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…

It has been found that participation in informal, year-long STEM programmes for "primary school children" encourages further STEM learning and motivates STEM career aspirations. To date, no previous research has investigated such programmes. The study's goals were to collect and analyse demographic data about the 3rd-6th grade…

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…

The transformation of occupations in Indonesia due to digital technologies, especially in Artificial Intelligence, becomes a challenge for current educators to prepare their students for future work skills. This research study seeks to understand what students' career aspirations are and their teachers' predictions about their students' future…

Although there has been some success with programmes that aim to increase STEM involvement by women and underserved minorities, science educators continue to seek ways to promote students' interest in STEM. This study builds on social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the theory of enclothed cognition to assess the impact of wearing lab coats on…

Career development in children largely involves learning about the world of work from family members, peers, and classroom exploration in elementary school. For children of economic disadvantage, a lack of resources and restricted access to information may curtail their ability to envision career attainment. The current qualitative study explored…

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…

Sports participation and elite sporting success are fundamental to Australian culture and a prominent source of national pride. As sport is a major part of day-to-day living in Australia, it is not surprising that many young people aspire to careers as sportspersons. While such aspirations are often dismissed as fanciful and unattainable, the…

The WCPSS Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Over 24,000 students in grades 5, 8, and 9 responded to the 51-item survey in the spring of 2018. Results by grade were very similar to 2017 survey results. The majority of students had positive perceptions of their schools and…

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Over 28,000 students in grades 5, 8, and 9 responded to the 50-item survey in the spring of 2017. Results by grade were very similar to 2016 survey results. The majority of students had positive…

Career aspirations developed in childhood may impact on future career development in adolescence and adulthood. Family is an important context in which children develop their career aspirations. This study examined how parents influence children's career aspirations in mainland China from both the parents' and children's perspectives. Eight…

This study explored the fifth grade elementary school students' vocational aspiration and the factors affecting it. The sample consisted of 115 students in 20 elementary public schools with whom face-to- face interviews were conducted. The findings showed that engineering, medical doctor, and school teachers were the most frequently mentioned…

Few studies have identified individual differences in vocational knowledge or its association with career aspirations or expectations of children. We investigated whether individual differences in grade, gender, academic achievement, and SES predict levels of vocational knowledge, and further examined the relationship between vocational knowledge…

The aim of this article is to explore aspiration in contemporary urban locations in the context of almost universal policy initiatives to raise aspirations of young people to participate in higher education. The article is based on a study of how children's career and further education aspirations are shaped over time in five schools in western…

Gender differences in interests and preferences are among the currently accepted potential explanations for the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In an attempt to analyze the development of such preferences, gender differences expressed in essays written by gifted elementary students…