Collective Effects of Individual, Behavioral, and Contextual Factors on High School Students’ Future STEM Career Plans (original) (raw)

Characteristics of Secondary Students who have Intentions to Choose a STEM Major in College: Findings from a Three-Year Study

Eurasia journal of mathematics, science and technology education, 2020

This study was grounded in the social cognitive career theoretical framework (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). The purpose of this four-year longitudinal study was to examine the factors that may have contributed to students’ motivation to develop STEM interest during secondary school years. The participants in our study were 9th- 11th grade high school students from a large K-12 college preparatory charter school system, Harmony Public Schools (HPS) in Texas. We utilized descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses to carry out the study. The results revealed that three-year survey takers’ STEM major interest seemed to decrease steadily each year. Although there was a significant gender gap between males and females in STEM selection in 9th and 10th grade, this difference was not significant at the end of 11th grade. White and Asian students were significantly more likely to be interested in STEM careers. We also found that students who were most likely to choose a STEM ma...

Predicting High School Students’ Interest in Majoring in a STEM Field

The Journal of Career and Technical Education, 2013

This study examined how various individual, family, and school level contextual factors impact the likelihood of planning to major in one of the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields for high school students. A binary logistic regression model was developed to determine the extent to which each of the covariates helped to predict such academic interest. High school course taking in science and performance on science and math standardized tests were significantly and positively related to an increased interest in STEM. College aspirations were significant, and those with loftier educational goals were generally more likely to plan to major in a STEM field. Other individual-level factors also played a significant role, as male high school students were significantly more likely to have an early interest in STEM relative to their female peers, as were African American high school students compared with White students. Low-income students were significantly more likely to be interested in STEM majors than higher income students, respectively. In terms of school-level context, while teacher academic qualifications had a negative but significant relationship with an early interest in STEM, teacher experience had a small but significant positive relationship.

The relationships among high school STEM learning experiences, expectations, and mathematics and science efficacy and the likelihood of majoring in STEM in college

International Journal of Science Education, 2017

This study examines college students' science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) choices as they relate to high school experiences, parent, teacher, and self-expectations, and mathematics and science efficacy. Participants were 2246 graduates of a STEM-focused public Harmony Public Schools in Texas, Harmony Public Schools (HPS). Descriptive analyses indicated that the overall percentage of HPS graduates who chose a STEM major in college was greater than Texas state and national averages. Logistic regression analyses revealed that males and Asian students are more likely to choose a STEM major in college than females and non-Asian students, respectively. Moreover, students whose parents had a college degree in the U.S. are more likely to major in STEM fields than those who did not. Furthermore, males with higher mathematics efficacy and females with higher science efficacy are more likely to choose a STEM major than their counterparts with lower mathematics and science efficacy.

STEM Influence on Career Choice Variables of Middle School Students Based on Gender and Ethnicity

2019

STEM Influence on Career Choice Variables of Middle School Students Based on Gender and Ethnicity by Melyssa D. Ferro MA, Walden University, 2006 BS, Boise State University, 1999 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Education Walden University November 2019 Abstract Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are growing fields in both global job markets and educational spaces. The problem related to this study was the lack of understanding of how gender and ethnicity might relate to differences in the science self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and task interest of students who have participated in STEM intervention programs at the middle school level. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the extent to which there were differences between the dependent variables of science self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and task interest in U.S. middle school students based on the independent va...

The Relationships among High School STEM Learning Experiences and Students’ Intent to Declare and Declaration of a STEM Major in College

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2015

Background/Context Schools are integral to augmenting and diversifying the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. This is because K–12 schools can inspire and reinforce students’ interest in STEM, in addition to academically preparing them to pursue a STEM career. Previous literature emphasizes the importance of high-quality STEM academic preparation in high school and the role of informal and formal exposure to STEM as important influences on students’ chances of following a STEM career. Interestingly, although many students decide to major in STEM fields while they are in high school, the majority of the extant literature about why students choose STEM majors primarily focuses on students’ experiences during the college years. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Through our research, we seek to investigate how learning experiences of inspiration/reinforcement/preparation toward STEM that students have during high school can help explain ...

