Do STEM Career Interest Levels Change Over the Years?

Abstract

Educating a new generation of engineers, mathematicians, and scientists is essential for developing a competent workforce that meets the demands of the 21st century. Given that a qualified workforce trained in STEM disciplines will shape the contemporary corporate landscape, students ought to be steered toward careers associated with these domains. The study seeks to ascertain the interests of high school pupils in STEM careers. This study employs a survey, a quantitative research design. The study sample comprised 326 ninth-grade students enrolled in a high school in Kayseri province during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years. The STEM Career Interest Survey (STEM-CIS) scale gathers research data. To ascertain the overall inclinations of the participants towards STEM careers, total STEM scores associated with the scale were computed for each individual. The investigation revealed that total scores for the 2018-2019 academic year varied from 111 to 200 points, with an average of 156.09. For the 2019-2020 academic year, total scores ranged from 113 to 200, with an average of 157.77. The maximum score achievable on this scale is 5*40=200, while the minimum value is 1*40=40. The critical value of 2.60, as recognized in the literature, indicates that findings over this threshold are deemed to exhibit significant interest in STEM careers. Consequently, we ascertained that high school pupils exhibit a favorable and progressively increasing inclination towards STEM vocations, attributable to the existing education system; their interest in mathematics is the most pronounced during both academic periods. We determined that it exhibited the lowest average for the engineering factor. The findings can be augmented by researching diverse socioeconomic and geographical regions, focusing on gender, academic performance, and familial influences, and comparing the outcomes.