Immersive Outreach Interventions as a Tool to Foster STEM Vocation: An Observational Programme Evaluation

STEM outreach evaluations often rely on full-sample averages and general enjoyment metrics, overlooking how specific pedagogical factors relate to students without a consolidated vocation. This study evaluates the “Desayuna Ingeniería” (Breakfast Engineering) STEM outreach programme to identify intervention variables associated with perceived increases in pre-university students’ vocational interest in industrial engineering. In the retrospective survey (N = 584), 48.8% of participants reported increased interest after the visit. Focusing specifically on the target subsample of students with low or moderate prior interest, who represent the “undecided” group (n = 408), binary logistic regression models examined how active workshop participation, overall workshop satisfaction, and mentor gender configuration were associated with perceived vocational change. Active workshop participation showed a positive predictive trend that did not reach the prespecified significance threshold (p = 0.056), overall workshop satisfaction showed no statistically significant association (p = 0.697), and evidence regarding mentor gender configuration was inconclusive. Exploratory gender-stratified analyses suggested that perceived increases were primarily associated with baseline interest in female students, and with baseline interest alongside a positive, although non-significant, trend for active participation (p = 0.052) in male students. Brief interventions may benefit from prioritising hands-on involvement, whereas fostering girls’ baseline STEM motivation at earlier school stages remains a theoretical hypothesis for future longitudinal studies.