A stimulating experience: I-SWEEEP participants’ perceptions on the benefits of science olympiad and gender differences in competition category

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of international Science Olympiad participants on the benefits of the competition and the factors that affected their career aspirations. We also investigated how students’ choice of competition category varied with respect to gender. The sample included 273 International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environment Project (I-SWEEEP) participants from 39 countries. Mixed-methods were used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics and t-statistics were provided to answer the first question. As a means of addressing the second question, a chi-square test was utilized to examine how participants’ category selection differed by gender. Qualitative analysis was used to reveal the types of benefits students reaped from participation in the I-SWEEEP. Results indicated that students were most affected by their teachers, parents, and personal interests. Although the relationship between gender and competition category was not statistically significant, there nevertheless emerged a pattern showing that girls preferred environmental science projects (45.5%) to engineering projects (24.4%). Qualitative analyses revealed six themes as benefits that students gained from participation in the I-SWEEEP. The relationship among the fundamental themes was also examined and revealed important findings. The results have educational implications for helping students accomplish to be science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals in the future. © 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.