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Students' interest in STEM careers is governed by various factors: (i) family influences, (ii) out-of-school time learning experiences, (iii) inside-of-school learning experiences, and (iii) media influences. Previous studies often investigate the direct influence of these factors, collectively known as environmental factors, on students' interest in STEM careers. This study explains the role of self-efficacy on environmental factors that affect students' interest in STEM careers through a structural equation model. This study involved 14-year-old secondary school students who were selected based on cluster sampling and a total of 1800 students were chosen. However, only 1485 responses were considered valid for analysis. Survey design was utilised in the study. Structural equation modelling analysis was used to analyse the data. The results of the survey demonstrated that the effects of family influences and out-of-school time learning experiences on interest in STEM careers were fully mediated by self-efficacy except for media influences that affected interest both directly and indirectly via self-efficacy (partial mediator). Inside-of-school learning experiences did not affect self-efficacy and interest in STEM careers. STEM learning experiences through informal modality are better predictors of students' interest in STEM careers. Improving formal STEM learning is imperative to ensure that STEM careers are promoted to all school students in a systemic manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student engagement is a multidimensional construct that predicts learning performance. However, student engagement receives limited attention, especially in mathematics. Thus, this study conducts a survey to determine the influence of student engagement on mathematical achievement. Stratified random sampling was employed to select secondary school students (n = 1000). Questionnaires and end-of-year examination grades were collected as data on student engagement and respective mathematics achievement. The findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between cognitive engagement, affective engagement, behavioural engagement, and mathematical achievement. The results of multiple linear regression analysis show that affective engagement is the largest predictor of mathematical achievement (β = 0.743, p < 0.001), followed by behavioural engagement (β = 0.585, p < 0.001), and cognitive engagement (β = −0.375, p < 0.01). This suggests that policymakers should formulate a curriculum that enables the improvement of affective and behavioural engagement. Furthermore, this study recommends that school administrators and teachers plan and implement activities that stimulate such engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]