Background:Science internships have been suggested as a powerful way to engage high school students in conducting authentic science inquiry. However, despite the recognized significance of high school science internships, little research is done to examinehowthese experiences affect high school students’ career choices.Purpose:Our study drew on the theoretical framework of social cognitive career theory to examine how a 7-month science internship might shape high school students’ career choices.Method:88 students were interviewed 6–8 months after their internship graduation.Findings:The analysis suggests that the science internships altered more than 90% of the participating students’ career choices by either enhancing, expanding, narrowing down, or even replacing their original career choices. Students reported that the science internships boosted their self-efficacy through their first-hand mastery of authentic STEM practices, by directly observing scientists’ STEM performance, by hearing scientists’ opinions on students’ capabilities and potential in STEM, and by the impact of the students’ own physiological and affective states on the STEM practices.Implications:These findings help educators better understand how a unique learning environment like science internship may influence high school students’ career choices; they have important implications for internship design, career counseling, and education policy. 
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                            Attracting STEM-talented undergraduates to secondary education with early teaching experiences
                        
                    
    
            This study describes how a semester-long after-school teaching experience can attract undergraduate STEM majors to consider a career in secondary education. Surveys of and interviews with eight STEM undergraduates show a positive trend toward considering teaching as a career in most cases. An additional senior not originally recruited for the program was interviewed about their experience as a volunteer and how it led them to apply for and accept a teaching position at a high school after graduation. For some participants, they were too far along towards their degree to add secondary education as a second major and pursue certification before graduation, but this experience provided early enough in a student’s educational career has the potential to increase the number of STEM-talented secondary educators entering the field. This after-school program therefore shows promise in recruiting future STEM educators while it also serves high school students from a high-need district. 
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                            - Award ID(s):
- 1758227
- PAR ID:
- 10285905
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2021 Meeting of the New England Educational Research Organization
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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