What Motivates STEM Students? Depends on Their Gender - Education - GOOD
Via GeekFeminism:
The survey found that 68 percent of STEM majors say one of their major motivating factors is financial. That makes sense—STEM graduates havehigher starting salaries than their peers. The same number say they are attracted to science and math fields because they are “intellectually stimulating and challenging.” But salary is the top factor for male students and intellectual stimulation is the top factor for female students.
Furthermore, 49 percent of female STEM majors said they chose their field “to make a difference”, compared to a relatively paltry 34 percent of male students. It’s particularly interesting given that three teen girls swept the Google Science Fair this year, with the judges commending the young women’s “intellectual curiosity, their tenaciousness, and their ambition to use science to find solutions to big problems.”
