A study of the correlation between STEM career knowledge, mathematics self-efficacy, career interests, and career activities on the likelihood of pursuing a STEM career among middle school students (original) (raw)
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Math Self-efficacy and the Likelihood of Pursuing a STEM-Based Career: a Gender-Based Analysis
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 2020
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International Journal of Progressive Education, 2020
The aim of this research is to determine the middle school students' interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field. Descriptive survey model, which is one of the quantitative researches, was used. A scale named ‘’The Development of the STEM Career Interest Survey (STEM-CIS)’’ was applied to the middle school students who were studying in public schools in two different central districts of Ankara. 271 (51.7%) female and 253 (48.3%) male student attended to the research. The reliability coefficient of this questionnaire was calculated as 0.902. The findings show that self-efficacy, personal goals, expectation of results, interest in science, contextual support and individual inputs are effective in STEM career interests of middle school students. STEM career interest has been found to be disproportionate to gender, but it is proportional to class level. In order for students to develop their career plans, the content which is specific to the STEM fields can be combined with the course content itself.
Journal of Science Education and Technology, 2016
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