The role of globalization, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics project-based learning, and the national science and technology fair mandate in creating 21st-century-ready students in schools in Costa Rica

This study applies Spring's framework, based on the theory of world educational culture, Wagner's 21st-century skills, based on the comprehensive look at survival skills needed for 21st-century jobs, and Slough and Milam's STEM project-based framework as the methodological framework to evaluate how 21st-century skills are actualized in the classroom and through students' final projects presented at science and technology fairs. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of globalization, FDI, MNC responsibility on curriculum and practices in schools, and the relationship between STEM education and Costa Rican economic growth. Also of interest was how the mandated national science and technology fair influenced the use of PBL to build human capital and prepare students for 21st-century jobs, particularly in STEM fields. Three research questions guided the study focusing on the influence of policy, globalization, and MNCs and the extent of the economic growth of Costa Rica and how STEM education is related, how mandating participation in the national science and technology fair influenced implementation of 21st-century skills through the use of PBL and technology by teachers across all curricular areas, and how the national science and technology fair policy changed the value for STEM education for students, teachers, and educational leaders. The researchers were granted significant access with political leaders and education policy makers, business executives of MNCs, school leaders, students, and parents in San Jose, Costa Rica to administer 168 student surveys and 30 teacher surveys, arrange 25 in-person interviews, and do 9 observations. The findings from this study suggest that STEM education and its influence on the curriculum has increased, but not equally in schools that are not technical, that science fairs are part of the extra-curriculum, and that all stakeholders associate Costa Rica's future growth in its human capital through the incorporation of STEM and 21st-century skills into the curriculum. This study emphasizes the need for teacher training in new methodologies like STEM PBL and the positive aspects of integrating participation of science fairs into the main curriculum of the country to allow students to showcase their 21st-century skills.