A recent report by Gallup and Walton Family Foundation, titled "Voices of Gen Z: Perspectives on STEM Education and Careers," surveyed over 2,000 Gen Z members on their interest in and preparation for various careers, including STEM roles.

The study found that while 75% of Gen Z youth are interested in STEM occupations, only 29% list a STEM role as their first career choice.

The report suggests that lack of exposure to core STEM concepts, especially for female Gen Z members, may contribute to this disconnect.

The research shows that exposure to STEM curriculum in school is associated with an increased likelihood of wanting, pursuing, and ultimately obtaining a career.

Students who are exposed to four or five technology-related topics in school are more likely to want a future STEM job, declare a college STEM major, and be employed in a STEM role than their peers who are exposed to just one technology-related topic or none at all.

Limited exposure to foundational STEM concepts in school may contribute to the drop-off between students' interest in and eventual pursuit of STEM jobs.

The report also reveals that most students (82%) say their school offered various STEM classes for real-world math and science principles applications, and 72% say they had opportunities to participate in STEM extracurriculars.

However, fewer have engaged in hands-on STEM classroom activities such as building an electrical circuit (29%) or using technology like coding programs or robots (42%), which are skills that underlie many STEM jobs.

Only about a third of Gen Z high schoolers report having learned about core STEM-related topics, including 3D design (31%), cybersecurity (23%), and hydraulics (32%).

Gender disparities in STEM experiences may create barriers that deter girls and women in Gen Z from the field.

The report indicates that female members of Gen Z are less interested than their male counterparts in STEM fields (63% vs. 85%, respectively), and fewer females than males report learning about technical STEM concepts such as computer programming and coding in their coursework (39% vs. 54%).

When asked why they were not interested in a STEM career, 57% of female respondents said they didn't think they would be good at it, compared with 38% of males.

Creating access to equitable and hands-on STEM experiences is critical to helping inspire and prepare today's youth to claim their positions among the next generation of innovators and ultimately fuel a more skilled and inclusive future workforce.

Gender disparities in STEM experiences must be addressed to ensure that girls and women are not deterred from pursuing STEM careers.

By exposing students to core STEM concepts and providing hands-on learning opportunities, we can set youth up for successful careers in an industry that desperately needs them.

It is concerning that despite women making up half of the college-educated workforce in the U.S., they only make up 34% of the workforce in STEM sectors.

The underrepresentation of girls in STEM fields, particularly in computer science, has significant implications for society. To strengthen the U.S. economy, we must increase girls' interest in STEM and their representation in high-growth STEM sectors.

However, despite initiatives to reduce disparities in STEM participation by gender, significant gender gaps persist among Gen Z.

Although both females and males have an equal interest in life and physical science careers, there is still a need to encourage girls' learning in STEM fields from secondary school to postsecondary education.

It's important to remove any obstacles that prevent them from pursuing STEM careers. According to the survey, 60% of Gen Z youth who are not interested in pursuing a STEM career, say it's because they don't enjoy it, and 48% because they believe they wouldn't be good at it.

Confidence in STEM abilities differs significantly between genders, with females being almost 20 points more likely than males to say they are not interested in STEM careers because they don't think they would be good at them.

The report found that female Gen Z youth learn fewer technical STEM concepts in their middle and high school coursework than their male counterparts.

This is likely due to females being less inclined to take STEM-related courses and participate in extracurricular activities that prepare them for technical fields such as physics and computer science.

To address this issue, it's necessary to increase girls' exposure to STEM, provide more opportunities for them to learn about STEM careers, and support their participation in STEM-related extracurricular activities.