An Exploration of Guide’s Roles in STEM Outreach Activities: A Contribution to Students’ Motivation for Career Aspirations?

Abstract

This explorative study investigated guide's behavior and actions who had an active role in STEM-based (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) outreach activities in secondary education. In outreach activities, schools and teachers work together with companies and other external institutions in learning activities to motivate students for the STEM domain. In these outreach activities, guides "taught" from a teacher's perspective and at the same time "were a role model" from an ambassador perspective. To observe guides behavior in two different activities, an observation instrument was constructed using both perspectives by conceptualizing a need-supportive behavior with a focus on effective and metacognitive outcomes for students, based on the self-determination theory. In this chapter, our findings and instrument will be described.