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1. Not "Just a Hobby": The Influence of Early Interest and Hobbies on Community College IT Student Decision-Making

   Peterson, Eliza K.; Van Noy, Michelle; Scovill, Sam; Edwards, Renee. (March 2024, Journal of advanced technological education)

   This study aimed to find how IT-related hobbies and interests impacted students’ educational and career decision-making. Methods: As part of a six-year-long, ATE-funded study of IT students at Ivy Tech Community College, our team conducted semi-structured, phenomenological interviews. These interviews were analyzed using keyword searches and a combined inductive-deductive approach to coding to explore how IT-related hobbies and interests interacted with other personal characteristics to inform student decision-making. Findings: Our team identified a potential link between early IT interest, IT-related hobbies, and persistence in IT education and careers. Many participants in the study had a moment of clarity where they realized that their IT hobby could become their career, the “hobby-to-career reckoning.” Contributions: This piece explores the potential connection between IT interests/hobbies and student outcomes within the field of IT while exploring the different social factors that may impact student decision-making and the role of the hobby-to-career reckoning in the decision-making process. This piece will give practitioners and researchers insight into how early interest in IT and IT-related hobbies may impact student decision-making about IT educational programs and careers. 

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2. “Maybe If I Put My Mind To It": 5th Graders’ Receptivity to Pursuing Engineering Careers (Fundamental)

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--31924  

   Miel, Karen; Portsmore, Merredith; Fuller, Emily; Paul, Kelli; Sung, Euisuk; Maltese, Adam (June 2019, ASEE Conferences)

   As educators strive to broaden representation in engineering, it is important to take into account how youth perceive themselves in relation to engineering careers. Youth as young as ten years of age are assessing the appeal and achievability of engineering as a career. This study explores preadolescents’ perceptions of the desirability of engineering careers and the self-assessed characteristics which impact students’ interest in engineering. In particular, this work unpacks what attracts elementary students to engineering careers and what these students believe it takes to be an engineer. Drawing from a set of 56 student interviews, this work addresses the research question In what ways are elementary school students thinking about careers in engineering? Existing research indicates that students’ interest in engineering careers declines as students enter middle school; this study contributes to understanding influences on students’ interests when they are on the cusp of deciding whether to pursue engineering study and careers. As part of a study of a university-led engineering education outreach program in elementary classrooms, 5th grade students participated in 15- to 30-minute semi-structured interviews near the end of the academic year. Participants represented four classrooms in two suburban schools in the northeastern United States that had each engaged in 16-18 weeks of hands-on engineering activities led by undergraduate engineering students. Interviews focused on the students’ experiences with engineering and the engineering intervention, students’ role models, and students’ career aspirations. We utilized open coding to analyze the interviews and identified the keywords and themes that students used to describe why an engineering career would be appealing or unappealing and possible or impossible for them. Two themes characterized the interview data; these students’ receptivity to pursuing engineering careers appeared to be mediated by conceptions of engineering careers as involving skill (in idea generation or in creation of technology) or desire (the will to do engineering). This paper utilizes interview data to attend to students’ perspectives and expand our understanding of barriers and gateways to student interest in engineering study and careers. It also discusses the implications of the findings for teaching engineering with an eye on the messages conveyed about the nature of engineering practices, the characteristics of engineers, and how students’ interests intersect with engineering careers. 

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3. Access to opportunities affects physics majors' interest and choice of methods specialization

   https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Cardona  

   Cardona, Pedro; Zohrabi Alaee, Dina; Zwickl, Benjamin M. (October 2021, Physics Education Research Conference 2021)

   Physics is a degree that supports many career paths, and students often develop preferences for particular methods, such as theoretical, computational or experimental. However, it is not well understood how those preferences develop and affect students' later career decisions. We used Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as the basis for interpreting students' decision-making processes. SCCT provides a framework for connecting learning experiences, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations with students' interests, goals, and decisions. Semi-structured interviews with 8 physics students were conducted. This analysis focuses primarily on a single student to provide space to explore all three method specializations (theory, computation, and experiment) in more depth. We find that the availability of resources and learning opportunities had a significant impact on students' career choices. Theoretical and computational experiences were readily available through classwork, undergraduate research, and could be worked on at home and in peer study groups. Students lacked the ability to work on experimental physics outside of infrequent classroom opportunities and could not build peer networks that supported their experimental skill growth, which was linked to lower interest and self-efficacy in regards to experimental physics. 

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4. Making Mathematics Relevant: An Examination of Student Interest in Mathematics, Interest in STEM Careers, and Perceived Relevance

   Leyva, E. (February 2022, International journal of research in undergraduate mathematics education)

   Community college students face difficulties in mathematics courses and may not understand the relevance of the topics they are learning to their intended career. When such connections are not made, mathematics courses can become barriers to pursuit of careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In the present study, we assessed student interest in mathematics and various STEM career areas and students’ knowledge of ways mathematics was involved in STEM careers in order to better understand how these variables are related. We discovered that interest in mathematics predicted interest in many, but not all, categories of STEM and STEM-related careers. We also assessed how deeply the student was engaged with their current career pathway, and how this related to other variables. We found that students’ depth of interest in their chosen career path was only associated with mathematics interest for some STEM careers. Finally, students’ perceptions of how mathematics was used in their chosen career area predicted their interest in mathematics, and their interest in some STEM career areas. 

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5. School counseling practices related to postsecondary STEM participation

   https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12338  

   Gearns, Richard; Kelly, Angela M.; Bugallo, Mónica F. (December 2023, The Career Development Quarterly)

   Abstract This qualitative exploratory cross‐case analysis analyzed the beliefs and practices of high school counselors related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academic advisement, postsecondary planning, and career participation. Interviews were conducted with high school counselors (N = 13) who were purposively sampled to represent a diversity of schools in terms of demographic variables. Findings indicated that high school counselors perceived that (a) sociocultural factors influenced student preparation for STEM, career planning, and decision making; (b) students’ STEM‐related career goals and academic behaviors were sometimes misaligned, and academic advisement often mediated this tension; and (c) their professional STEM knowledge, beliefs, and practices were influenced by professional preparation, workplace characteristics, and their academic experiences. Implications include the need for early, sustained high school STEM counseling and academic advisement; accessible professional development in STEM preparation and careers to promote multiple pathways and reduce school counselor bias; and encouraging family involvement in STEM career decision making. 

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