Knowledge Sharing Practices, ICT, Information Literacy, and STEM Career Path Choices Among Girls at the Secondary School Level: Girls and STEM Education

Background

Over the years, researchers have engaged in several research and made huge efforts with varied interventions by organizations around the world towards increasing female involvement in (STEM), yet the number of women participation is still very low. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2015) revealed that female representation is only about 30% of the total population in STEM while in Africa it is about 17% (Ekine and Negar, 2013). These statistics raise the question of what could be responsible for the resistant disparity. Could it be that girls at the foundational level do not have adequate career information about STEM and all it entails? What knowledge of STEM career path have been created, documented and being shared among the girls to help them in making right choices?

Career path choices are better made at the early stage of one’s educational life as it is the foundation laying for a desired profession. According to (Ekine and Negar, 2013) career path choice ought to be made at the early school level because this is when interests and attitudes about learning are formed. Career choice is a process of choosing a career path which involves choices regarding education and training for a given career (John, Scott, Robert, Gibson, & Adam (2009). Consequently, decision making is a vital instrument of career choices and it is influenced greatly by a robust knowledge base about different careers that the student has. This engenders interest, desire for self-realization and outcome expectancies upon which career choices are made.

Career choices are difficult decision for students since it determines the kind of profession that they intend to pursue in life. However, provision of experiences that expand the exploration process and a wide range of career information on all the available careers can help students to explore widely before making their choices (Kochung and Migunde, 2011). Hence, persons that offer career advice to students should ensure that students are well informed so as to provide accurate information that will lead to correct career choice. Ferreira and Lima (2010) recommended guidance interventions that will help them acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes that will facilitate better career choices and transitions thereby ameliorating the problem of career choices. In order to achieve this therefore, research revealed peers as having great influence on students’ career choices thus, recommending peer training for maximum benefit in knowledge sharing practices among peers (Mtemeri, 2017).