The Impact of STEM Exposure on Students’ Knowledge and Career Aspirations: A Biofuels Experience

Abstract

Advocation for the STEM workforce in education has been noted from career sectors ranging from business to agriculture on local, state, and national levels. Modern agriculture is no longer only about manual labor and tending to crops and livestock, it has grown into a sophisticated field that heavily relies on STEM in virtually every aspect. Although research has explored school-based agricultural education (SBAE) students’ interest in STEM and the perceptions of SBAE teachers related to STEM integration, little has been done to determine the impact of a STEM-enhanced curriculum on students’ knowledge and their STEM interest. Undergirded with human capital theory, this study sought to determine the impact of a weeklong, immersive STEM curriculum experience on SBAE students’ sustainable bioenergy content knowledge and STEM interest. The change in sustainable bioenergy examination scores resulted in a statistically significant difference with a large effect size. In addition, SBAE students reported an increase across the semantic scale for science, while other areas remained consistent or decreased. SBAE teachers should incorporate additional experiential learning activities by integrating STEM principles with a particular focus on mathematics, technology, and engineering to increase interest and career specific human capital.