Improving the cross-cultural consciousness and self-efficacy of college students through STEM education / Mejorar la concienciación transcultural y la autoeficacia de los estudiantes universitarios mediante la educación STEM

Abstract

The research purpose is to analyse the importance of STEM education for college students and its influence on their intercultural self-awareness and self-efficacy. The study used analytical, statistical, psychodiagnostic research methods. The methodological framework was based on the understanding of STEM as an integrative educational approach within socio-cultural and cross-cultural contexts, as well as considering social-cognitive theory and Albert Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy. The research used the following methods: research methodology for measuring individual self-efficacy (Schwarzer, Yerusalem, Romek); test to measure the level of self-efficacy (Maddux, Scheer, revised by Boyarintseva and Krichevsky); Integrative Questionnaire of Intercultural Competence (Khukhlaev, Gritsenko, Makarchuk, etc.); and Transcultural Self-Efficacy Tool (TSET). Both STEM education and foreign language teaching are important aspects which help to improve the students’ self-awareness and self-efficacy in intercultural communication, as well as increasing intercultural stability and cross-border interests and managing intercultural relations. The indicator of the interpersonal communication scale (Student’s t-test = 4.89898, p < .05) was statistically significantly different in the repeated test. The score increased more significantly in the control than in the experimental group. The practical significance of the results of the study lies in the possibility of their application for the development of intercultural self-awareness and increasing the self-efficacy of college students. Prospective research is planned to be directed to the study of racial and gender characteristics of the impact of STEM education on intercultural self-awareness and self-efficacy of students.