Relationship of Middle School Student STEM Interest to Career Intent

Abstract

Understanding middle school students' perceptions regarding STEM dispositions, and the role attitudes play in establishing STEM career aspirations, is imperative to preparing the STEM workforce of the future. Data were gathered from more than 800 middle school students participating in a hands-on, real world application curriculum to examine the relationship of the students' interest in STEM and their intentions to pursue a career in a STEM field. Among the middle school students who completed surveys for the MSOSW project, 46.6% expressed a desire to pursue a career in STEM at the time of the post test. Regarding alignment of positive interest in STEM with intent to purse a STEM career, middle school students who have stated that they plan to pursue a career in STEM, also show higher dispositions toward STEM and STEM career measures. Gender differences were also examined, resulting in the finding that middle school males generally have greater intent to pursue a career in STEM, and also show more positive interest in STEM areas. However, females appear to more positively react to the project activities presented in this study than males, so over the course of a project year females tend to "catch up." This is true regarding assessed STEM interest as well as stated intent to pursue a career in STEM. These findings provide additional contributions to the growing base of knowledge about the importance of middle school aspirations for STEM careers.

A study of STEM Awareness Scale development for high school teachers<p>Ortaöğretim öğretmenlerine yönelik FeTeMM Farkındalık Ölçeği (FFÖ) geliştirme çalışması

“…Dünyada bilim, teknoloji ve ekonomi alanlarında söz sahibi olma noktasında önemli bir eğitim yöntemi olarak görülen FeTeMM'in (Lacey ve Wright, 2009), özellikle son yıllarda Amerika Birleşik Devletleri tarafından üzerinde titizlikle durulmuş ve bu eğitimin sürdürülmesi konusundaki hassasiyete binaen çalışmalar büyük bir hız kazanmıştır. Özellikle alanyazın tarandığında FeTeMM disiplinlerinin bütüncül bir yaklaşımla ele alınmasının öğrencilerin ilgi, tutum, mesleki yönelim gibi özellikleri üzerinde olumlu yönde etkili olduğu sonucuna ulaşan çalışmalara rastlanmaktadır (Schmidt ve Kelter, 2017;Christensen ve Knezek, 2017;Yıldırım ve Selvi, 2017;Gülhan ve Şahin, 2016;Baran, Canbazoğlu Bilici, Mesutoğlu, 2015;Biçer vd, 2015;Gencer, 2015;Yamak, Bulut ve Dündar (2014), Guzey, Harwell ve Moore, 2014;Şahin, Ayar ve Adıgüzel, 2014;Fortus vd., 2004). FeTeMM alanlarına karşı ilgiyi oluşturmak ve geliştirmek, öğrencilerin gelecekte bu alanlarda işgücüne katılmaları açısından oldukça önem taşımaktadır (Knezek vd, 2013).…”

Comparison of Science Process Skills with Stem Career Interests of Middle School Students

“…According to Christensen and Knezek [16], it is necessary to apprehend perceptions and attitudes of middle school students with regard to STEM movement in order to prepare the future of STEM labour. There are available studies in literature which compare Science process skills of students after STEM education in middle school [17,18].…”

Engaging middle school students in scientific practice with a collaborative mobile game

“…Girls in particular respond well to science activities with a real‐world focus, whether or not they have an interest in science (Christensen & Knezek, ). Playing roles in a real‐world style mystery game appealed to the girls and this generated higher flow scores.…”

“…Research has shown that girls are more anxious about science and enjoy it less than boys (Desy, Peterson, & Brockman, ). Girls also lack interest in science and engineering careers when compared with boys (Christensen & Knezek, ). Although some critics might attribute this gender difference to girls' lack of scholastic aptitude, research has shown that it is not the case.…”