Enhancing youth motivation for STEM through Tiny house construction projects

This research aimed to gain insight into the impact of motivational interventions on adolescents' motivation for STEM activities in an extracurricular project. The participants in this project were twelve adolescents with a minimum age of fourteen. A qualitative data collection method was used using semi-structured interviews. These interviews were analyzed using a combined thematic data analysis to understand the impact of motivational interventions on participants' motivation. The data collection took place during the Growth House project.
The results showed that motivational interventions applied in school contexts, such as those based on the self-determination theory and Achievement Goal Theory, positively influenced the motivation of the participating adolescents. The participants indicated that, while facilitators were effective in many aspects, there was still room for improvement in certain areas. These findings can be utilized by the facilitators of the Growth House project to better address participants' motivation for future projects.
From a policy perspective, these results suggest that extracurricular projects are a promising strategy for motivating young people in STEM activities. Further research should investigate whether these findings can be generalized to the broader adolescent population and explore whether extracurricular STEM projects contribute to an increase in young people pursuing STEM education.