Middle School Students' Attitudes toward Pursuing Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

摘要

The purpose of this study was to describe middle school students' attitudinal changes towards careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) after year-long classroom interaction with a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellow. The study utilized a mixed methods design of content analysis and constant comparative analysis for matched pre/post student responses (N = 1066) to the open-ended question: Do you think you could become a scientist (or technologist, engineer, ormathematician) like your [NSF] Fellow? Why? Initial content analysis placed student responses into one of seven response categories: remained negative; remained positive; remained uncertain; positive to negative; positive to uncertain; negative/uncertainto positive; and negative to uncertain. Five major themes emerged from constant comparative analysis of response categories explaining why students envisioned themselves becoming STEM professionals: subject area; interests and goal; self-efficacy; workethic and learning ability; and NSF Fellow. These five themes were consistent across all response categories. The major theme throughout student responses to becoming STEM professionals was students' self-efficacy for a particular subject. From interaction with the NSF Fellow, the students developed a positive belief in their abilities and indicated increased willingness to persevere and work toward educational goals in that subject.