The effectiveness of STEM mentoring program in promoting interest towards STEM

Abstract

STEM mentoring program were introduced in order to overcome the declining interest in STEM subjects in schools. This study aims to measure the effectiveness of STEM mentoring programs on the students' interest towards STEM. Comparisons between girls and boys on their interest towards STEM were also conducted. The STEM Mentoring programs in this study consisted of an array of the program from various faculties namely (i) BITARA STEM and STEM Career Interest from Faculty of Education (FPEND), (ii) CRYSTAL from Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FKAB), and (iii) Science Camp and SEE Nature from the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST). This study used post-test control group design involved 198 students in one of the states in Malaysia. Data garnered from the study was described by means of descriptive analysis, which later followed by inferential analysis using independent sample t-test. Overall, the findings revealed that there is significant difference between girls in treatment group in interest towards mathematics. This study showed that research should be done more thoroughly on mentoring program, need to find out the suitable framework in implementing STEM mentoring programs and possible implementation of Blended Mentor Mentee programs for further research to get a corroborative evidence.