Purpose: This study aims to identify the main motivational factors that led practicing teachers to choose teaching as a profession in the United States and Turkey. Another purpose of this research is to investigate the possible significant difference between male and female teachers from the United States and Turkey considering motivational…

Pupils' subject choices at the level of secondary education critically determine the tertiary fields of study that they can pursue. This study used multinomial logistic regression models to investigate the extent to which the final report card grades of ninth-grade students predicted their choices of subject combinations at the senior general…

Career choice and subject interests coincide as two significant factors for students to become driven in pursuing their academic and professional pathways. Though, literature studies revealed gender disparities in selecting educational tracks among students especially in the field of STEM. Hence, this study intended to analyze the gender…

Today, it is of great importance to establish a workforce with knowledge and skills in fields such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics and education in order to reach the level of developed society. STEM, as an integrated educational approach, is known as one of the effective methods in teaching such knowledge and skills. However, the…

This study investigated middle school students' interests and perceptions of the importance of developing their knowledge and skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In addition, the study also investigated the effect of gender on students' interests and perceptions. One hundred…

An explanation for the underrepresentation of women in mathematical fields is the communal goal congruity perspective; that women tend to value communal over agentic goals, perceived to not be afforded by mathematical careers. Less is known about how agentic and communal goals may interact to influence mathematical career trajectories. Analysing a…

Although choosing a high school major is often adolescents' first significant career decision, little is known about the factors that enable adolescents to choose a high school major autonomously (i.e., a major that reflects their values and preferences) or the familial and individual constellations that affect this decision. The current study…

This study aims to explore middle school students' attitudes towards STEM fields and their interest in STEM careers in terms of gender. Furthermore, this study examines the relationship between middle school students' attitudes towards STEM fields and their interest in STEM careers. Seven hundred and seventy four students from 10 cities located in…

Several conceptual and theoretical studies on the importance of science-technology-engineering-mathematics (STEM) careers and the 21st century skills required for these careers have been carried out; because they have been accepted as important for the improvement of society and maintenance of economic growth. However, there has not been research…

Students should be provided with more meaningful learning experiences to attract more students to STEM careers, Out-of-School learning environments can offer students exciting and motivating learning opportunities that formal environments cannot provide. Therefore, national education reforms in many countries that are working on popularizing STEM…

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields have been traditionally entered by men, often establishing women as underrepresented in many of these fields. This research study focuses on participants at a STEM camp for middle- and high-school girls designed to introduce them to technology. The camp was held 4 times over 3 years, with…

Using IEA's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 data, this brief explores the relationship between students' gender, their confidence and achievement in mathematics and science, and their aspirations to pursue careers in these fields. We find that more boys than girls at grade 8 want to have a mathematics- or…

The purpose of this study was to further clarify the structure of social persuasion as a source of self-efficacy in early adolescence and to examine the influence of social persuasion on STEM self-efficacy. Specifically, we proposed that social persuasion for math should be considered a multifactor construct for middle school students when…

Secondary school students in the Netherlands already face future-oriented decisions about their educational careers, which are expected to be informed by their interests in specific vocations or occupations. However, vocational interest assessment tools generally do not account for the possibility that students are interested in multiple…

Researchers are interested in students' motivation to learn science as it impacts other aspects of students' learning. One aspect of this motivation is the gender issue, how it impacts student's motivation and how it is mediated and moderated by other educational variables. The issue of gender impact on motivation has been studied for more than…