FACTORS INFLUENCING SPACE EDUCATION FEMALE PIPELINE: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE STUDY

摘要

Students interested in STEM disciplines represent a significant pipeline in space education. However, women continue to be underrepresented in many STEM fields around the world. The lack of diversity in STEM disciplines and careers including a gender gap is viewed as a growing concern on issues of global economic competitiveness, educational equity and economic empowerment (1, 2). There is exceptional attention being given to the high number of female students who drop out of a STEM concentration or leave a STEM vocation regardless of being just as or frequently significantly more prepared than their male associates (3). This phenomenon is usually alluded to as the "leaky pipeline", and colleges and companies alike are paying attention on and endeavoring to remedy this pattern (3). This pilot study seeks to contribute to the current research agenda on the influences and motivators of female students when selecting a STEM academic program in secondary education. Its contribution is to explore the possibility of creating a survey tool that could be used in different cultural contexts that would allow for the comparison of research results worldwide. Preliminary findings suggest that there are similarities across cultural contexts according to the responses of participant students in Ghana and the United States.