FEMALE STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS, AND CAREER CHOICE IN ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was prompted by the low participation of female students in Engineering and Mathematics in secondary schools in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State. The study therefore investigated female students’ attitude to STEM and how it affects their career choices in Engineering and Mathematics. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey research design. The population of the study comprised of 817 SS II female secondary school students in twenty-two (22) public secondary schools in Jos North LGA of Plateau State and a sample of 260 female SS II students from nine public secondary schools were used. The sample size was determined using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) Table for Determining Sample Size and was drawn using simple random sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was the “Female Students’ Attitude to STEM and Career Choice in secondary schools Questionnaire (FSASTEMCCSSQ).  The validity of the instrument was established using three experts; an expert in Gender and Women Studies, Research, Measurement and Evaluation Unit of the Faculty of Education and one expert in Science and Technology Education Department of the University of Jos while the reliability of the FSASTEMCCSSQ was computed using Cronbach Alpha and a reliability coefficient of 0.89 was obtained. Descriptive statistics of mean score and standard deviation were used in analyzing and answering the research questions asked in the study while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses formulated in the study. The findings of the study were that female students had positive attitude towards Engineering and there is a significant positive relationship between female students’ attitude to STEM and their career choice in Engineering. It was also discovered that female students had positive attitude towards Mathematics and there is a positive correlation between female students’ attitude to STEM and career choice in Mathematics. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that teachers should encourage female students who are doing well in STEM subjects to pursue career paths in such areas. Also, parents, as stakeholders should motivate and support their female children who are doing well in STEM subjects by providing their educational needs to enable them study effectively in senior secondary schools which will in turn motivate them to choose careers in STEM. The study focuses on STEM but for the purpose of this article a subset of the STEM (Science and Technology) was considered.