Opportunities and Factors Affecting adoption of STEM Education: The Case of Gweru Polytechnic First Year Commerce Students

Abstract

The current study sought to explore the factors affecting adoption of STEM education by first year students at Gweru Polytechnic. The study aimed to solicit various ideas, opinions, perceptions and attitudes on factors that affect adoption of STEM education despite opportunities abound this education reform. Data were collected through face to face interviews, focus group discussions and open ended questionnaires. A randomly stratified sample was used to select 8 lecturers and 30 first year students in the Commerce division espectively. Themes emerged from the in-depth individual interviews were discussed. The data was organised and resented in figures and statistics in line with quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study used a case study design. STEM education has been hailed for empowering the students to develop scientific knowledge needed in every aspect of life. STEM workers earn significantly more and experience lower unemployment rates than in other fields. The study revealed that lack of knowledge; skills, positive attitudes and poor motivation for STEM were prevalent factors that affect adoption among students. It also emerged that there is acute shortage of teaching staff at secondary level and subjects like engineering and Technology do not feature in the secondary curriculum. Some of these factors attributed to stem-phobia resulting in students lacking interest and shun STEM subjects. The study recommends that STEM be taught to students from secondary schools by well qualified and highly effective and motivated teachers. Furthermore, there is need for education to empower the parents, teachers and students for support of the innovation. Finally, the study recommends further research on a wider scale to be conducted by employing different methods to come up with generalisable results.