell

into the categories of male, intelligent, unattractive, lacking social skills, technology

oriented, and obsessed with computers. Although the effect of STEM stereotypes on

students’ career interest (possibly an indirect one) can be reasonably hypothesized,

research investigating the extent to which and how students’ STEM career interest is

influenced by their STEM stereotypes is lacking. This lack of research is the major

gap to be filled in this study.

Another factor on why students choose not pursue STEM-related careers is

that they find it difficult. “When Americans are asked why more students don’t

pursue a degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM), they are most

likely to point to the difficulty of these subjects, according to a new Pew Research

Center survey. About half of adults (52%) say the main reason young people don’t

pursue STEM degrees is they think these subjects are too hard” (Kennedy, Hefferon,

& Funk, 2018). “Even in universities, there were people saying that a STEM course

is comparatively harder to complete due to its learning nature and syllabi. While non-

STEM students are expected to have an ‘easier’ flow of learning” (Bakar, 2020).
 But despite the stereotypical view of STEM careers, “there are numerous

benefits of earning a STEM degree, and exploring this field can result in a successful

and fulfilling career—and life” (Cullins, 2020). STEM courses typically have higher

demands in terms of employment compared to those non-STEM graduates.

According to Chatterjee (2021), besides from being more employable than non-

STEM graduates, those who pursue STEM courses more, are likely to enjoy more

salary, better jobs, higher immigration chances, and many other benefits as

compared to the other graduates. “STEM careers usually allow you to set clear goals

and accomplishments, yielding a reward more fulfilling than just high paychecks.

Speaking of high paychecks, STEM jobs, on average, pay out about 70% more than

the national average” (Krueger, 2021), which makes these benefits to have a double

impact on every possible aspect that influences a professional’s life. In addition to

these benefits, “students who graduate from STEM programs often find that they are

better prepared for the rigors of a college curriculum that will jumpstart them on a

rewarding and well-paying career in the fields of science or engineering” (Chen,

2019).

More children grew more competitive as a result of the K–12 curriculum,

particularly in the fields of science and technology, as well as engineering and

mathematics using advanced concepts and themes. As a result, the Philippine

education system is constantly developing, and pupils are becoming more globally

competitive, “but due to some other factors, many STEM students fail to finish their

chosen careers” (Rafanan, de Guzman, & Rogayan, 2020).