Two surveys (one in the middle of the project and another at the end) have been carried out with both students and families in order to find out if their interest in science changed throughout the project. Nuances made, deductions drawn, and other comments are found throughout the charts. For its full understanding, it is recommended to read both surveys in full.
Results final survey, June 2022
The second survey was launched once all the mobilities had been completed, that is, in June 2022. The same questions were used as in the previous survey, with the results of the students being as follows:
Among the main reasons why our students do not want to study a scientific career is sociability: they prefer to work with the public. Those who do have in mind to choose a scientific career, highlight the usefulness and necessity of this, as they ensure that our day to day is based and happens thanks to science, as announced by the name of this project.
If we compare the results of the first survey and the second, there are three questions (interest in science, participation in a congress and choice of a scientific career) whose responses are striking. The positive increase in the three cases may be due to the fact that some students (especially from Latvia and Belgium) repeated in several meetings, that is, they participated not only in one mobility. Hence, the interest in science could be greater at the end of the project, the percentage of participation in congresses increased, as well as the desire to study science. If so, we could say that we have fulfilled another of the project’s objectives: to increase the attractiveness of STEM subjects.
Similarly, families answered the survey for the last time. Here are the results:
The non-participation of Belgian families both in this survey and in the mid-term survey is largely due to the age of the students involved in the project, since they were already of legal age.
Some families seem to doubt the importance of science, but do not express their thoughts. Among the parents who trust in its usefulness, there are those who emphasize that “In fact, It should be a major concern, because it plays a bigger role in modern societies”, something that pleases us, since this project was born from the same way of understanding the present.
Again the negative response is not accompanied by any explanation. The “maybe” option, for its part, has been chosen both in the previous survey and in this one by both students and families. Perhaps the young age of some participants is the reason why the students have not discussed the option of studying a scientific career at home and the parents have not considered it yet.
In the last question “additional comments”, the parents again thank the role of the center and the teachers in the involvement of the project. They also allude to the importance of Erasmus projects for adolescents. And last but not least, there are two families whose comments have been the following: “Science is very interesting and fascinating” and “Science was more fun for my daughter after that”. It is especially this last comment that has filled us with real pride, since apparently we have managed to get a girl student interested in science and share this concern also with those close to her.
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