The Relationship of STEM Attitudes and Career Interest
Eric Wiebe 1 * , Alana Unfried 2, Malinda Faber 3
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1 Department of STEM Education, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA2 Department of Mathematics and Statistics, California State University, Monterey Bay, CA, USA3 Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between attitudes toward all core STEM subjects and interest in STEM careers among 4th through 12th grade US students through the administration of the Student Attitudes toward STEM (S-STEM) Survey to over 15,000 public school students. The research developed a model based on expectancy-value theory that incorporates key demographic factors of age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Our findings reinforce prior research that students across key demographic factors perceive biological/clinical and physical science career paths differently, resulting in two career clusters. Of interest, the relationship of mathematics attitudes to career interest varied by STEM career cluster. Findings were also supportive of the conclusion that students’ attitudes towards STEM careers are not static over their primary and secondary grades, stabilizing and leveling during their secondary years. Gender showed significantly different interest levels for the two career clusters: males higher for physical sciences and females higher for biological/clinical sciences. Racial/ethnic disparity in STEM career interests can be seen more readily in physical sciences and engineering than in the biological sciences. Overall, our work reinforces findings that students, as young as elementary grades, are forming attitudinal associations between their academic and life experience and future STEM careers.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 14, Issue 10, October 2018, Article No: em1580

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92286

Publication date: 14 Jun 2018

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Article Downloads: 6493

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