Student attitudes, engagement and participation in STEM subjects

This report has been prepared as part of the work being undertaken by the Royal Society’s Vision Project, which aims to set out a vision for how the UK might achieve inspiring, high-performing education systems which can deliver a radical shift in the population’s understanding, engagement with and appreciation of mathematics and science by 2030. This report addresses four questions: 1. What does the evidence say about student attitudes, engagement and participation in STEM subjects? 2. How can mathematics and science education be made most enjoyable, rewarding and effective? 3. What types of evidence need to be collected in future in order to assess more reliably students’ choices and the reasons for these? 4. How should research and intervention strategies evolve to collect this evidence? The report consists of two sections. The first is a review of the literature in the area. The second draws on the findings of the review to provide a commentary on possible future directions for work on student attitudes, engagement and participation in STEM subjects in the next 15-20 years, and implications for mathematics and science education.