The work that I wanted to create explores a popular learning framework, social cognitive theory (SCT), originally devised by Albert Bandara, as it is applied towards student interest, self-efficacy and other external factors of influence around STEM learning. Understanding the factors and motivations that encourage and influence high school students towards further post-secondary learning in the STEM industry can have an ultimately strong effect on their future careers in this area.

This work also looks closely at a related SCT learning framework, known as the the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), initially developed by Lent, Brown, & Hackett in 1994, which “highlights the interplay of personality, environmental, person-cognitive, and behavioural variables in one’s adjustment to the world of work” (Sheu et al., 2016). This theory investigates the factors and motivations of students looking to pursue careers in STEM, and is a relevant theory for examining how gender role beliefs, social norms, parental expectations, as well as the students’ own sense of self-efficacy and interests play a part in their decisions to enter these math and science inclined-fields.

Diagram 1 - Steps relating to Observational or Modelled Processes in Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1986)

This diagram above shows how each step connects and builds up next one, with all steps necessary for learning to take place in either an observational or modelled process as part of the Social Learning Theory.

As a parent of two highschool boys, both have gone into an early immersive STEM program in Grade 8 and one has recently graduated and is going into engineering in college in the Fall. I wanted to further explore students' interests, motivation and influences in pursuing programs and furture careers in the STEM field.  I have also read there is a lack of well trained STEM graduates to fill all the technology jobs in industry that integrate exciting innovations such as robots, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, immersive AR/VR systems, Internet of Things (IoT) as well as complex devices and software which access the data across the web. There's a lot of exciting things to learn in technology and science, however, studies do show that there are unique challenges that present themselves in the STEM field, especially knowing that math and science courses tend to be difficult subjects for any student to work through, but there's more to uncover about the students' motivation and self-efficacy towards their intent in pursuing this technical field.

References

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 45, 79-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1994.1027

Sheu, H.B., Rigali-Oiler, M., Mejia, A., Primé, D. R., & Chong, S. S. (2016). Social Cognitive Predictors of Academic and Life Satisfaction: Measurement and Structural Equivalence Across Three Racial/Ethnic Groups. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(4), 460–474. https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.1037/cou0000158