Background: The gender gap in engineering presents a critical barrier to achieving a diverse and innovative engineering workforce. This gap is influenced by gender stereotypes, socialization processes, masculine culture, and insufficient early experiences with engineering. These contribute to diminished STEM self-concept, interest, and…

This study explains the development of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) interest among elementary and middle schoolchildren. The cohort longitudinal design was applied, starting with three cohorts of students--fourth (10 years), fifth (11 years), and sixth (12 years) grade--followed for three consecutive years. A total of 947…

The purpose of this dissertation in practice was to understand how participation in a career exploration/introduction to career and technical education (CTE) course with embedded digital tools certification implemented for fifth-grade students influenced how students thought about and articulated their career aspirations. The setting for this…

School districts seek to increase teacher retention in response to nationwide teacher shortages. The problem is that teachers who have taught for 5 years or less have the highest attrition rates compared to other teachers, with more than 44% of new teachers leaving the profession within the first 5 years. The purpose of this qualitative case study…

Watson and McMahon's (2005) work identified a need for research to examine the what and how of children's career development learning; this research is a start to answering that call, specifically focusing on STEM career interest as a precursor to development due to the current needs nationally for an increase in the STEM pipeline. This study…

One of the goals of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is to promote students' understanding of and interest in STEM careers. However, young students often hold stereotypical perceptions of STEM professionals. This study aimed to apply two newly developed checklists to explore upper elementary students' perceptions…

Career development is a lifelong process that begins in childhood and has been linked to student success in other aspects of their development in childhood and adulthood (Blackhurst, Auger, & Wahl, 2003). This article presents a fifth-grade technology-based career development curriculum that engages students in a 10-week long exploration of…

The aim of the study reported on here was to develop a universal and cultural values scale (UCVS) to measure the universal and cultural values to be incorporated in primary education. The items measured were derived from an item pool prepared with expert consultation. The study was conducted with 360 fifth-grade students who attended primary…

Understanding motivational beliefs such as expectancy and value that shape students' persistence and decision to pursue a STEM career, obtaining valid and reliable measures for these dimensions, and developing strategies using this data are critically important to ensure students' persistence in the STEM pipeline. Therefore, this study aims to…

STEAM is one of the teaching strategies frequently used in science education in recent years to ensure the development of students of different ages and characteristics. This study aimed to reveal the effect of STEAM-based activities on gifted students' STEAM attitudes, cooperative working skills, and career choices. For this purpose, a single…

Exploring the intersections of CTE and STEM education may foster interest in critical rural healthcare careers beginning in elementary school. Starting early to develop career awareness may be essential and best take advantage of the possible flexibility that rural schools can provide. This study provides a theoretical foundation for rural…

The aims of this research were to examine the changes in the students' perceptions of engineers, engineering as a profession, learning of engineering design processes (EDP), awareness of engineering branches, and their future career choices through Engineering Design Process activities with the 5E learning model. Sixty disadvantaged students…

There is a noticeable deficit in the research examining how a motivational intervention such as a robotics curriculum might provide a possible route to positively impacting elementary students' interest, attitude, and self-efficacy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and their persistence and interest in pursuing a STEM…

Students build up their STEM career interest based on their experiences. However, it remains unclear how students reflect on their STEM experiences in light of their understanding of STEM careers. This study aimed to explore how students relate their practices in STEM project-based learning (PBL) with their perceptions of scientists' and…

Gender stereotypes about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are salient for children and adolescents and contribute to achievement-related disparities and inequalities in STEM participation. However, few studies have used a longitudinal design to examine changes in gender stereotypes across a range of STEM fields. In a large,…