January 30th, 2019 | RESEARCH
In this paper, we examine the relationship between participantsā childhood science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related experiences, their STEM identity (i.e., seeing oneself as a STEM person), and their college career intentions. Whereas some evidence supports the importance of childhood (i.e., Kā4) informal STEM education experiences, like participating in science camps, existing research does not adequately address their relationship to STEM career intention later in life. Grounding our work in identity research, we tested the predictive power of STEM identity on career intention (Nā=ā15,847). We found that for every oneāpoint higher on our STEM identity scale, participantsā odds of choosing a STEM career in college increased by 85%. We then tested whether a variety of childhood informal experiences predicted participantsā STEM identity. While controlling for home environment, gender, and other relevant factors, only talking with friends and family about science, and consuming science and scienceāfiction media (i.e., books and television) were predictive of STEM identity in college.
Document
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Team Members
Remy Dou, Author, Florida International UniversityZahra Hazari, Author, Florida International University
Katherine Dabney, Author, Virginia Commonwealth University
Gerhard Sonnert, Author, HarvardāSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Philip Sadler, Author, HarvardāSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Citation
Identifier Type: DOI
Identifier: 10.1002/sce.21499
Publication: Science Learning in Everyday Life
Funders
Funding Source: NSF
Award Number: 1161052
Related URLs
Tags
Audience: Educators | Teachers | Elementary School Children (6-10) | Learning Researchers | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Education and learning science | General STEM
Resource Type: Peer-reviewed article | Research Products
Environment Type: Broadcast Media | Comics | Books | Newspapers | Informal | Formal Connections | K-12 Programs | Media and Technology | Public Programs | Summer and Extended Camps