Stability and changes in high school students' STEM career expectations: Variability based on STEM support and parent education

Journal of Adolescence, 2022

Introduction: Why do some students maintain their career expectations in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), whereas others change their expectations? Using situated expectancy-value and social cognitive career theories, we sought to investigate the extent to which STEM support predicted changes in students' STEM career expectations during high school, and if these processes varied by whether the student had college educated or noncollege educated parents. Methods: Using the nationally representative data set of the High School Longitudinal Study, we investigated the predictors of changes in US students' STEM career expectations from 9th to 11th grade (n = 13,100, 54% noncollege educated parents, 51% girls, 55% White, 21% Latinx, 12% Black). Results and Conclusions: Students with noncollege educated parents were significantly more likely to change from STEM to non-STEM career expectations by 11th grade or to have stable non-STEM career expectations (compared to having stable STEM expectations or changing from non-STEM to STEM expectations). Additionally, students with noncollege educated parents were less likely to receive STEM support from parents and attend extracurricular activities compared to students with college educated parents. However, when examining the predictors among students with noncollege educated parents, students were more likely to maintain their expectations for a STEM career from 9th to 11th grade (compared to switching to a non-STEM career) if they had parental STEM support. Additionally, all students regardless of parents' level of education were more likely to maintain their expectations for a STEM career (vs. switching to a non-STEM career) through high school if they received teacher STEM support. Furthermore, students were more likely to develop STEM career expectations (vs. maintaining non-STEM career expectations) if they had parent STEM support. These findings highlight how parent and teacher STEM support may bolster STEM career expectations, particularly among students with noncollege educated parents.

STEM career aspirations in Black, Hispanic, and White ninth-grade students

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2018

This study identifies factors that are significantly related to student intentions to enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations by age 30, and examines how those factors differ across definitions of STEM occupation, educational attainment levels, and student demo-graphics. Data from 2009 High School Longitudinal Study base year were used, and were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Expectancy-value theory is the theoretical framework for this study. The findings from this study suggest that depending on the definition of STEM careers operationalized in the analysis, variation can be observed in the impact of gender, while the role of the expectancy-value constructs remains largely consistent across multiple definitions of STEM careers. The results also suggest that while expectancy-value constructs such as utility, interest, and attainment value are significantly related to the STEM career plans of White students, fewer significant relationships between expectancy-value constructs and the STEM career plans of Black and Hispanic students were identified. Additionally , findings from this study raise questions about the extent to which STEM career choices at the sub-bachelor's degree level can be understood as achievement-related choices, and thus the extent to which expectancy-value theory is a suitable framework for understanding those choices. K E Y W O R D S attitudes and achievement, diversity, equity, gender, sociocultural issues J Res Sci Teach. 2018;1-28. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tea V C 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 1

Youth STEM career choices: What's influencing secondary students's decision making

Issues in Educational Research, 2020

Concerns are being raised about the increasing demand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates exceeding supply. Early adolescence is an especially critical time when our youth are forming beliefs about themselves as learners, along with establishing career related goals. In this qualitative research, we considered the significance of STEM self-efficacy through the lens of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to investigate the influencers in youth career choices. The study involved interviews with fifteen lower secondary school students, fifteen of their parents and three career counsellors from three faith-based schools in Western Australia. Our research goals were to ascertain the impact of the learning environment on students’ STEM career interest and self-efficacy; explore the influence of parents’ attitudes to STEM engagement and engagement with career advice resources on students’ STEM career interest and self-efficacy; and determine how a career...

Factors Influencing Student STEM Career Choices: Gender Differences

Journal of Research in STEM Education, 2018

This study examined factors that influence middle school students’ dispositions towards science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Interest and ability in STEM subject areas were compared by gender, based on 182 middle school students’ responses to four different test instruments. While findings from t-tests indicated significant differences between males and females on mathematics interest scores, no significant differences were found in science, technology, engineering, or STEM career interest. Stepwise multiple regression showed that STEM variables explained 47% of the variance in boys pursuing a STEM career and 36% of the variance in girls. The findings of this study underscore the challenges that still exist in achieving equal gender representation in the STEM workforce, and suggest that adopting a constructivist learning approach may provide a foundation for girls to develop a more positive approach toward science, boost STEM awareness and interest, and increas...

A Retrospective Analysis of STEM Career Interest Among Mathematics and Science Academy Students

Data reflecting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) dispositions and reported reasons for interest in STEM were gathered from 342 high school students participating in a residential mathematics and science academy on a university campus in April 2013. Student participants were enrolled in a program in which they complete their last two years of high school in conjunction with their first two years of college. Analysis of these data indicated that factors influencing student interest in STEM and STEM careers include the student's own selfmotivation, support from a parent or family member, science and mathematics coursework offered in school, and exposure to a high quality, motivating teacher. STEM career interest can be reasonably well predicted from a linear combination of four measures of STEM dispositions, but weightings of predictors and total variance accounted for differ for females when compared to males.